Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: 12H

Thursday, 2 August 2012

12H - The Final Slideshow

Farewell Expedition 12H... you have all been amazing. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, commitment and dedication to your projects. All the best and good luck with your Fourth Challenge!

7 comments:

Nick Voaden3 August 2012 at 09:03
For Richard Voaden Alpha1

Richard - Did you take more than one shirt with you?
Every photo I have seen you are wearing the same shirt ! Hope you have at least washed it.
Ever thought about getting a t-shirt ? Those around you might welcome it !

Hope all goes well.
Nick
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Claudia's Mum3 August 2012 at 10:14
Message to all at Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Thank you for everything you have done for my girl. She is home glowing with happiness, new friends, new perspectives,and a new sense of herself and her place in this amazing world.

Pura vida!

Claudia's Mum out.
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Anonymous3 August 2012 at 10:48
Daniel Cherrie Alpha 3
Hi Daniel, hope you are continuing to have a great time. We all miss you. Seen Dan today and he was fine. Sam is down in London with the olymics working. The rent is all sorted now. Spoke to Lee yesterday and send him info of the blog.
Try to call home as soon as you can to have a chat.
Take Care. Lots of love,
vicki and bill xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Toms mum4 August 2012 at 10:23
Tom Harrison Romeo 5. Hi tommy hope you are enjoying your next challenge, we are all good, off to Cornwall tomorrow which should be fun! Jakey lost second tooth today and it went down plug hole while brushing his teeth!!! Don't think we have had that happen before!!! Georgie had 12 stitches in her leg! She walked into a glass door at a party! She is recovering well though and it is healing nicely. Dad and I are good, just been busy with house! Love you lots and looking forward to your next blog. Xxxx
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Bashley4 August 2012 at 13:07
To: All Raleigh Bermuda Venturers

SOMERSET won cup match!!!!!!! As you know Kristin and I are not impressed! To all you Somerset fans BERMP! BERMP!!!Bermp!!!!

Hope you all are having an amazing time and cant wait to see ya'll!

Hugs and Love, Bashley!!
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Louise McKenzie5 August 2012 at 19:26
For Matt McKenzie - Romeo 6, Miraflor

Hello again. Well I hope you are managing to keep dry! I see that Tropical Storm Ernesto has passed south of Jamaica but will probably make landfall in Honduras or the Yucatan, so miss Nicaragua completely. We've been monitoring it just in case. Jamie and her family left the Cayman Islands today, three days early, to spend the last of their vacation on the beach in Florida rather than brave the storms.

Did back to school shopping with Caitlin today at Northpark mall - she's happy with her purchases, which include a pair of Steve Madden boots, but I have sore feet and a strained wallet :)

I go back to work day after tomorrow so I'm excited for the new school year and all the new kids who will be pouring through the doors - hopefully full of enthusiasm and eager to learn. Caitlin has a few more weeks - she starts on August 27th - but since it was our last weekend of freedom, she invited her friends over and they swam, ate, slept and generally wreaked havoc. Dad leaves tomorrow for Salt Lake City so it'll just be the girls at home.

On the subject of Dad, he has enjoyed the Olympics, but never more than today when Andy Murray won gold against Federer. Redemption after his Wimbledon defeat. Brits continue to do well, as well as our adopted second home - Phelps beat all records and retired from Olympic competition with 22 medals, 18 of them gold!

Nothing else of note to report. Changed all the horrible gold colored door handles and replace them with oil rubbed bronze (did you just yawn?!) but still lots to do to restore the house to fully normal - I will be glad when the last cardboard box is finally unpacked and the contents either placed, stored or got rid of.

Anyway I'd better sign off - don't know if there's a limit to what I can post in the comments box, but it's such a wonderful way to keep in touch. If only it was two-way! Thank you moderators for offering this service :)

We love you lots and are looking forward to hearing from you soon. Hope your ankle is well on the way to being fully healed, and that you are having fun in Miraflor. We are very proud of you.

Lots of love and hugs
Mom
xxxxxxxxxx
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Anonymous6 August 2012 at 08:25
For Sarah O'Mahoney Romeo 2. Thinking of you at this time, hope the trek is going well. Norah x
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Hi,

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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?”