Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: News on Alpha 4 also known affectionately as "Fat Pandas"

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

News on Alpha 4 also known affectionately as "Fat Pandas"

The last 9 days Alpha 4 (team name Fat Pandas) have been working in Carara National Park on an environmental project. Using manual labour, basic tools and team spirit we managed to complete approx. 150m of nature trail providing a new access route into the park.

A couple of fat pandas at work

The days were long and hot but motivation and team morale remained strong. We never thought a group could become so close in such a short amount of time.

Spirits are high

It hasn't all been work, we still managed to find time to celebrate Hidde's 18th birthday with a party, music, games and thanks to Oscar, the park ranger, even cake and ice cream!

Evenings have been spent playing countless games of uno, salsa lessons, massage sessions, Spanish lessons and slangtastic classes.

During our time here we have seen a variety of wildlife, from capuchin monkeys, Iguanas, and coati to coral snakes, lizards, toads and crocodiles. We were lucky enough to have a rare sighting of a black jaguar which crossed our trail. We found it hard to believe too when Tory first told us!

It's been a great first project and even though we'll be sorry to say goodbye to Sarah, one of our project managers we're waiting to welcome Charlie into the Fat Panda family.

Wahgwar to my bredrins at home, keep it real, safe, all bless.

Pura Vida

Words by Comms Officer Ben Byers

8 comments:

Andrew Perry23 October 2012 at 15:27
FAO: Laura Perry

Some news I thought you would appreciate, dear: the badger cull has been postponed for now by the UK govt.

I-A-O

Love Dad x
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J,H,E,W,T Agombar23 October 2012 at 15:45
Sarah Flynn - Alpha 5
David Agombar - Alpha 2
HI David and Sarah, hope that you're both well! We've seen great photos of you and the teams on the blog. Been thinking about you lots. We missed you both at Chris's 40th celebrations. Can't wait to hear all about it. lots of love, Hazel, John and boysxxxx
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Unknown23 October 2012 at 21:09
Jae mujer holaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!... le mando miles d vibras... ya el jueves se va Lau y quedamos aun mas solas :(... pero bueno disfruta bastanteeeeeeee!!!! se le quiere
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adpica82@hotmail.com23 October 2012 at 21:32
Hello! This message we wrote departe Melania Family Piedra Castillo, the expedition 12L, Alpha 5. We salute him and wish him the best of what is happening, your whole family will love you and we ask God to watch over you wherever you are much ... And the other members of the expedition also wish them well.
Many blessings!
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adpica82@hotmail.com23 October 2012 at 21:38
Hello, This message is directed to Melanie Piedra Castillo, the Expedition 12L, Alpha 5, greets his family wants, TooDo wish the best and remind you that we love you, we ask God to accompany her everywhere and ask him to take care much.
On the other expedition members wish him well in this experience.
Many blessings!

ReplyDelete
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adpica82@hotmail.com23 October 2012 at 21:39
Hello, This message is directed to Melanie Piedra Castillo, the Expedition 12L, Alpha 5, greets his family wants, TooDo wish the best and remind you that we love you, we ask God to accompany her everywhere and ask him to take care much.
On the other expedition members wish him well in this experience.
Many blessings!
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Unknown23 October 2012 at 23:02
For: Gustavo Granados, Alpha 4
From: Sofía Ratiqui quiros :)

Ratiquii, di aqui mandandole muy buena vibra, ojala este disfrutando como nunca esta primera probadida de raleigh, explotese todos los dias, no espere a que llegue el día siguiente viva como si nunca hubiera vivido, descubra todo lo que pueda y sobre todo... REPARTA TETICA jajajajaja ... un besote y un abrazoteeeee .
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Anonymous24 October 2012 at 10:03
saludos para mi hermano gustavo del equipo alpha4 lo quiero montones y espero verlo pronto.
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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!

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?”