Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Welcome to Expedition 11C

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Welcome to Expedition 11C

¡Hola! from a hot and sunny Turrialba in Costa Rica! Twelve of the volunteer manager advance team arrived here three days ago to join our permanent in-country staff, director Julian and programme manager Ross.

After a day of bleary-eyed jetlag we've been busy getting up to speed on our roles here at Raleigh country HQ, known as fieldbase, and starting to prepare for the arrival of the other volunteer managers next week. Although we're busy that doesn't mean we're not having fun and we'll tell you more about that in our next post.

Meanwhile, if a picture speaks a thousand words, then a video speaks at least a few pictures. So what better way for you to get a feel for fieldbase if you're coming out here soon, or if you know someone who is, than by watching our short welcome film. Turn on your speakers and click on to (virtually) meet our friendly advance team.

As they say in Costa Rica in response to everything good and happy, ¡Pura vida!

27 comments:

Anonymous20 January 2011 at 12:02
Hi Ivan,
Glad too see that the sun is out!! All looks fantastic and really looking forward to catching up with all the news. All ok back here at home - and yes I have walked the dog!! Try not to work too hard and will see you very soon.

Lots of love Berry & Dougie.xx
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Anonymous21 January 2011 at 16:18
Hi Gerry
Looking good!
Can't wait to read more on the blog.
Siobhan
PS Aren't we in the same time zone now?
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Anonymous21 January 2011 at 23:47
11C!! yaaaay..thats us!! Welcome to Costa Rica!! We're super exited and can't wait to meet you guys already!!! see you soon!!

Yendry
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Anonymous23 January 2011 at 16:55
11C! waiting for the most exciting and incredible experience! HERE WE GO!

see you soon!

Mauricio
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Anonymous23 January 2011 at 18:58
It´s really great reading the blog and seeing the photos from the advance team. Looking forward to meeting you all! See you tomorrow, Team 11C! Natasha Greatorex
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Annastacia3 February 2011 at 19:40
Hola Yendry, can´t wait for u to start this awesome experience....hope u have fun and don´t come back with a broken leg pleaseeeeeeeee......i´m going to miss you and hope to hear all about it when you return!!! GOOOO YEN U CAN DO IT!!!
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Anonymous10 February 2011 at 04:52
Cazz, i hope i've done this right, i know you're out there somewhere! Just to say hope you arrived safely and are enjoying yourself! The tantrum queen was on fine form last night, soooo looking forward to 10 wednesdays in a row! Thats all for now, take care love Dais xxx
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Lizzie Smith10 February 2011 at 09:40
Caroline! Missing you already! Hope your settling in okay and that everything is amazing. So jealous, London is horrible and rainy and grey. Saw your little white legs in the photo's taken of your arrival. Oh how that will change when your back! Lots of Love and hugs Liz xxxxxx
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Anonymous11 February 2011 at 18:47
Masmeeeee!!! cm van???? Espero k todo cool. Pd: digale a tu k ya me adueñe del land rover ;)
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Lucrecia Navarro11 February 2011 at 22:12
Hola Equipo de Raleigh.
Les deseo mucho éxito en esta expedición 11C, por lo visto una de las más grandes. Se que harán historia, un abrazo a todos!!!
Este mensaje es para Andrés Chavarría de Costa Rica: en casa te amamos con todo el corazón y estamos felices de que esté viviendo la aventura más maravillosa de tu vida. El Señor guiará tus pasos. We love you and every day we´ll praying for you!!! Hágale flaco, no afloje!!!
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Lucrecia Navarro11 February 2011 at 22:15
para Ignacio Camacho Piedra de Costa Rica:

Hola Nacho, te mandamos muchos abrazos y cariños de tu otra familia que te quiere. Adelante muchacho, de lo mejor de usted siempre. We love you!!!
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Rahman's12 February 2011 at 12:57
To Jakhya (Alpha 3),

It’s great to see you smiling with your team. And you’re fortunate to have been located at a site surrounded by the Pacific! We hope you’re ready for the challenging tasks ahead in maintaining the Reserve and we look forward to more news about your progress. Good luck to you and all your team members.

Best wishes.
From, your Family XxX

PS you’re 6 hours behind us!
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Anonymous13 February 2011 at 07:53
For Aisling Bury. Hi Bash. Greetings from the Al Bustan beach! Glad to hear you arrived safely and are now off to Nicaragua - very exciting! Our very own Indiana Jones will be very jealous I am sure! Have circulated blog to usual suspects so hope you get some messages. BTW Cairo seems to be back on for your language year! Have a great time Bash. Love Mum and Dad xxx
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Anonymous13 February 2011 at 12:41
FOR KESIAH MOSS - 11C

Hi Kesiah, steve here hope all is well, mum says got your message refight, will reorganise as requested and inform HQ and the blog. I have taken up the piano again and leart the Fray, as you can imagine it's rather good :). Have fun, bye xxx
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Daisy18 February 2011 at 11:09
Cazz (Bisky) So just before the weekend i'll give you an overview of my plans, they are as follows, tonight i'm going to plym with em and liz and tomo again with rach and nat then sunday down to Cornwall for the night with Jess :) so it's a good weekend for me, i'm keeping busy! I also keep going to text you then realising you're not in the country! I just went for a walk, then did a Katie workout and have deep conditioned my hair! Hope you're okay and having fun, drop me an email when you can chica, take care Dais xxxxxxxx
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Anonymous7 March 2011 at 11:03
Para: Lucía Salazar
Hola Luuuu!!! Cómo estas?? Espero que sigas mejor de la rodilla y que sigas disfrutando al máximo de esta experiencia. Estoy super orgullosa de vos, el trabajo que estas haciendo es super valioso y es un ejemplo para todos nosotros. Te mando un abrazo enorme desde el polo norte!! TE AMOOOOO! Nati
PS: Miss u in Whatsapp :(
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Mariela Ramirez7 March 2011 at 11:07
Para Lucia Salazar

Hola luci! me cuentan de tu super aventura!! que exitoo!! quiero saber donde estas metida y hasta me contaron de una lesion como estas?? besos y abrazos desde aca TKM!!!!
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Anonymous7 March 2011 at 13:02
Para: Lucia Salazar
eso luuuu!!!!!! me imagino que estas disfrutando dem!!! muchisima suerte!!! cuanto tiempo mas falta??? miss u!!!!
*da reportes mas seguido porfa a ver donde andas!!!!! un beso y un abrazote!!!!! te espero aca!!! ;)
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Unknown7 March 2011 at 14:24
Para Lucía Salazar!

Hooooooooola luuuu, me hacés mucha falta, espero que te esté yendo super bien, por los últimos updates se que sí :D.

Te cuento que estoy trabajando jajaja cuando volvás te cuento en donde!

Muchos éxitos y que te siga yendo super no vemos pronto ;)
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Carlos Pérez7 March 2011 at 14:25
Para Lucía Salazar:

Hola hola lucy todo bn? Q te has hechooo?? jaja!! hey contame como ha estado esa experiencia?? Q has tenido q hacer?? un día de estos le pregunté a Mudo que dónde estabas metida xq tenía rato de no saber nada de vos!! hey en serio muchas felicidades por tu experiencia... tus acciones son digno ejemplo de lo q muchos debemos hacer y de lo q este mundo necesita por montones...personas especiales y de gran corazón!! Cuando andas de vueltas por estos rumbos??

Un gran abrazo!

Carlos Perez
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Anonymous7 March 2011 at 15:15
TO KITTY DRAKE ALPHA ROMEO 3 (11C)
HOPE YOUR NEW PLACE IS FANTASTIC AND YOU ARE ENJOYING YOUR WORK THERE.....WE SO MISSED TALKING TO YOU AT BASE CAMP....NEXT TIME YOU ARE THERE WE NEED DESPERATELY TO SPEAK TO YOU ON A NORMAL PHONE TO SORT OUT YOUR PHONE WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN RECONNECTED. PANCAKE DAY TOMORROW AND THEN THE MOTHER OF ALL DIETS. I WILL EAT AN EXTRA PANCAKE WITH LEMON AND SUGAR FOR YOU! THINKING OF YOU DARLING ONE AND MISSING YOU. TONS OF LOVE MUM XX
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Anonymous7 March 2011 at 22:41
Para Lucia Salazar
holaaaa....!!espero todo bien con la super experiencia q t estas pegandooo jejeje!! dond estas ahorita la ultima vez q supe era por la nikland...q bueno esta el tourshh...sorry cuidat mucho!!andas en toda una mision verdee...jeje! puro surviver jeje! besos y abrazos desd liberia city! atte: aileen!!
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Anonymous8 March 2011 at 06:06
Lucy

Que el no mismismo te sea provechoso en el rally que estas, tienen actividades como el primero que llegue con un cortauñas gana 5 puntos o algo asi?

Que todo el poderío de la situation llegue a ti y te llene de ánimo y de autoridad como si tuvieras un charro a lo largo del caminar.

Se te quiere
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Unknown8 March 2011 at 15:48
Para: Lucía Salazar

Lu, hoy en el día de la mujer me he puesto a recordar a esas mujeres que aprecio de forma especial y me fue muy difícil no pensar en vos, y me ahueva saber que no estés cerca o comunicada para poder decirte como siempre que te quiero montones; por otro lado, me alegra mucho que estés viviendo esta experiencia que sin duda no esta hecha para cualquier persona, este tipo de retos y vivencias son perfectas para personas especiales como vos, especiales e increíbles personas en todo sentido.
Espero que estés disfrutando mucho y que éste sea el inicio de nuevos buenos proyectos que emprendas en el futuro y en los cuales los que te queremos te vamos a apoyar mucho.

Un abrazo Miss.

Luigi
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Manrique Cordoba10 March 2011 at 11:56
Para: Lucía Salazar

Hola Muñeca como estas???? Como te ha ido en el Turrialba y en el Braulio (si ya te fuiste ahi jeje)??? Vieras o orgulloso que me siento de vos que seas tan capaz y tan cool de poder hacer este proyecto tan sheeve Nena. A todo el mundo le ando rajando de la novia tan exito y cool que tengo. Vieras que un dia de estos fui a hablar paja con tu mama, antes de irme al curso de electro el martes.
Ojala que estes disfrutando al maximo esta super experiencia guapa. Te amo muchisisisisisisisimo y me haces demasiada falta. Te mando un besote, te amo F and A!!!!!
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Anonymous31 March 2011 at 12:50
Bonjour,

te voilà engagée dans une nouvelle aventure ? en quoi cela consiste-t-il ? tu ne seras pas là pour le concert de ton frère pour l'inauguration du stade ?
Raconte nous ta nouvelle vie !!
On pense à toi
Bises de France
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Anonymous31 March 2011 at 12:52
Pour Lucia Salazar
Le message précédent était pour Lucia Salazar !!!!
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Add comment

Hi,

Thank you for visiting our blog. Comments are monitored daily and we will ensure messages are promptly delivered to your loved ones. Please ensure you state the name of the person to whom your message is addressed. This is so we don't miss any out. Muchas gracias!

Pura Vida!

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How to send your loved ones a message

It's easy. Scroll down to the bottom of the most recent entry and click the comments link. A box will then appear where you can write your comment - please don't forget to tell us who the message is for including the full name and project group of the recipient. You can select name/URL from the dropdown menu to tell us who it's from (you can leave the URL blank if you wish). Finally, click on 'Post Comment' and you're done.

As you can imagine there are 180 volunteers so hundreds of messages for loved ones, no comments go live immediately and have to be moderated for appropriateness, so please do bare with us.

All comments that are pertinent to the post will be publshed and all personal messages will be delivered (even if they don't appear published). Messages mean a lot to all the volunteers; thank you for your continued support.

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?”