Alpha 6 on Cabo Blanco

Our project communications officers Alexandra Braun & Ottalie Westerink on Cabo Blanco and their environmental project:

Get up stand up we need to go back to work. With Nachos wakeup call Alpha 6 plucks up the courage to begin a brand new day. Everyone jumps out of bed towards jungle camp to attack the beloved porridge. After greeting the sun and the speech of the motivator of the day, it is time to go to work. Everyday Alpha 6 tries to make work as enjoyable as possible by personalising the rocks or by singing Disney songs during our rock change. We even ended up by having our own creation of the Moulin song.

After a hard working day we often take advantage of the fact that our jungle camp is near the rocky beach, and run into the endless shallow pools. One day after a nice bath in the Pacific Ocean we saw something that looked like Jimbo’s (James Taylor) sandals floating in the water. But Jimbo was not in the water, it appeared to be a harmless nurse shark that somehow ended up in our shallow pools.

On one of our free days we went to Cabo Blanco beach, it was a beautiful trip through the jungle. After a long walk we arrived on the amazing white beach, it seems like our own private beach which we shared with a massive group of Pelicans. After a nice lunch, swim and some tan time we walked back. ‘Back home’ we discovered that the mini medic did not fulfil her role because everyone’s back was bright red; Dom even ended up with white hand marks on his red back.

On Valentine’s Day we organised a dress up with your date party. Everyone made crazy costumes out of jungle materials. The best made costume was Nacho’s and Alex’s who were Pocahontas and the Talking Tree.

Alpha 6 strongly believes in the need of the path and as a team we manage to reach our goals. Proud and satisfied we are ready to leave the incredible Cabo Blanco experience in the hope that the next group will finish what we started.

Cabo Blanco and Social Justice

We, Alpha 6, think that protecting the environment has a positive impact on social justice.  First of all, because we totally rely on nature.  Without all the resources that nature provides us we could not live in the society in which we live today.  Over-exploitation of resources which are not sustainable, such as logging wood lead to the destruction of a world in which social justice is possible.  It’s a result of destroying the environment that will result in us not having a future at all. This in turn will disable everyone from growing up with equal chances.  As a consequence, the population will struggle with competition over resources meaning that the wealthy can afford but the developing world will not be able too, destroying the concept of social justice. 

Alpha 6 concluded that protecting the environment is an action that must be undertaken by more and more young people to maintain social justice. The group strongly believes that educating people has a positive impact on creating a socially just world. Through education, people will understand that they have a right, a voice, and can choose their own political direction instead of being disempowered.  Because you do not have knowledge about your surroundings or society you will have limited power and little can change for you.  If you educate people they will have more skills, so it becomes easier to take part in their society and find employment.

Making people more conscious about the problems in the world and how small changes can make big differences. Making them aware of health care and how to take care of nature will have a long term positive effect on our global community.

Romeo Nica Groups' round up!

ROMEO 2

The second week of trek continued to be awesome. The weather definitely got a lot hotter but that didn’t affect us in any way. It made us sweat and want to get to the next destination as soon as possible. I can’t begin to describe how lovely and welcoming the locals were. 

One day, probably the hottest, we took a well-needed break in the community outside a lady’s house, and the lady came outside holding a 3-litre bottle of Coca Cola in one hand and a bag of 13 mouth-watering ice creams in the other, all for free and from the kindness of her heart. That has to be one of the best highlights of the trek!

Another highlight was when we got to our destination really early, which was a school where we would stay the night. When the kids finished school, instead of running home as they normally would have, they stayed with us and we all had a great time!

Finally we got to Cerro Negro, the main reason most of us had wanted to do the trek. Being on top of the volcano was hard to believe. It was magnificent looking over Nicaragua. Looking at the sunset then waking up early for the sunrise was all part of the tremendous experience.

After the sunrise, we all ran down the volcano, it was absolutely incredible. 

It’s been great being in a group where we all got to know each other really well and had tons of fun, which makes the sweltering heat and any painful feet disappear.

ROMEO 5

The second half of Romeo 5’s time in El Pajarito saw us continuing work on the water project, laying pipes and filling in the trench up the mountain towards the spring. We also began work on a trench to take water down from the tank to several houses which currently did not have any taps nearby.

A free day on Sunday allowed us to walk to San Nicholas to meet another group of Raleigh volunteers, Charlie 1 from the ICS programme, and spend the afternoon sunbathing with them and the Fieldbase team and swimming in a stunning waterfall.

With more Spanish under our belts now than we did even 10 days ago, everyone continued to get involved in the villagers’ day-to-day lives. We learned the long process of coffee-making, the difference between tortillas and guirilas, and Bex may have even milked a cow, though we’re not quite sure if we believe that!

Despite not having managed to get materials from Achuapa to finish the dam around the spring (hardly surprising with no mobile phones and nearest road about 40 miles away!) the locals seemed to appreciate the work we had done. 

On our last night we were treated to a meal together, cooked by our Nicaraguan mothers, and a fiesta in the community centre. The locals proved themselves keen dancers, showing us up yet again!

ROMEO 6

Romeo 6’s final week in the beautiful community of Miraflor. It was to be a long, hard week of digging, cement mixing, levelling floors with the light at the end of the tunnel being the finishing touches – the painting!

We pulled together and got the floor cemented, the walls built up and the roof fixed, so the painting commenced the day before the grand opening.

Romeo 6 decided to go with the Nicaraguan colours – blue and white, and to make a pre-school suitable for children, an ocean-themed cartoon was painted on the wall, with handprints of all at Raleigh and people from the community making up the waves of the ocean.

Music, dancing, food and a piñata ensued later at the opening ceremony, it was great fun!

The next day was bittersweet, we had achieved what we had come to do primarily, and also lived the life of a Miraflorian, having a Nicaraguan family, some getting to do farm work and helkp prepare the delicious food. 

This made it sad to say goodbye, and was an emotional time for many, however we had some unforgettable experiences and priceless memories to take home with us.

Let's Talk About (Alpha) Six...

The last couple of weeks have been simply amazing! We’ve learnt so much about each other, the local way of life, Las Lagunetas and, most importantly, ourselves.

It’s been tough at times, with all the digging, building and heavy rainfall however it’s so worth to see how far we got with the school. It’s incredible to think we have helped so many childrens’ lives through providing another building for education. It’s funny that just a patch of land and a few physical materials can be turned into something of such importance.

The group worked extremely well together and have become a lot closer; almost becoming like a family. Changing groups for the next phase will be sad yet exciting, there’s always room for new people! (Good job as you’re now in the Romeos! Ed.)

Speaking of new people, our temporary local families took really good care of us over the phase, including good food, a comfortable bed and great entertainment. It’s cool to be able to have fun with no need for technology and all the material things, and we are now all much more appreciative of what we have back home!

The locals held a party for us to say thank you for all we had done – a celebration which included plenty of dancing, Latin music and laughter. But the thanks were exchanged both ways and we provided our new Latino friends with gifts to show our appreciation for all they had done for us. Saying goodbye was hard, but we’ll always have the memories!

Here’s to Phase 2!

Ta-Shanae and Tom

The journey of Alpha 6 so far...

Day 1
We began our journey on a luxury coach, still recovering from our rude awakening ... Ross and car horns don't go well together! The coach took our sleepy heads all the way from Costa Rica to Nicaragua where we continued to sleep in a local school.

Day 2
A restless night later the coach ditched us for a US-style school bus (if we weren't all close enough before then, we certainly were after!). On the way we explored different towns and beautiful scenery.
A couple of hours later after waving goodbye and good luck to Alpha 2 & 5 we had made it to the small yet welcoming town of Las Lagunetas. We broke the ice and partied it down with all the Nicas at their local school. A couple of salsas later Raleigh had grouped us up and assigned us with families:
- Richard, Cat & Raman are staying with Lillian (lucky devils grabbed the best location - next door to the project site)
- Ben & Sean are staying with Bertha & Wilbur (located in the lost world)
- Tom & Ysavier are staying with Maria & Bernardo (located deep in the jungle!)
- Ta-Shanae is staying with Mayra (down in the swamps)
- the PMs were kind enough to take the house next door to the food shop

Phase one:
With a 5'o'clock start alongside a hearty breakfast every morning, work began at 7am sharp ... well, let's say 7:20 for most of us in the beginning. Our mindset quickly changed from "wow, cool work tools!" to "ok guys, one more ton of soils to go!" The harsh weathers made the task a lot more difficult but as a group we pulled through. Before we knew it most of the pre-school foundations had been dug, a patio area had been cleared and cement was on the way. As a group we shared many
funny moments including plenty of dad dancing at a local girls 10th birthday bash. However one thing is for sure, after this phase we will never eat beans, rice or tortillas again.

Random quotes:
- "Every day I'm shoveling" (Ben)
- "Is it weird that the dirt is making me hungry?" (Carina)
- "Thank you Istvan for translating my spanish into spanish" (Ta-Shanae)

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!

12B Phase 1 Slideshow

They say a picture paints a thousand words, so sit back and enjoy what can only be described as a masterstroke from our Expedition photographer, Ale. Stunning, and a far better telling of Phase One and the Alpha groups than I could muster with mere 'words' (sigh...)

Power of 6 in El Portillo

Alpha 6 have had an amazing time in El Portillo; building outhouses has taken up most of their days, but that does not mean to say that ‘Team Toilet’ have been all work and no play.

Here’s 6 reasons why Alpha 6 will miss El Portillo:

6 things we’ve learnt
• A little bit of Spanish
• If in doubt ‘mas cemento’
• Alternatively...’mas agua’
• How to make regional dishes.
• Astronomy, we’re now all experts
• How to use a long drop!

6 happy moments
• Arriving to Don Brigido singing (legend)
• Granny’s ice pops
• Endless sunshine
• Dougie’s birthday - camping on the mountainside and sleeping under the stars
• Granny’s flushing toilet! There’s always a queue...
• Completing latrines

6 wild moments
• Discovering the love child of a chicken and a duck = Chuck!
• Phil being kicked by a cow!
• Lisa being awoken by a snake!
• Fosca meeting the locals (whip scorpions and stick insects)
• Witnessing new sports including Granny’s never ending battle keeping the pigs out of the kitchen (they never win)
• George, James and Dougie chasing chickens with limited success (visions of a Rocky training montage)

6 ‘injuries’
• Veronique falling out of a hammock
• Fosca tripping over a football
• Sunburn
• Sunburn
• Sunburn
• ...Sunburn

6 things we’ve eaten
• Sour, salty cheese
• Rice and beans
• Sugar cane
• Jacket potato
• Rice and beans
• Malanga

And a couple of quotes
• What’s Christmas like in Achuapa? Maria Gerono
• Get the wheel bucket – Daniel Meza
• If it wasn’t for the law enforcement of the laws of physics; I would be unstoppable – Louis Manders

Alpha Update

The Alpha groups are now settled in at their respective projects and over the coming weeks we’ll be bringing you comprehensive reports from their Project Comms Officers with all the new and views from life on phase. In the meantime, here’s a quick through of the Alpha’s progress to date, hot off the press from this morning’s Sitreps:

Alpha One are making good progress through the Barbilla Indigenous Territory and tomorrow will emerge from the jungle at San Joaquin where they will be joined by Fieldbase’s Holly, for a taste of trek.

Alpha Two are also in fine spirits and yesterday had the bizarre experience of walking several kilometres straddling the Costa Rican and Panamanian border. Today they too delve into the jungle.

Alpha Three’s bamboo has arrived and will spend the day constructing a jungle camp which will be their home for the phase.

Alpha Four have made a challenge for 'Alpha' status as they have thrown down the gauntlet to the other groups and almost finished work on an irrigation system in proximity to the path they will be constructing.

Alpha Five are sorting their accommodation at the ranger station and are enjoying a ‘fresh’ morning up on Volcan Barva.

Alpha Six arrived at their community of El Portillo yesterday afternoon and have commenced work this morning on their site

Alpha Seven are spending their day planning their work during the phase with the local maestro, before attending the opening of a local pre-school this afternoon.

Alpha Eight have also settled in San Jose, and are beginning work in the sunshine.

Tomorrow the southern leg of Fieldbase’s roadtrip begins as they embark on a journey visiting Alpha’s One, Two, Three, Four AND Five. On the 20^th February the northern team departs to visit the Nicaraguan groups up in Achuapa and Miraflor.

Those of you with your eye on the Tico Times may have spotted that there was an earthquake just before dawn off the coast of south west Costa Rica! Despite measuring 5.7 on the Richter Scale, some of Fieldbase slept through the whole event and we can report no damage was done to any of the groups.

We have liftoff

Phase One has been deployed and Fieldbase is now a ghost town, as the buses rumbled out of Turrialba at the crack of dawn. We'll be seeing them at various points on road trips around Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but for the folks at home, here's what the Alphas will be up to:

Alpha One – Turrisantos Trek

Beginning with a challenging ascent through dense jungle in Barbilla National Park, Alpha One will then skirt to the east of Turrialba before passing Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica’s largest archaeological site, and estimated to be around 3000 years old. They then enter Tapantí National Park for more wet and muddy jungle adventures before a final week tackling the ridges of the Fila de Bustamente towards Cerro Dragon, before bearing for the Pacific and the delights of Playa Matapalo.

Alpha Two – Corcovado Trek

Commencing in La Amistad National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Central America’s largest reserve, trekkers can admire the region’s dazzling biodiversity, tumbling cascades and hot springs. From here it is onwards through the agricultural plains of the Coto Brus valley before launching an assault cross-country over the Fila Costena mountain range. The best is arguably saved until last. The groups then descend to Corcovado National Park, the best preserved tropical rainforest on the Central American isthmus, before trekking their final three days along the serene coastline of Playas Madrigal, Carate and Piro, enjoying the waters of the Golfo Dulce at the finish.

Alpha Three – Carara National Park

Carara was established in 1978 as a biological reserve, but due to growing popularity it was subsequently given national park status in 1998; it is now the fourth most visited in the country. The park lies around 30 miles from the capital, San Jose and includes one of the largest remaining populations of wild scarlet macaw in the country - the dense tree growth of its primary rainforest providing the perfect home for other avian species including  orange-chinned parakeets, jacamars and the black throated trogon.

This is Raleigh’s first project in the park since 2007, and Alpha Three will be working on an access trail to Lago Meandrico, alongside general maintenance work in the park. It is hoped that through the development of such facilities, there will be subsequent benefits to the local community in terms of income procured through increased visitor numbers.

Alpha Four – La Amistad National Park

A UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the remotest parts of Costa Rica, this is the first Raleigh project in La Amistad since 2006, continuing their partnership with SINAC (National System of Conservation Areas).

Parque International La Amistad is shared equally between Costa Rica and Nicaragua and is an important biological corridor protecting tropical habitats, ranging from cloudforest to paramo, alongside a wealth of biological resources, some unique to the area. In 2011, a landslide destroyed one of the main trails up to the Valle de Silencio, an important research area for scientists, and the difficulty of the park’s terrain generally, means that it is relatively unexplored.

During phase, Raleigh venturers will be working on a new trail to Casa Coca to improve access to the ranger station at Valle de Silencio.

Alpha Five – Volcan Barva Sector, Braulio Carrillio National Park

This project builds on Raleigh’s strong partnership developed over the past 7 years with ACCVC – Area Conservacion Cordillera Volcanica Central. Located in Costa Rica’s central valley, this stunning area of primary cloud forest plays host to a vast array of biodiversity, with habitats covered from nearly 3000m down to the calms of the Caribbean coast. It’s proximity to San Jose makes it a popular trip for international tourists, but the lure of the more popular Poás and Manuel Antonio National Parks means it is relatively undeveloped.

Living and working in the park, Alpha Five will be assisting rangers in the construction of a water system for their station, which will aid them in their aim of controlling and managing this important protected area.

Alpha Six – El Portillo, Achuapa, Nicaragua

Based in the communities of Las Tablas and El Portillo, Alpha Six will be supporting the community in an eco-latrine project that will not only provide sanitation to the 35 families in the villages – critical for the health of the community for generations to come, but can also be used to produce compost for fertilising crops and fruiting trees. Living with local families, they will be assisting with day-to-day chores and gaining a fascinating insight into a society different to their own.

Alpha Seven – La Naranjita, Miraflor, Nicaragua

Miraflor – ‘Paradise in the clouds’, was declared a natural reserve in 1990 at the request of its local people, such is the beauty of its resources. Within the reserve, communities have relatively few resources and lack access to basic services such as education and healthcare. They live by predominantly subsistence means, but supplement this through small tourism initiatives and coffee growing.

La Naranjita was just one of the communities affected by hurricanes at the latter end of 2011, and Alpha Seven will be working on a disaster relief project, rebuilding houses and assisting their host families with day-to-day chores.

Alpha Eight – San Jose, Miraflor Nicaragua

Another Miraflor based project sees the return of Raleigh, represented by Alpha Eight, to San Jose, where they will be building a multi-purpose building which will be used for adult education services and community meetings. Raleigh’s previous trip on Expedition 05J assisted the community in constructing a pre-school for children in the village, and this is a great opportunity to renew ties with some of the most welcoming, and hospitable people in the world.

We’ll be receiving updates from the groups in the coming days as they settle into life on phase, so check back soon.