Zulu Seven: Los Tololos update

After spending Phase Two at Fieldbase to keep the expedition hale and hearty, Dr Joey set off for the Nicaraguan village of Los Tololos to spend the final phase of 10B working alongside Zulu Seven on their water project. Below our marvellous medicine man talks us through the first few days of Phase Three, accompanied by some hot shots by guest photographer Alison who was dispatched from London last week on a secret mission... she emailed in these gems from an internet cafe in Grenada:

Project Managers Joey and Emma along with photographer Ali and our interpreter Alex

Following a scenic two-day bus ride including a spectacular sunrise, the searing heat of Nicaragua could be matched only by the warmth of the reception we received from the people of Los Tololos. As the entire village gathered, Brigado described the history behind Raleigh’s relationship with the Cooperative before allowing venturers to attempt to introduce themselves to the community in broken Spanish. Soon after we were led away by our new ‘mothers’ for a home cooked meal, returning shortly after to the central pulperia for an evening fiesta, complete with pinata, music and dancing. Davinder and Joe proved to be a bit of a hit with the children, Richelle more so with the older boys of the village.

Zulu Seven

We awoke at 4am the following day on the insistence of our fellow house guests, namely the pigs, dogs, parrot, cats, piglets and chickens. A staple breakfast of rice, beans and tortilla laid the foundation for our morning meeting, a tour of the village and worksite, afternoon Spanish lesson and finally a daily review. Following intensive negotiations with the pulperia owners an in true Anita Roddick style a supply of diet coke was secured to feed the incessant demand, yet another pioneering effort for Raleigh in Los Tololos.

Ronnie has made plenty of new friends in the village

The group have started work on our water system, completing the trenches and mixing concrete to finish the water tank. We’re really looking forward putting in the pipes and turning on the new taps for the first time at the end of the project.

Henry and Phoebe get stuck into some trench digging

Green Goddesses: the girls complete another day of hard graft

Up next: we catch up with Zulu Ten in El Terrero