Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Fun and fiestas in Cabo Blanco

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Fun and fiestas in Cabo Blanco

By Sarah Harris

Zulu 3 are having a fantastic time in Cabo Blanco. We have had some beautiful sunshine and are enjoying watching the amazing rainforest animals. We have done lots of work repairing the trail, putting in steps and levelling eroded parts of the path. We have even started manning the tourist information centre, giving tourists information on the park and helping to answer their questions; Tanne’s Spanish has improved immensely through her work there.

As well as working at Cabo Blanco, we have also had a lot of fun. We celebrated Chico the ranger’s birthday by surprising him with a cake and present. The night ended with an arm wrestling contest between Chico and Ash. The 3rd of December was party time again as we celebrated Simon’s 23rd birthday. We had the day off work and played lots of games. Sarah organised a pub quiz, Tanne and Clare made a cake and we all made cards and a book of birthday coupons including a range of treats such as a judo class from Erick, unlimited cups of tea from Raquel and some freshly squeezed lime juice from Sam. At night we celebrated with a jungle themed party, with a special treat from Chico-music! Riz also cooked up an amazing curry for everyone.

We have had yet more celebrations in Cabo Blanco. Wiet and Tanne told us about the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas leaving presents on the 5th of December. On the big day, Wiet surprised us all and made Tanne’s day by leaving a traditional poem with a little parcel of sweets each for us to find. There was more Christmas spirit as Zulu 3 gave out their secret Santa presents which they had been working hard on all week. Some highlights included the superhero outfit made by Clare for Riz and the university survival guide which Simon wrote for Sam.

More fun was had when Ash and Riz hosted a quiz show with a laughing competition, charades and a quick fire general knowledge round. In the first physical challnge round, Erick and Clare competed in the ski sit, while in the second we got to experience Paula’s amazing twisty press ups- an unusual and surprising sight! The quiz ended with a tie breaker between Erick and Urania in the Spanish round. It was close but Erick answered the last question correctly so that Sam, Sarah, Tanne and Charlotte won the much sought after prize of a bag of sweets.

The view from our house in Cabo Blanco

Chico and Ash compete for man points

The group with birthday boy Chico

Completing the pyramid challenge

Simon celebrating his birthday in style

Secret santa presents

Erick and Clare battle it out in the physical challenge

5 comments:

Anonymous10 December 2009 at 07:39
Hey Tanne,

Wat ben je bruin!!
Wat hebben jullie het gezellig en wat moet het mooi zijn met die diversiteit aan flora en fauna!! Het klinkt echt overweldigend!

En wat moet het juist nu na de trek heerlijk relaxen zijn daar op het strand! Leuk dat je Sinterklaas daar hebt geintroduceerd.

Komend weekend(zaterdag 12 december)zijn wij naar Jeannette in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen maar mocht je kunnen skypen dan kan dat want wij nemen de laptop mee.

Schat geniet van je laatste daagjes en geef je lievelingsaap een hug van mij...
Kus van mama
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Maes10 December 2009 at 07:49
Louis,

Good to get the impression from the blog that your ankle is doing OK.
Pictures look great and it seems you are having a great time.
From the blog it seems that the Sinterklaas presents got delivered on time which is great and more than I had expected.
When you have the ability it would be good to get some info on how your ankle is performing.

See you in a week or so!!!

All our very best, Maes Josien and Daan
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Anonymous10 December 2009 at 08:11
To Tanne

Lieve Tan,

Je hebt ze aan de sinterklaas gekregen!!! Hoe cool! En wat lief van Wiet! Heb net met zoveel plezier je foto's bekeken! Vooral die ene waar jij vol achter de jarige staat:) Je ziet alleen maar je haar en een stukje enkel, hahaha!!!
Maar op de andere foto's zie je er fantastisch uit!! Zo bruin en je gouden lokken! Zelfs in the middle of nowhere zonder makeup zie je er super uit!! Het ziet er gezellig uit allemaal!!
Hoorde van mama dat je de laatste dagen gaat raften...heel veel plezier! Zal wel heftig zijn, maar avontuurlijk!!

Tot snel!

Dikke kus eva
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Janet10 December 2009 at 15:51
What a gorgeous place you are in. Good to hear it is going so well. Christmas plays are now over at last and we coast in for the last week of term. Looking forward to the holiday immensely and to seeing you again, Wahay! Much love from us at home.
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Anonymous14 December 2009 at 07:06
Tannniee!

Hoe is het daar? Wat ben je heerlijk bruin, je ziet er echt goed uit! En je straalt!
Deze week kunnen we de dagen aftellen dat je terug komt. Ik heb er zo'n zin in. Wel jammer voor jou dat je daar alle mensen gedag moet zeggen!
Ik ben zo benieuwd naar al je verhalen! Ik kom vrijdag meteen na mijn tentamen naar je toe!
We hebben gister een kerstboom gekocht voor de kerst. Fijn dat je er dan ook weer bij bent!
Ik hoop dat alles goed gaat tijdens de reis naar huis! Kun je eens goed bijslapen.. Ik zal aan je denken!

Kus je allergrootste fan, Danique
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Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups
(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)
The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

Basha
Jungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

Bodega
A Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

Bravo
A term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.
The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)
Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, Chicos
Spanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic
A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13A
Costa Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)
Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)
An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)
A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)
Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)
Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Gallo Pinto
A traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans (yum!)

Icebreaker (Rompe Hielos)
A getting-to-know-you game

Longdrop (Letrina)
The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)
From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

Maxis
Short for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

Nicas
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

Ninja
A popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPS
Legendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)
Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)
Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

PURA VIDA!
A very special Costa Rican phrase that means hello, goodbye, I’m great, it’s good, pure life, basically any positive, feel-good thing can be Pura vida!

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)
As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)
A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)
The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa Americana
Purveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)
Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

Tang
A fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

Ticos
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Trangia (Mini Cocina)
A portable cooking stove. Used primarily for trekking, a trangia’s compact design makes it perfect for easy transportation. Literal translation in spanish - mini kitchen. Makes sense

Turrialba
The location of Fieldbase

Venturers (Aventureros)
Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)
The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)
A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”