Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: On the ground with Alpha 5

Friday, 23 July 2010

On the ground with Alpha 5

At the next stop on our Nicaraguan trip, Amy and your correspondent joined Alpha 5 on their water project in Rio Arriba, a small village near Achuapa in north-west Nicaragua.

The natural water source for the project is an hour's walk through stunning mountain scenery and on the day we visited the team were laying the first pipes to carry the fresh water down to the village with the help of their local foreman, Chico. The source will provide 60 litres of water every minute, which I'm reliably informed is a huge amount for a natural spring.

A small holding tank was dug around the spring and filled with rocks to create a natural filter before it was covered with plastic and cement to prevent any rainwater contaminating the supply.

Alpha 5 are now cracking on with trench digging for the pipeline and each day they get closer to their goal - providing fresh water for Rio Arriba.

The locals, who are very excited about having a reliable water supply (currently their taps often run dry), have taken our Venturers into their home and also provide a lot of manpower on the worksite.

Now some photos:

8 comments:

Anonymous26 July 2010 at 04:26
Will McN Alpha 5.
Hi saw the pictures of you digging trenches and celebrating the initial building work. You look in your element!
Letter on its way, much love and hugs, M+D
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Unknown27 July 2010 at 15:05
Hi Jessica C of Alpha 5, I've seen your pic's laying the pipeline. Its good to see you well, happy and a bit muddy. I'll send this link to Amelia. Love and miss you loads, Mum & Edd
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MARY (YUR MUM )28 July 2010 at 15:16
Dear son, hope you and your group re keeping well ? we miss you alot and please always take care of your self ok and it almost done and see u soon and a big well done to u all ok . take care . your mum

ALPHA 5 -TONY TAWAKALI
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Juliet Radford Hayes29 July 2010 at 05:48
Hi Tina (Alpha 5)

Beki sent your email to all of us so we're all getting to know wht you're doing and how much fun you're having. It's really lovely to see you in the photos looking so happy - it made me cry when I saw you! Silly me. I'm at Gary's and Jena's here with me whilst we look at the photos - she says 'hi - hope you're having fun - it looks like you're enjoying yourself'. Had bday bbq last night and saw Ian who is really really missing you. So's Lola! Well carry on having fun and doing fabulous work - the water will be a fantstic asset to the village and you have been part of getting it there, and that's something to be really proud of. Love you loads sweetheart. Take care and be safe - keep watching out for the snakes! Love you, Mum xxxxxx
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Anonymous29 July 2010 at 12:50
Well done guys!
We're having lots of fun watching all the projects and are amazed at the good wood work. We're getting Mayra our Texan friend help translate some of the messages as our school Spanish is not quite up to it....but we're learning.
I bet you have seen enough mud to do a lifetime.
Ana's family (alpha 2)
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Anonymous30 July 2010 at 04:10
Hi Neil(Algy)
Don't think my last comment went through'anyway here's another one!Could'nt see you in the photos,hope you arrived safley.THe work looks hard,all that digging but everyone appears to be enjoying themselves.Regards to your host family. look after yourself.See you soon
Love Mum,Dad and Amy.x
PS.parcel+2 arrived
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Anonymous30 July 2010 at 07:19
Hi Aysha,
From the pictures it looks like you are doing really well out there. We are all so jealous. You seem to be enjoying yourself and making making a few more friends along the way. Keep up the good work we at LCS are all very proud of you please keep the pictures coming... What a story you will have to tell from your experience...
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Helen30 July 2010 at 16:05
Hey Lisa! How's the rice & beans?!! The project photos look amazing & just seen you'll be back at camp this weekend, so will just wanted to say a big HI from Matt & I in not so sunny Yorkshire! It looks amazing over there, can't wait to hear what its been like so far! Helen x
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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?”