Warming up...

It's 5am. You've spent the last six hours tucked up in a three meter square box of canvas with seven other people. Three of them snored. Beneath you, the roll mat you borrowed from your mate isn't as cushiony as you'd hoped, and your head's still reeling from the flight/bus journey/orientation briefing. The mosquito that's been buzzing round your head all night has finally given up, only to be replaced by the shrill hollers of farm birds as dawn creeps in. You're absolutely exhausted, and you've got a full day of boot camp ahead - how are you going to pull this one out of the bag?

Not all of us are morning people. But if you're feeling bleary-eyed and fuzzy headed, there is no better way to shake off sleep than a Raleigh warm-up session. This can be anything from a getting-to-know you 'icebreaker', a physical challenge, a best/worst/proudest/most embarrassing moment, or a silly game. My favourite energizer is the Roar Off, a team game where each side stands with their backs to one another and - on a count of three - turns and RRRRRRRRRROARS at the opposition, as loud as they can. For as long as they can. Marks are awarded for volume, endurance and accompanying scary faces. Six of our Project Managers demonstrate the technique in this short film:




This morning, we made Raleigh history by organising the biggest and best Roar Off of them all. This epic event included the now complete Expedition 10B team and is captured in the photo below.
 
 

Now, lets rewind to yesterday when the adventure well and truly began. In particular, we'd like to give a big shout out to our Nica contingent (that's our fine friends from Nicaragua, don't you know). Their bus down from Managua was held up by road closures, resulting in a mammoth 27-hour journey. But they made it - and received a warm welcome on arrival at Fieldbase...

Melvin, Harold, Erving, Noyling, Javier, Nelson, Juan Carlos & Jose

And finally, flight delays meant that Neil and Emma were a tad late - just in time to collect James from the airport and tootle back to Turrialba in Bravo Three.

Neil, Emma and James

With the expedition now complete there are heaps of new faces to get to know and our humble Fieldbase is jammed packed with rucksacks, mess tins, hiking boots and the constant buzz of excited chatter. And all this on very little sleep... we're all running on adrenaline, excitement and plenty of sweet, punchy Costa Rican coffee.  With only four days to prepare for our first of three project phases, there is no time to waste: after yesterday's welcome breakfast and some introductions, we knuckled down to a day of orientation briefings, paperwork, team building and radio training.

Country Director Julian and Country Programme Manager Ross welcome 10B to Fieldbase

Deputy Expedition Leader Laura flexes her vocal muscles at Medic Joey

Meal times for 160 people are pretty cozy 

Essential communications, Raleigh style

Tomorrow: find out what happens when we head off to Jungle boot camp