Roooooooaaaaaaaad Trrrrriiiiiiip!

So that us lot at Fieldbase don’t go stir crazy with cabin fever, during each Phase we hop into the Bravos to embark upon a tour of all of the projects across Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

There were 2 road trips in Phase 1 – Costa Rica (to all the Deltas, Alpha 3 and Alpha 1) and the road to Nicaragua (to Alphas 2, 3, 5 and 6 plus Charlie 1 and 2, the ICS groups).

Becky, our Logistics Co-ordinator (AKA food goddess) has written a guest blog about life on the road during the long journey north visiting the projects.

Costa Rica road trip update (and impartial reviews based upon food creativity, long drop quality and hospitality) to follow in the coming days...

(Bravo) 3 is the magic number

15 days ago we set off in Bravo 3, our sturdy and very shiny Land Rover carrying valuable cargo of food, kit and 3 members of the fieldbase team, myself (Becky) and Rolo from the field base Logistics team and our very own photographer Bjorn, there to capture it all, the good the bad and definitely, I speak for myself here, the ugly after 15 days of intrepid travels.

To those of you who thought we at field base spend each 19 day phase with our feet up, sipping a cold beverage whilst occasionally taking calls on the radio are completely off the mark.  Pah!  Never let it be said that being a member of the field base team doesn’t mean some hard graft or that we don’t “get out there”. 

The truth is, being a member of field base is ace, having worked solidly for days to prepare for the deployment it was time to bank some fun-time and a chance to widen our sights beyond the walls of the Bodega. 

Driving out of FB in Turrialba we agreed our job for the next 15 days was to be a breath of fresh air to the teams, to never moan about the hardship of long drives, numb backsides, limited leg room and ahem..air con, the occasional shower and the odd hamburger!  We hope we didn’t disappoint.

During our 15 day tour we visited and got stuck into work at 5 Raleigh projects in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua and on top of that meeting up with our friends the trekkers Alpha 2 as they completed the Miratombo trek.  OK so out of the 5 visits, 2 of them had scheduled days off for our arrival, and ok so we did occasionally get a shower but we also had an important job to do.

We hope all the groups enjoyed and benefitted from our visit, we definitely loved every minute and came away with a feeling that we too had got a lot out of it.  Continuing the theme of 3’s there were 3 things that I personally gained from the trip; it was a great opportunity to meet some brilliantly bright and entertaining young venturers, all getting to grips with the challenges and benefits of working as a team.  An appreciation of how hard the groups work on Raleigh projects and treks, and admiration for the dedication of all of the team members.  And lastly, it was a great opportunity to meet and live within Nicaraguan communities, experiencing first hand the challenges of living (long drops and long hikes), working (the heat) and trying to bring up a family (on rice and beans alone) in often very remote areas.

We’d like to thank all our hosts Alpha 2, 3, 5 and 6 as well as Charlie 1 and 2. Thanks for your hospitality, your company and all the laid on entertainment, and also thanks to the Nicaragua sunshine for our great tans!

We look forward to doing it again in Phase 2.