Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Happy Birthday Adri!

Friday, 5 February 2010

Happy Birthday Adri!

Feliz Cumpleanos - today our lovely Tico PM Adri turns 22, and we're celebrating in style tonight with a huge UV party! There was no rest for this little lady - Adri spent the day with her co-PMs and fellow trekkers assembling food for their 20-day trans-continental trek.

It's glamous all the way for birthday girl Adri, bagging up another Alpha Three food drop...

It's a mammoth task to organise the mountain of dried and tinned goods that each group are allocated into 'meal' bundles for packing, and our captain of all things culinary, Katie, had her hand full today. Each trek carries enough food for fifteen people for five days - the rest is packed up and delivered to special 'food drop' locations by the support squadron of Bravo vehicles... Simple, you say? Catering for an army of hungry trekkers is no mean feat - Katie's shopping list included 3500 packet of peanuts and raisins, 500 bags of porridge, 1500 tins of pork and beans, 2000 cereal bars and 24 giant salami! Katie - we salute you!

The pork and bean queen

And that's not all - on top of food, there's a world of essential kit that needed to be dispatched from the Bodega. It's a funny place the Bodega - it's a bit like the Tardis. Good job we had our very own Dr Who - lovely logisitcs manager Sarah - who kitted the teams out with everything they needed from the right tools to build schools to maps and mess tins; we're talking paddles, barrels, tents, radios, satellite phones, GPS systems, stoves, tents and twine. It's an Aladdin's cave... and whatever we wish for, the lady delivers...

Putting the final touches to their construction kits

And finally, the UV party...

Tomorrow: Deployment day!

9 comments:

Anonymous6 February 2010 at 02:03
Ale!!! nena te llame el otro día, pero bueno. Cuando pueda me actualiza. Rebe pregunto por usted, ahora tiene trabajo en un EBAIS en el puerto!! Por el resto sin novedad más que mi barrio se esta poniendo inseguro tacharon los carros del departamento. Nena cuidese mucho. Besos, abrazos y mucho cariño. :)

Maryann.
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Anonymous6 February 2010 at 02:45
Keiner!!! mongolito!! ya estoy hostina que no este, no tengo quien me acompañe. Cata se gradua el 11 o 12 de febrero y creo que vamos ir a comer. Espero me este cuidando el Lobo Estepario. Abrazoooosss

Maryann
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Jane Shulver6 February 2010 at 03:16
Ruth Shulver Alpha 7
Breakfast with blogs - great way to enliven life in Norfolk! I'm glued to screen. Love and hugs xx Mum
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Anonymous6 February 2010 at 05:31
Charlotte Harman Alpha 8
Not sure I'm up to blogs! Looks like fun - no glaciers there I guess. Hope all works well, and you get to the camp in one piece, and that the project is fun and rewarding. Must be better than a miserable English weekend with AJ covered in chickenpox. We're consigned to watching CBBC non-stop.
Lots of love
Dad
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Anonymous6 February 2010 at 11:44
Emma Phillips, Alpha 1
Love the blog and thanks for newsy email, you're obviously having a great time. Hope you're getting some sleep in your basher bed! In case you haven't found it yet, look in outside pocket of your day sac...! Will send you an email with contact details of Sid's friend.
More soon!
Lots of love Mum Dad Thomas Katie and Tilly xx
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Anonymous6 February 2010 at 13:15
hey bex get in there doll love u dnt know if its the rite way plz let me know mwahhhhhhhh proud of u babe xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Marianne Mak6 February 2010 at 15:58
Marijne Mak alpha04
Elke dag nieuwe berichten op het blog, ik blijf helemaal bij! Was ook heerlijk om je email te lezen. Hoop dat je goed werk kan doen daar in het zuiden, en dat het gezellig is met je alpha 04team. Hoe slaapt het junglebedje? Foto's maken hoor! Heel veel liefs xxx mama
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Piba7 February 2010 at 03:03
Yamuna Morton Alpha 4
Looks like you are all having a great time. Make sure you eat well and stay healty, being vegetarian in this situation is not easy. If you need to cook your own food see if that is possible. How is the weather? We are updated regularly on the blogg which is very nice and we get pictures....Fred misses you, he does not know where you went so he whinges.
Love Piba and Saci
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tav7 February 2010 at 16:57
nice headband K, jaja

Good Luck my friends! Go 10B!

GUIDO!!
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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?”