Alpha 2 reach Corcovado National Park

Alpha 2 have been in touch to let us know what a great time they're having, and making those of us in Field Base quite envious of their adventures. Here's what the team had to say.

Greetings from Alpha 2! Sorry for the delay to our report, our team has been extremely busy since we set off from El Progresso nearly 2 weeks ago. 

The Corcovado trekkers, with some of the field base staff who delivered a food drop a few days into the trek

Since then we’ve had our ups and downs, both geographically and emotionally, but we've emerged from tough mountains and through the jungle to stunning views of the pacific coast and the Golfo Dulce. We have been really lucky to meet some incredible local people and seen some amazing views, and as we look forward to entering Corcovado National Park tomorrow, we thought we would give a quick overview of some of our favourite moments so far...

• Bathing in hot springs at aguas thermales
• Singing in the rain outside a ranger station at 1900m above sea level
• Eating dinner every night under an amazing night sky
• Enjoying freshly squeezed sugar cane juice from a local farmer

Enjoying a game of Ninja

...In short alpha 2 are having a fantastic time, speak soon!

One of many stunning views that Alpha 2 have been experiencing on their trek

Alpha 2 say hello

Keep on trekking - Alpha 2

After 5 more long days of finding not-so-short-cuts through the jungle, we're now delighted to have made it to day 11 alive and well.  It´s been a hard but successful few days with us overcoming a lot as a group. We're humbled on a daily basis by the kindness of all the Nicaraguan people for inviting us into their homes when it´s pouring with rain and giving us Nicaraguan coffee (THE best coffee we've ever tasted).  It gets us through the 4am wake-up calls, the blisters, muscle ache, sleeping in wet clothes and endless hills.

We´re extremely proud of what we have accomplished so far and we eagerly await day 18 where we'll stand at the top of the Cerro Negro with an invisible glass of champagne in our hands celebrating each other for crossing the finish line.

We've had as many ups as we have had downs but getting to the end of the day makes it all worth it.  At the end of this Trek we´ll look back fondly at the moments we´ve shared - like Archie waking us up sleep talking at midnight all ready to go, our PM Claudia falling in the mud, the river crossings (always entertaining), pulperias (life savers!!) or our nightly reviews.

Alpha 2 - on the right track

It's been great spending all these moments with each other and we wouldn't want to share them with anybody else.  Right now we are about to enjoy (I think) a delicious meal that the fieldbase team is cooking for us.  Wish us luck for the coming few days...Deachimba!

Project comms officers -  Puck,  Ben P and Suwen

Nicaraguan road (off road) trip

We are now on day 7, and over half way through, our epic Nicaraguan road trip.  A small but happy band of intrepid VMs, we loaded up our Land rover with salami, toilet paper, refried beans and other essentials and set off in search of trekkers, community projects and adventure.  We found all three.

We had a smooth ride along the InterAmerican highway to make our way to Nicaragua.

We had a much bumpier ride to find the Trekkers, having to rebuild some of the road as we went.

And we had to leave the trusty Landy behind altogether and proceed on foot to find the community projects.

First was a visit to Alpha 2 , the Miratombo Trekkers, who we on fine form having made good time that day to be bang on schedule.  We were able to cook them supper and pass on messages from home which lifted their spirits even further.

Next we spent some time with 2 ICS projects near Achuapa, this is a different scheme to the core Raleigh programme but they do similar projects with local communities to provide running water, coffee drying beds, and supporting youth and women's groups.

Today we are providing another food drop for Alpha 2 who have requested fresh fruit, which will be a pleasure to provide.  We'll stay with them for the night then it's off to Alpha 5 for two nights.

Alpha 5 have requested tea bags, biscuits and candles - they intend hosting a British tea party for their community.  I'm not sure if the candles are out of necessity or just for ambiance; it's all very Downton Abbey.

So for those of you keenly anticipating news of your venturers I should have a lot more to tell you in the next couple of days.  Watch this space...

News from Nicaragua - Alpha 2

Miratombo Trek, day 6

This trip is not for the faint-hearted but as a team we're strong! Being part of a team helps you overcome any difficulties.  You can lean on your teammates and everybody helps each other along.  The awesome feeling of the team massages, team hugs, getting tortillas from the (always friendly) locals, and just the vibe that's in the air takes every bit of discomfort away and allows you to feel accomplished and proud of everything you've achieved during the day.

Arlene resting tired feet

It's funny how easily a person can get used to feeling dirty and not having the comforts that we have at home.  It all makes the experience even more special.  Also being the day leader teaches you to handle a lot of responsibility and helps you grow as a person.  That being said, it's not all fun of course, we work hard, we're all dirty, tired, hungry and have sore feet but still we push forward, smile and think happy thoughts and with every mountain we climb, we look around and see the view and that makes it all worth it.

Diego reaches the top

So we're just going to keep on moving until we get there!

Words by Project Comms officers - Puck and Ben P

Pictures by Arlene

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.

Early starts and fond farewells...

Today is deployment day - the day when all Alpha groups head out to their projects.  It starts early with alarm calls at 3.30 am, that's right I said 3.30 AM!  And there was no avoiding it as Martina drove a Land rover around the campsite with both the horn and radio blaring - nice one Martina.

Ben and Sophie and a big sandwich

There was time to make a big sandwich for breakfast and another one for lunch and then belongings and tools had to be loaded on the buses.

Yorleny, Tigi and Patrice - watching over a lot of heavy rucksacks

Bonds have been formed over the past few days so there were fond farewells, best wishes and hugs as new friends said "Adios" for 19 days.  And a few venturers had a special goodbye for Splatches, the resident Fieldbase dog, who is keen to be everyones best friend.

Henry, Matt and Lilian say goodbye to Splatches

As the sun came up the buses headed off in different directions - to Playa Hermosa, Carara National Park, Nicaragua and the start of the Coast to Coast Trek.  Some will be travelling for a couple of hours and some for a couple of days, before they arrive at their destination and the work begins. 

On their way

Remember to leave your messages here and we will make sure that they are received by you loved ones whilst they are away at their projects - your kind wishes mean a lot to everyone.

Jungle camp, muddy boots and energy bombs

Just to report that all of the Alpha groups made it back from jungle camp - safe and sound, if a little dirty around the edges. 

Callum setting off in the sunshine

The sun was shining when they left, and I'd love to tell you it stayed that way throughout, but the truth is that it did rain.  And it rained Costa Rican style.  Most groups managed to get some kind of shelter up before the downpour which meant that spirits stayed high, buoyed by pasta or rice and energy bombs.

Bright and early this morning the venturers headed back to Fieldbase, but on the way ran through the procedure for a medical emergency.  This involves some Oscar winning performances of injury or illness, the creation of a stretcher and then carrying the "victim" back to Fieldbase. Everyone dealt with the emergency really well, another set of skills acquired and understood.

Once back at Fieldbase there was work to be done cleaning off tents and equipment, so everything will be ship shape and ready to go when the expedition starts on Friday. 

Lunch and showers were a welcome sight - and the local launderette is doing a roaring trade thanks to Raleigh venturers.

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

Alpha 2 Miratombo Crew...

 

Here is a blog from Alpha 2, humorously written throughout the Miratombo trek....

The trek started with a 2-day ride on a school bus, little did we know we were being taken to the school of hard knocks! Each morning we wake up at 03.30hours and eat porridge. The breakfast monotony was made up for however by the butterfly variety fluttering by as we slurped on our nutritious trek fuel.

The trek is going really well, we make good time each day and are coping well with the heat.

However, we rarely get the opportunity to wash, resulting in a few whiffs amongst the group. It isn't for the want not to try however - we would turn our noses up and snub a river of gold if it were to be flanked by a river of water in which we could bathe!

Each house we encounter on our trek has a number of farmyard animals attached, and one particularly bolshy pig has eaten our bar of soap, some peanuts and an avocado. And god only knows what savagery would have ensued were this trek to become an avocado-free environment (we like avocados).

Update: since the last diary entry the heat has ground us down to dust. No words that I write could emphasise enough the amount of sweat pouring from our brows on a daily basis. However th amazing views make up for it!

The volcanoes have now been conquered, and in some style, with a sunrise ascent of Cerro Negro. We found the sink hole of El Hoyo and made it to the Laguna.

The highlights of the trek included seeing a small girl hit a pig in the face with a 5-foot stick, the views from the mountains, seeing everybody work hard together, each day’s conversations and, of course, the finish!

An amazing and unforgettable trek!

Alpha Groups Training Slideshow

The night before the Alpha Groups deployed they too were treated to a slideshow showing how much they had packed into their short time in the country...

Alpha Allocations Announcement!

So, here we go! Alpha Group Phase 1 allocations, on projects running from 4th July to 23rd July, are...
*drumroll*
(Delta groups to follow)

ALPHA 1  - Coast to Coast Trek (Adventure - crossing a continent!)
PMs: Mau and Carlton
Venturers: Craig Henry, Richard Voaden, William Pavón Espinoza, Sophie Scholl, Thomas Breakwell, Lu Ying Yap, Elizabeth Samuel-Bryan, Trae Legay Cannonier, Josué David Tuz Villalobos, Georgia Rattigan, Jed Pattie

ALPHA 2 - Miratombo Trek (Adventure - volcanos and valleys)
PMs: Franz, Jason and Emma F
Venturers: Sonia Taylor, Adrian Gonzales, Craig Thomas, Michelle Calliari, Ruari Thomson, Isabel Adriana Matamoros Torres, Catherine Inch, Henry Seal, Jawonday Smith, Brandon Burns

ALPHA 3 – Volcan Tenorio National Park (environmental – paths, trails and staircases)
PMs: Amy, Neil and Leanne
Venturers: Luis Andrés Mora Muñoz, Alexander Goodchild, Suzzanah Kidd, Cole Durham, Michelle Ka Wai Wong, Gema Valdivia, Louis King, Daniel; Cherrie, Tom Harrison, Thomas Bassi

ALPHA 4 – San Lucas Island Nature Reserve (environmental – paths and trails)
PMs: Lottie and Sonal
Venturers: Carlo Davide Marescotti, Hoi Yi Jessica Li
Greg Parnell, Zichari Young, Leyla Massiel, Zelaya Hernández, Sofía Quirós Otárola, Matthew McKenzie, Oskar Plapperer-Lüthgarth, Chung Wing Yuen, Ivan Coueslant, Rebecca Atkinson

ALPHA 5 – Achuapa – El Pajarito Indigenous Territory (community – water project)
PMs: Andy Youl, Stephanie Aguilar, Emma Smyth

Venturers: Brandon Burns, Nicole Izurieta, Simon Allan, William Milne, Ernesto Rodriguez Delgado, Teydí Mariem García Ampié, Christopher Hempseed, Che Durham, Juliana Franco, Endgoes Mak, Grant Harrison

ALPHA 6 – Miraflor – Puertas Azules Indigenous Territory (community – school)
PMs: Carina Scott, Ed Mills, Istvan Sepulveda
Venturers: Cat Mills, Thomas Wright, Ramandeep Bassi, Mayerling Pineda Motenegro, Richard Chavarría Varela, Sean McGarry, Ben Woodhouse, Ysavier Darrell, Yau Man Mak, Ta-Shanae Pitcher Trott

From the cheers, shouts of ‘YESSSSSS!’ and massive smiles, I reckon most people are pretty chuffed with their projects and teams...time for some bonding!

Deltas next...check back later!