Alpha group update

Our Coms officer, Maryann, is out on the road visiting the Costa Rican projects at the moment, so the next few updates will be brought to you courtesy of myself, David, expedition photographer. Apologies if this results in photo heavy blog posts!

I have just returned from four days of trekking The New Trek with Alpha 2, so expect a long and overly detailed post in the next day or so covering their amazing adventures!

You will be pleased to know tha all groups arrived at their destinations safely and are progressing well on their projects.

Here's a brief update of the progress of each Alpha group:

Alpha 1 (Maribios Trek)
Alpha 1 travelled North to Nicaragua, safely crossing the border before arriving at Estelli (along with Alpha 6 and 7). They began their trek and have progressed well, making sucessful river crossings and are currently Southeast of Mina el Limon.

Alpha 2 (The New Trek)
The first four days of The New Trek (which will be named by Alpha 2 upon completion) are an entirely new route, meaning that this is trek that truly does have a real aspect of adventure to it. Suffice to say, obstacles were encountered and a new route has been discovered and documented. Last night saw them meet up with the planned route again - a route that has been previously well walked. When I (sadly) left the group behind yesterday I was immensely impressed with the them and what they had achieved, mentally and physically, and I can't wait to catch up with them for the ascent of the Dragon and then again to be there when they cross the finish line at the Pacific.

Alpha 3 (La Cangreja)
Alpha 3 completed their jungle camp, played some team building games and been swimming in the jungle jacuzzi. They have since started work on the Mirador (viewing platform).

Alpha 4 (San Lucas Island)
Alpha 4 arrived by boat on San Lucas island before building their jungle camp and meeting the rangers. They have gone for a great swim and have been learning about bamboo joinery and started construction on the tourism shelter.

Alpha 5 (Camoranal)
Alpha 5 arrived at the lovely Camoranal to find no bamboo to build their jungle camp so instead spent their first night in the ranger's station but have since been able to complete construction of their camp and perform night patrols on the beach.

Alpha 6 (Achuapa)
Alpha 6 travelled North to Nicaragua, safely crossing the border before arriving at Estelli (along with Alpha 1 and 7). They then walked to Las Tablas and have moved in with their community families and have cleared the worksite for their water project.

Alpha 7 (Miraflor)
Alpha 7 travelled North to Nicaragua, safely crossing the border before arriving at Estelli (along with Alpha 1 and 6). They have moved in with their community and have began excavating for foundations of the community center and getting to know the community.