Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: X-Ray 3 The Raleigh Trail...and Cheese

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

X-Ray 3 The Raleigh Trail...and Cheese

Greetings from X-ray 3! Since our last entry we have been very busy working hard on getting the Mirador viewing platform finished, gravelling the rest of the Raleigh Trail, and carving and painting a sign post to finish it all off. We are on track for getting it finished, so much so that we are planning on creating a Raleigh garden complete with benches, plants and a sculpture.

Of course we have been playing hard too. We have had a day off where we walked a 12K round trip to a village where we horsed eagerly on greasy eggs, fried cheese, pork, chicken, and gallo pinto (rice and beans). This was followed by an atmospheric walk through the La Cangreja jungle to an unbelievable waterfall where we freshened up in the fast flowing cascades.

One of the more eventful stories of this phase so far involved Nash´s epic battle with a venomous scorpion that clung inside his boot. "I ran around like a cartoon coyote", said Nash after the fiasco. After the tears were shed it luckily turned out that the scorpion was in fact harmless. But it has made us all think twice about general boot safety. So "cuidense" to all the other X-ray groups!

X-ray 3 have also been busy mingling with the rangers - on Saturday we were invited to the rangers station to watch Costa Rica vs Uruguay. Yesterday the group was united in yet another culinary delight - a visit to Costa Rican "Pizza Express" in the small town of Puriscal. We bonded in a magical moment of a shared longing for cheese.We are looking forward to finishing our work here with a party planned on the completed Mirador on Friday afternoon. Until we write again, this is X-ray 3 (and the Macaws) out.

Vicky Walden and Gigi Walsh.

5 comments:

Felicity19 November 2009 at 02:16
For Laura McDonald. Hello darling girl, no news of your group for a while so can only presume that no news is good news. The party was really good but we all missed you and everyone asked after you. All well here in GX. Paul now at home and hoping to exchange on the flat early next week. Look after yourself my lovely girl, remember that every day there is a gift, that's why they call it the present!
Huge hug,thinking of you constantly xoxoxoxo
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Joanna Thomas19 November 2009 at 03:07
Oliver Thomas (X ray 3)

Thank you for your email! So pleased I can't smell you! Sounds as if you have been working hardish too! Clive thought you sent his card from Costa Rica and was delighted!! Archie caught an enormous rat yesterday - yuk! Looking forward to your next email. Love you and miss you. M xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Anonymous19 November 2009 at 08:16
Ailsa Bryce x-ray 3
Hope you have not had too many encounters of the tarantula kind! Great to hear that the team is much making such good progress and all is ahead of schedule. Hope you enjoy your party on Friday before heading back to field base! Looking forward to seeing you and all your photos in December. Much love A and P
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Anonymous19 November 2009 at 17:39
Message for Matthew Nash...
Ha that'll teach you not to put your hand into your boots before checking! And I thought scorpions were deadly - your brother says can he have your car if they are..
Fee and Lu and I miss you tons and tons.
Lots of love,
Mum xx
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Anonymous24 November 2009 at 16:00
For Ailsa Bryce
AHHH I just wrote you such a long message the stupid school internet crashed! As you can see it still sucks! Haha! Anyway i just spoke to you on the phone and it was so so lovely to hear from you and i am so glad that you are having such an amazing time- also very jealous! Really sucks that I can't talk to you now until I see you in December but it will go really quickly- especially for you and your trekking! Doubt it will go as fast for me with othello coursework, freezing cold hockey matches and endless history lectures! But it is only about 3 weeks and i cant wait to hear all about it. Ok, i'll see you soon and i'm thinking about you so much. Take care big sis. All my love xxxxx M xxxxx
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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?”