Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Day 4 of Coast to Coast trek!

Monday, 20 August 2012

Day 4 of Coast to Coast trek!

We have been tasked with trekking from one side of Costa Rica to the other. As you can imagine, this is a challenging mission!

At the start of trek, the sheer heat hit us immediately and has turned out to be one of our biggest challenges so far. Although we are lucky, as 4 days in we haven’t yet had rain, it can be hard to appreciate as we are soaked with sweat!

Yesterday, whilst walking along a disused train track, we stopped to ask locals for directions in broken Spanish. We really weren’t expecting to receive a response in perfect Jamaican-English! Stumbling upon a community of Jamaican settlers in Costa Rica was an astonishing surprise that helped us to get back on track.

Spirits in X-Ray 1 are high and everybody is looking forward to the next couple of days when we will trek through the jungle!

Peace out from X-Ray 1 having fun in the boiling sun!

8 comments:

Unknown20 August 2012 at 10:07
Reuben Mcgowan - X-Ray 2 - Miratombo Trek

Just wanted to let you know that ive just got home and had a warm bath, on the way home i had a mcdonalds and tonight im having steak for dinner, hope you enjoyed the refried beans and pork and beans ;)

In Corfu at the moment chilling by the pool...
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Unknown20 August 2012 at 10:11
Julianna Franco - X-Ray 3 - Miratombo Trek

Hope your enjoying trek and not missing me too much ;) Skype on the 5th yeah? The laguna and cerro negro is worth the hard work, keep going!

Craig
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Rambo21 August 2012 at 11:23
To Emma Smyth

Hola embomboloomba,
Hope your toe is all sorted now- look after that little dude!
All back here in sunny Manc is good, am back home chillin.
Mum and dad are down in Burnham with Monika, Manu and Leo. They met up with Ankur and all yesterday- I spoke to them all on the phone, they all send their love.
Chatted to graham, he's good, he went home for the weekend, sounds like he had a good time out cycling with your dad and then meeting up with his mates. He's totally dominating me and Tim at fantasy football at the moment, need some tips from you for my team!
Tim's good too, just coming to the end of his dissertation and getting ready to come over for the course. Both Tim and graham send their love and best wishes. Also had a chat with Veronica- she was asking about you, as was Jean at Sides, they say hello.

Hope you are having a good time, I'm sure your doing grand. Not long now til you are back so keep going! Keep smiling and laughing;)

Lol
Rambo xx
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Pshiito21 August 2012 at 23:43
DE: Paola Montero Chaves
Para:Luis Andres Mora

Hola amor esperote encuentres muy bien, cada vez te extraño masme haces una falta pero espero que estes dando todo de ti porque mira que ya falta muy poco 15dias <3 te amo y vos lo sabe..Aqui te estoy esperando te amo demasiado Dios me lo bendiga (: CUIDATEEEE bendicionesmi amor
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Cat Spence22 August 2012 at 02:47
Becca Atkinson - Coast to Coast
Hi Becca! Saw a nice picture of your group on the blog on day 4 of your trek and you are still looking smiley, hooray! You have probably crossed the jungle by now which I remember being a really tough bit!
On Monday we are moving our belongings into storage and then we have a couple of weeks homeless before we move into a new flat which is in Archway (north London, a bit North of Camden). Laura is going to stay at Becka's aunty's house in South London with Becks and I'm going to stay at Leon's for a few weeks.
You'll have to come and visit our new flat when you are back, I want to hear all of your stories!
Enjoy the last few weeks out there, especially when you finish the trek and can chill on the beach!
I'm going to go and eat some really nice food now and just generally relax and be clean and smell good. Enjoy your pork and beans...mwahhahaha.
Love of love Cat xxx
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Anonymous22 August 2012 at 11:18
Animos y mucha fuerza a Luis Andres Mora, tu puedes, vamos, todos los dias le pedimos a Dios fuerza para todos ustedes, Luis te amamos, el sabor del triunfo es muy rico, mas cuando las cosas cuestan....te esperamos....vamos X-Ray 1. ustedes pueden....Att Alina, Eli y David...FUERZAS PARA TRIUNFAR
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Unknown23 August 2012 at 08:29
Reuben Mcgowan - X-Ray 2 - Miratombo Trek

Hey man, hope your having a great time! Cant wait for you to get back so we can catch up on whats been happening out there! Keep going, the laguna is worth it!

Craig
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Anonymous23 August 2012 at 14:11
Saskia Proffitt X - Ray 1

Glad you are having such a fantastic trip after all that hard work! Jungle camping will be exciting. D of E training may help but not a lot!Nicho, Catherine and Hugues are coming home this weekend for ODDay so that will be fun. Miss you loads but hope you are having such a great time that you haven't missed us too much. Truffle sends you a purr and us: huge hugs. Love you loads, Mums XXX
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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?”