Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Getting Ready to Host the Hosts...

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Getting Ready to Host the Hosts...

Keiner, our Costa Rican HCV Programme Manager, has been working very hard over the past few months managing the HCV programme and gathering up an excited group of Host Country Venturers for Expedition 12G/H! There will be 14 Costa Rican Venturers and 6 Nicaraguan Venturers arriving tomorrow, which all us VMs are incessantly busy preparing for, making the place ship shape for our Tico and Nica friends. They’ve been through a lot of their inductions already and are arriving a day early from the other Venturers to get settled in and allow us VMs to practice our Spanish and learn a bit about local ways.

Our Keiner, HCV Programme Manager

Today at Fieldbase we’ve had our final sessions on sustainable development and now officially finished our VM training! Tomorrow we have a last Q&A session to make sure we can speak fully with confidence to the Venturers when they arrive about constructing a basha village and using different tools, erecting tents and operating tricky trangias. Just shows how much we’ve picked up in the last few weeks – it’s flown quicker than Concorde after 2 double espressos...

We’re all fully geared up for what’s going to be an amazing, life-changing expedition for one and all. Can’t blimmin’ wait (and we don’t really have to!).

Pura Vida!

Leanne and Mau

Antes de la llegada…

Keiner, nuestro coordinador para los HCV’s ha estado trabajando muy duro durante los últimos meses organizando y coordinando la convocatoria de los HCV’s que estarán con nosotros en la expedición 12G/H! A partir de mañana estarán con nosotros 14 participantes de Costa Rica y 6 de Nicaragua, esta noticia nos tiene a los VM’s emocionados y con mucho trabajo por hacer para tener la mejor bienvenida a nuestros amigos Ticos y Nicas. Ellos han pasado ya, por una serie de preparaciones y capacitaciones que los han preparado para su llegada un día antes del resto de “venturers”, con el objetivo de conocer a los VM’s acá en FieldBase, pasar un rato excelente juntos y poder practicar nuestro español con ellos antes de la llegada del resto de la expedición.

Hoy en FieldBase tuvimos nuestras sesiones finales de desarrollo sostenible y ahora oficialmente hemos terminado nuestra preparación como VM’s. Mañana tendremos nuestra sesión final de preguntas y respuestas para estar completamente preparados y confiados para explicar a los “venturers” todo lo relacionado a la construcción de las “basha Village”, uso de herramientas, levantamiento de tiendas y manipulación de “trangias”

En fin, estamos completamente preparados y a la expectativa de lo que pasara en esta increíble expedición que esta pronta a comenzar, estamos seguros que será una experiencia que recordaremos de por vida.

Pura Vida!

Mau y Leanne

5 comments:

Anonymous29 June 2012 at 03:36
Ciao Keiner! Well done for all your hard work! Big hugs from London MC
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Anonymous29 June 2012 at 06:24
Hello there - this is a message for Sonal Amin please (it's her bday tomorrow, 30 June)

Happy Happy Birthday Smeags! I'd love to know how you are celebrating on your prison island?! We will all be sure to raise a glass of fizz to you tomorrow (oops - not sure that you're allowed fizz in remotes'ville, ah well - I'll have an extra for you!). We love you and miss you hugely, and remain green with envy. Big big love and snogs, Lucy & Chrizzle Kicks XXXXX
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Anonymous29 June 2012 at 08:49
Note for Louise Gibney

Good to hear you are all ready for the teams to arrive?! Thanks for the anniversary card, very organised. Hope the travelling is getting less 'stressful'.
Good luck and enjoy. Sounds brilliant.
Love Mum&Dad xxx
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Anonymous29 June 2012 at 16:26
Sofí, Tuz, Adrián, Silvia, Richard, los Robertos, Mache, Neto, Rocío, Andrés, Carla, Merino

Tic@s eleven anclas, alcen vuelo, caminen juntos, 12GyH buen viaje,

Saludos
Lore
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Anonymous29 June 2012 at 23:25
Message for Claudia Craig on 12H

Hope you arrived safely and managed to get some sleep! It sounds like you'll be having fun and we are all jealous that it looks sunny out there as it's still very damp here in Fife. We love you lots and miss you already - I am now being subjected to a lot of sport - but I have the dufa! Big hugs and kisses Mum xxxxx
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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?”