Coming soon... expedition 13A!

Hello All

We are very much looking forward to having you here soon. Preparations are going well and we are working furiously to have everything ready for your arrival. I'm sure you will all have a million questions, but you should find the answers in your welcome pack / emails - if there is anything else you need please do not hesitate to get in touch with David Winterflood at Head Office. Another excellent way to prepare yourself is by having a good look through this blog / watching some of our end of phase slideshows. Undoubtedly, the biggest question you will have will be about the projects you will be doing... so here they are, the projects for Expedition 13A…. See you soon!

First of all, the community projects:

Achuapa, Nicaragua - Water Project
Close to the town of Achuapa, in one of the poorest most remote areas of Nicaragua, Raleigh will be working on a gravity-feed water project to bring clean and safe drinking water to 20 families. At present the local people get their water from the river which often dries up in summer or comes from polluted water sources. This project is a multi-stakeholder partnership with the local community, the Cooperativa Juan Francisco Paz Silva and Raleigh. The group will be working with the local population to dam small streams, build tanks to collect the water from where it can run through pipes to all the local houses. The benefits of clean water will be felt by many generations to come. The participants will be living directly with families in the village and will help out with their day-to-day tasks.

 

Conte Burika Indigenous Territory – Health Post Build
Deep in Costa Rica’s tropical south, the Punta Burika peninsula runs along the Panamanian border and is home to the Ngobe – an independent, indigenous people who live by subsistence farming in this beautiful but remote area. While their day-to-day life is seemingly simple and peaceful, the Guaymi face many complicated issues ranging from losing land to more assertive farmers across the border, to having little or no access to health and education. At the request of the community of la Carona, Raleigh will build a health post in order to provide health care for a wide area and dispersed population. Tricky access means that materials will mostly came from the surrounding forest – a highly skilled indigenous sierrista (chainsaw operator) will carefully selected trees from the reserve for the team to dry, saw, plane and sand before they construct a stilted wooden building.

And the treks...

The Coast to Coast Trek - Costa Rica
This trek starts at the Caribbean Sea and ends on the Pacific Coast. It starts out close to the port of Limon, heading along railway tracks and through small communities to Barbilla National Park. From here the groups walk through Chirripó Indigenous Territory to Bajo Pacuare. They then head to the beautiful Pejibaye river and over to Tapanti National Park. The groups ascend to nearly 3000m through the park before descending down to the Pacific Ocean via the Cerro Dragon peak. The trek ends at the beautiful Playa Palo Seco, where the groups make a final dash into sea having walked an amazing 270km, with each trekker having crossed not only a country but a continent also.

Miratombo Volcanoes Trek - Nicaragua
In the far north of Nicaragua, close to the border with Honduras, this Raleigh group will walk along a mountain ridge through the pine forests above Esteli. From here you will head along a ridge that passes by the Estanzuela waterfall and protected areas going through remote communities. The trek heads towards the Momotombo Volcano from which the trek takes its name before climbing up Volcan El Hoyo with fabulous views over Lake Managua. The trek finishes at the crater lake of Asososca – a beautiful crystal clear lake that was once a volcanic crater.

...not forgetting the environmental projects.

Carara National Park – National Park Infrastructure
Carara is one of the oldest national parks in the country and an extremely important one. It holds large areas of primary tropical rainforest with high densities of mammal and bird life – as such it is one of the most visited national parks in Costa Rica. The Lago Meandrica trail is one of the most visited trails in the park as there are great possibilities for seeing mammals and abundant birdlife, however currently the trail is closed as there is no proper control at the entrance and the first half of the trail often gets flooded in the rainy season. So the national park approached Raleigh with the task of building a new trail out to the lake which starts at the visitor centre and avoids flooded areas. This important project will re-open up the park to thousands of visitors each year upon which the local economy depends. You will be continuing the good work of expedition 12 who were based in the park from September to December

Alpha 5 versus Los Loros

     Alpha 5 are in Los Loros, a small community near to Achuapa, 50 miles from the Pacific coast, working on a project to develop a gravity-feed water system to provide the community with clean and safe drinking water. This is a much welcomed project for the locals who often have to walk large distances to collect water and are forced sometimes to collect water from polluted streams as there simply isn't enough supply to go around. 

     Alpha 5 have been busy with the community to help find the water source, dam the spring by collecting the water in a cement tank, digging trenches and laying pipes to help supply all the local houses. 

     All the venturers live and work with the local families and join in with the cooking, chores and sometimes helping out on the farms. Alex the designated leader of the day  told me " a few of us have have tried our hand at cow milking without much success and have decided not to give up the day job and stick to trench digging!" They have also been receiving Spanish lessons and have returned the favour by teaching English at the local school.

      When I asked how the project was going today Alex told me "we are currently waiting for cement to be delivered (probably a case of mañana, which means tomorrow or rather not today  "and have therefore arranged a base ball match against the locals. We are expecting to get a hiding but will let you know the score tomorrow evening." 

     Any one like to take bets?????

This is zero, this is zero... over

When everyone is out on their projects there is always a core team here at Fieldbase.  Each Alpha group has various means of staying in touch (a radio, a mobile phone and a satellite phone) so they are never cut off from advice, support or a friendly word.

There are two official communications from each group at a set time each day.  One is just to check in and the other ones is a more detailed SITREP (situation report).  This is a structured conversation that includes where the group are, what they've been doing, what they are going to do and allows information to be shared both ways.  One person is responsible for manning the Comms Room at Fieldbase each day to take the calls morning and night.  Our call sign here is zero.

Charlie and Martina manning the radio - this is zero, this is zero...

The news from our Alpha groups over the past couple of days is:-
                           
Alpha 1 - Yesterday they walked 18km to San Miguel and ate some fantastic salami.

Alpha 2 - They have walked from Miraflor Ranger Station to La Naranjita.

Alpha 3 - Arrived at Playa Hermosa and have succeeded in building basha beds to keep dry.  They have gone straight into Turtle patrols and working with the rangers.

Alpha 4 - At Carara National Park the jungle camp site is waterlogged so they are living in a ranger house - and it has the bonus of electricity.  They've started work on the trail.

Alpha 5 - Arrived at Achuapa, they are having a tour of the community and the water source today.

Alpha group allocations - then off to jungle camp

An important day today, the venturers were told which projects they will be doing through the first phase of expedition.  The project managers took to the stage and performed project based skits - hence the kilts, mutant turtle masks, monkeys and shell suits that appear in the photographic record.

So here is the running order...

Alpha 1 - Coast to Coast Trek

Left to Right: Pedro Ocon, Florentine E van Selms, Jonathan Gerardo Corrales Marenco,Vera Juarez Vargas, Aisha Green, Sophie LaMarre, Benjamin Avern, Natalie Metcalfe, Matthew Wilkinson, Benjamin Hilton-Delhaye, Nicole Ferris, Rory Thompson, Dave Myer

Alpha 2 - Miratombo Trek (Nicaragua)

Left to Right: Claudia Fiedler, Diego Molina Rodriguez, Arlenne Rodriguez Leandro, Puck van der Vet, Archie Finlayson, Benjamin Persofsky, David Rosam, Suwen James, Harley Decker, Shannon Potter, David Agombar (Omar Antonio Amaya Ochoa will join in Nicaragua)

Alpha 3 - Playa Hermosa/Carara National Park

Left to Right: Henry Anderson, Tracy Heyburn, Callum Blues, Angel Roberto Mejia Quintero, Marco Mora Jimenez, Eveline Kroese, Rahim Hassanali, Laura Perry, Jim Howard, Lilian Keller, Clare Skelton, Lydia Auty, Matt Whiteside (Max Smith arrived today to join the group and Andrea Grundke will join shortly.)
  
Alpha 4 - Carara National Park/Playa Hermosa

Left to Right: Hidde Van Lent, Ben Byers, Victoria McIrvine, Carlos Lugo, Patrice Hollywood, Gustavo Granados Bolanos, Zahir Parri, Yorleny Bermudez Murillo, Paul Darius, Antigone Taliadoros, Jae Quiroz, Sarah Crawford, Charlie Cox, Pauline Wright

Alpha 5 - Water project, Achuapa (Nicaragua)

Left to Right: Florian Cross,  Jose David Quesada Murillo, Sarah Flynn, Vic Lapsins, Jonas Koch, Hester Van Marwijk Kooy, Anika Kandola, Melania Piedra Castillo, Nicholas Masters, Alexander Robertson, Anna McManus, Luke Waldock (Jakeling Escoto Rivera will join us in Nicaragua.)

Now that the Alpha groups are formed each will head out to learn campcraft and navigation skills, bonding over basha beds and trangias.  Bags packed they headed off to spend the night at jungle camp.

Recce news from Nicaragua

The parties arrived back from their recce visits in Nicaragua yesterday.  Today they've had a chance to tell us about the things they've seen and the people that they met.

Alpha 2 were in Nicaragua to prepare for the Miratombo Trek, which includes the slopes of the volcano Cerro Negro.

Taking in the vapours - David and Claudia, Alpha 2

This amazing landscape makes the climb up pretty special, but the summit is no less spectacular with great views from the top.

On top of Cerro Negro - David and Claudia, Alpha 2

Of course what goes up must come down, and the descent brings challenges of its own.

David making his way back down Cerro Negro, a little quicker than the route up

Alpha 5 headed up to Nicaragua to visit the community of Los Loros, where they will be living and working.  The guys met with Omar, the community leader, and his family.  After a long journey north they were happy to be welcomed into Omar's home as his guest.

Florian and Vic, Alpha 5, making plans with Omar

The project will involve bringing fresh water down from the source to supply the local community.  So the first task is to find the water source.  Here Vic and Florian follow one of the village residents; x marks the spot.

Vic locating the water source

As always Raleigh are happy to be working closely with the local co-operative in Achuapa who co-ordinate the projects.  Alpha 5 met up with Nacho, the Secretary, at the co-operative headquarters and saw the work that they do including sesame seed processing and the production of oil, wine and honey.

Nacho welcomes Vic and Sarah to the community co-operative

The magic sorting hat of Turrialba

Each PM, as nervous as any new wizard to Hogwarts, took the stage to don the sorting hat of project selection.  How will the hat pronounce?  Will it be environmental, community or a trek?  Who will be your team mate/s?  Only the magic hat can decide.

Jae receiving pronouncement from the sorting hat

In a Harry Potter/Ready, Steady, Cook mixed metaphor the first task for the new teams was to create a pudding with store cupboard ingredients in 20 minutes - marks awarded for taste and presentation of the dish.

Pedro and Barney - judging pudding

Alpha 2 succeeded on taste - with David (call me Heston) and Claudia presenting a tropical flapjack.  Alpha 1 took presentation to extravaganza levels by bringing bunny ears and gold sequins to the table.  Fieldbase scored for team effort with Phil being the actual table, Joss being the waiter and the girls providing the crunchy bottom, fruity layer, velvety chocolate and zesty topping of their Fieldbase Fantasy.

Alpha 5 in the dance off

It all had to be decided with a dance off and Fieldbase pipped the competition at the post.  There may have been strength in numbers, and we have had an extra week to bond - but personally I put it down to sheer skill and creativity.

So, now fully bonded over cooking and dancing, the teams are assembled and ready to go.  The running order for the Project Groups is as follows:
Alpha 1 - Coast to Coast Trek, Costa RicaNicole, Dave and Natalie
This Trek has taken various forms over the past few years, but Expedition 12L will feature a particularly exciting version, starting at the Caribbean Sea and ending on the Pacific Coast.  Crossing a continent as well as a country.

Nicole, Dave and Natalie - Alpha 1

Alpha 2  - Miratombo Trek, Nicaragua 
David and Claudia
Starting in the far north of Nicaragua, near to the Honduran border, the Miratombo Trek meanders through the diverse landscapes of Esteli and Leon.

David and Claudia - Alpha 2

Alpha 3 - Environmental, starting in Hermosa, Costa Rica
Jim, Clare and Tracy H
Working to preserve the turtle populations of Hermosa beach, this project will collect turtle eggs, ensure that they hatch safely and release the turtles back into the wild where they have the best chance of survival.  This team will spend the second half of their phase at Carara National Park (see below).

Jim, Clare and Tracy - Alpha 3

Alpha 4 - Environmental, starting in Carara National Park, Costa Rica
Pauline, Jae and Sarah
Starting in the Carara National Park this group will work to clear the Lago Meandrica trail, previously inaccessible in the rainy season.  This work will enable many more visitors to the park, and therefore increase the revenue for the Park and allowing them to continue their other environmental work. This team will spend the second half of their phase at Hermosa (see above). Where they will be joined by Charlie.

Jae, Sarah, Pauline and Charlie in the background - Alpha 4

Alpha 5 - Achuapa water project, Nicaragua
Sarah,  Florian and Vic
This project group will work with the local community of Los Loros in Achuapa to develop a gravity-feed water system to bring clean and safe drinking water to 40 families living there.

Sarah, Florian and Vic - Alpha 5

X Ray 5 Rock Achuapa...continued...

So, our time was upon us. Eighteen X Men, and a load of Charlies (1 and 2) undertook one last, nervous practice before our big debuts!

Up first was Thomas (actually on Friday night) playing guitar and singing the Libertines, and next on the Friday was Trae freestyling on the guitar with Fu from ICS on the flute...

Thomas´s solo

Adam and Trae (X-Ray 5) with Ant and Fu from ICS

Then, on Saturday night, the whole of the X Men (as X Ray 5 are now better known) sang "Where is the Love" by Black Eyed Peas with the words changed to a song about reforestation, in English and Spanish. A few new talents for rapping were discovered!

Following that, Trae, Chris and Leanne performed "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, and then Adam swapped in to beatbox with Trae and some of the Charlies in a wonderful fusion of rock and hip hop, with a bit of body popping thrown in.

Leanne, Chris and Trae

Charlie 2 and the Agua song

The mighty X Rays are a bit of a talented bunch if we do say so ourselves! And amidst all the fun we´ve learned masses about our community here in Achuapa and hopefully helped them to think about how to become more sustainable in order to benefit generations to come.

X Men and Charlies say ta ta for now...

We waved off the Charlies this morning and are just about to trek up to our community in El Portillo to be welcomed by our families. Can´t wait - wonder if they'll recognise us from the stage....

More PPV business

With just five days until our venturers arrive from all corners of the United States of Eurasia, it’s time to check in with the final Alpha groups who have become very familiar with the Trans-Nica bus service as they return from community sites in Nicaragua. Luckily they were given redemption from more public transport-induced-torture with a lift from San Jose (Costa Rica) in the gleaming new Bravos (they’re absolute beauties).

Alpha 6

A6’s Fran Hodge and DoJo Donovan visited their community of El Portillo, Achuapa located in the north west of Nicaragua. In phase one the group will be living with local families whilst undertaking an eco-latrine project, which in the long run, will create compost suitable for fertilising their crops. During their visit, Fran and DoJo visited the Co-operative Juan Francisco Paz Silva, which works with local farmers in the farming of sesame seed and cattle, whilst providing members with health, veterinary and financial services.  A jamming session with Don Brigedo and various culinary treats including a delicious crab soup, were samples of what will be a fantastic project.

Alpha 7

Fiona Arakelian, Matthew Jewers and Amanda Payne-Danson of A7 visited their community of La Naranjita, Miraflor, where they will be undertaking an emergency housing project. A spate of bad weather at the tail end of 2011 inflicted major damage on homes in the area and Raleigh will be assisting the community in constructing new buildings from traditional adobe bricks. This project is in conjunction with El Foro, an NGO responsible for the co-management of the Miraflor Nature Reserve, with whom Raleigh have worked on numerous projects in the area.

Alpha 8

Victoria Brennan, Danielle Percival and Clare Wright made the long trip to San Jose, Nicaragua where A8 will be building a community centre. After 4 days on various buses, the common consensus was that Danni would be an unnatural selection as a companion on future public transport trips, as she showed minimal resistance to fatigue and slept her way to Managua. Possibly the most surreal moment of the trip came on the ‘chicken bus’ to San Jose, as the bus driver stuck on the 80s/90s classics, with Europe’s Final Countdown being well received by locals and A8 alike. This is not Raleigh’s first project in San Jose as several years ago they built a school in the village and expedition 12B will be contributing in a similar vein, working with El Foro to construct an adult education centre/pre-school in the village.

And not forgetting......Alpha 2! (Wouldn’t want a small scale uprising on my hands)

A2’s Daniel Walsh and Lucinda Ryan enjoyed a sampler of Costa Rica’s Corcovado Trek as a warm up for phase one. Just like A1, they too tackled dense jungle but were thankfully in capable hands, Raleigh vet and MK Ultra’s, Oscar Saborio, elder brother of 12B’s very own Daniel, pulling on the boots for a hike in the hills. After a dip in some ‘aguas calientes’ (hot springs) they bedded down in a local bullring before driving with Raleigh stalwarts Dave and Tim to the Laguna Vueltas for another spot of swimming. Who says trekking can’t be fun. From here they teamed up with local guide, Elvin, to take on the Cerro Pelon, before descending to Venecia for the bus back to base.

Readers, I belong to you. Whilst I’m in the perhaps unenviable position of editing my own work, at times a guiding light can be a steadying influence, so enclose your undisclosed desires in the comments section below. Such cross-pollination between your ideas and mine could be quite the overture.

A pipe dream come true

 How do you get instant joy? Just add water, as Amy Perkins and Zulu 6 discovered in Achuapa.

One of the main reasons I came on Raleigh was for the community projects, so when I was told I would be living with a Nicaraguan family, I was so excited. We were to be living in the village of El Portillo and working in Las Brisas, a beautiful village about a kilometre away. There, we would be reinstalling their water system so that they could have access to clean, uncontaminated water close to their homes where before, people had to walk a considerable distance to get their water. Even during our project we observed pregnant women and the elderly struggling with this.

My family in El Portillo was so kind. My mum was a school teacher called Flor, and I had two big brothers named Erick, Norbi and a crazy four-year-old sister, Eveling (or as we nicknamed her for her mischievous ways, Deviling). Right from the moment we entered their house they welcomed us with open arms and were always so eager to help us. We were overwhelmed by their kindness and the food they made us was amazing. It was a fab change from Raleigh rations. Our diet mainly consisted of rice, beans, tortillas. In spite of the lack of variety we always loved it. We even got the opportunity to make it a couple of times which was a great experience.

We worked most days from 7 am to 2pm, digging trenches and moving sand and rocks most of the time. It was really satisfying work. On the final day at work I was lucky enough to install the pipes and taps at all the houses in Las Brisas, and it was fantastic seeing the families' reactions to having clean water supplied so close to their houses. All of the locals we worked with were really helpful and we established good rapport with them.


 Don Brigido, the head of Juan Francisco Paz Silva, Raleigh's partner in the Achuapa water projects, was a lovely man and a fantastic guitarist which made me even more thankful that I had brought my fiddle. Most nights we played both Scottish and Nicaraguan music together. It felt surreal to be playing in such an unsual place but I absolutely adored it. On the party night towards the end of phase, we played in front of the communites of our rural villages and that's something I'll never forget. On the 3rd of December, there was a big event int he village : Erick, was graduating from the highest school in Achuapa! We all ventured 8km to the mass and the ceremony to celebrate this. We all cheered as he received his certificate. I know we definitely wouldn't have had the opportunity to do this as a normal tourist.

In the middle of the phase, Don Brigido invited us to witness La Griteria, a religious festival in Leon. It was such a unique cultural experience. There were fireworks everywhere and we visited lots of different houses whilst singing the festival's song. We were given fruit and sweets -- complete luxuries!

All in all, this phase has definitely been my favourite. I loved my group -- everyone got on well -- and the whole experience of being completely immersed in the Nicaraguan lifestyle was amazing. My mum cried when we left and everyone felt quite emotional. I feel like I've grown up so much on Raleigh, especially on the community phase, and I feel spectacularly lucky to have been here.

Photo update: Zulu 3 and Zulu 6

Bravo 1 have returned from their road trip with photos of their visits to Zulus 3 and 6. Zulu 3  are camping at Rincon Lodge with Bravo 4, who left fieldbase this morning to meet them. The teams will climb volcano, Rincon de la vieja tomorrow. 

Zulu 6 went on a tour of Leon today that included a cultural experience of a religious festival. Bravo 1 spent a night with them in Achuapa last Friday in time to join in on an evening of cultural activities. The venturers are reportedly having a whale of time, working and playing under the sunny Nicaraguan skies.