Delta 3 photo album

We've collected stacks of photos from the Delta 3 Venturers and PMs - here are some of the best:

Delta 3: The joys and challenges of life in Alto Pacuar

Andy Martin gives us a day-by-day account of life on Delta 3's school project in Alto Pacuar:

As I sit here in the dark of our community centre home in Alto Paquar looking back on the past two weeks, so much has happened in such a short period of time, with highs and lows and lots of broken Spanish and Cabecar (leaving  many puzzled expressions). Many details won’t make it into this brief travelogue, but I’m sure that you will learn all the ins and outs when we return!

Tuesday, 20 July: Today we soldiered on and made significant progress on laying the foundation struts and floorboard, which significantly boosted morale within the group. We held English classes in the afternoon. The food highlight was Costa Rican pancakes, which taste of nothing on their own but are amazing with sugar. Some people have become obsessed.

Wednesday, 21 July: After an early start with chickens pecking the floorboards, we had a good hearty breakfast of rice, beans, pancakes and salty egg stuff. Our maestro de obras Don Marvin started construction of the external walls, which requires great skill, accuracy and measurement. Today was the hottest day ever! We never realised that heat can be so disabling. Our most exciting food item was Costa Rican porridge, which is actually a drink and a solid.

Thursday, 22 July: Today was even hotter than yesterday! It was well over 30 degrees and really took it out of us. The walls were gradually getting built up and we hit a milestone when Don Marvin decided where the windows and doors were going. We sawed and nailed and put up some beams. A dedicated team led by Luke also started the 2 metre longdrop. The schoolkids came to the site mid-afternoon and sang us some music with their guitars, a pleasant surprise on a hot sunny afternoon.

Friday, 23 July: Today we got most of the panelling completed on the walls despite the scorching heat. This was great progress! We were all feeling good and washed in the river before the stormy rain arrived. The food highlight was guava juice made from thew fruit that grows around Alto Pacuar.

Saturday, 24 July: Today was a productive work day, as we flexed our muscles carrying wood through rough rainforest terrain from the Pacuare River during the morning. This was a two hour round trip and was one of the more challenging moments of the trip. In the afternoon we made progress finishing the interior walls. This evening was special as it was Ronald's 18th birthday, so we had chocolate, rice pudding and a campfire outside. I organised guitars and our Tica PM, Adri, serenaded Ronald in the traditional Costa Rican way while he opened his birthday cards. It was a good night.

Sunday, 25 July: Today was a good but tiring day off from the building site. We are starting to know the people of Alto Pacuar quite well. We got up nice and earlyto play football against the locals. The walk to the football pitch turned out to be far longer than expected - it took 90 minutes over tought terrain. We followed the Pacuare River upstream through the most amazing scenery. The riveris very large and fast flowing and the area on either side floods during rain storms. We passed plantain plantations and indigenous settlements. We were told this was a kickaround but we sensed the locals were taking it a little more seriously when they got on their football boots. The long grass and soggy walking boots left us 5-1 down by half time and by the second half we were all so tired no one cared about the score. We were more excited about the shop where we got pop and ice lollies. Some of us then climbed an insanely steep hill for the great views.

Monday, 26 July: Today was a surreal day for many reasons. First we had coco pops, not rice and beans, for breakfast. Then Don Marvin announced he was leaving for another job which was quite a blow as we needed to get the roof finished. The afternoon was better as the local kids put on a concert for us and sung five songs in Cabecar. Then we performed some English songs for them! I sang "Take It Easy" by The Eagles, followed by a group effort of "Wonderwall". This was amazing and really lifted our spirits.

Tuesday, 27 July: Today we got a new maestro, Don Victor, who is amazingly quick and dedicated. However there wasn't much for us to do because building the roof is complex and dangerous work. We set to building tables and benches instead. After washing in the river, we had a campfire and lots of marshmallows to finish off our fun day.

Wednesday, 28 July: Which leads us on to today, our next to last day in Alto Pacuar. Everyone is really happy as most of the roof has gone up and most of the school is painted. We'll hopefully finish tomorrow and then celebrate with the locals.

Much of the above is extracted from my journal, soon to be available at all major bookshops as a novel of epic proportions. We all hope to see you soon and hope you are proud of what we achieved.

Ed: Delta 3 did indeed get their school completed on schedule. Here's the proof:

Delta 3: Getting underway in Alto Pacuar

Delta 3's Andy Martin filed this report from Alto Pacuar after the first few days of Phase 1:

Up at 3am, Delta 3 prepared for their three week venture to Alto Pacuar. The bus journey took us up into the clouds through some of Costa Rica's most stunning scenery to our drop off point, the bridge at Alto Vereh. We were met by eight horses and some of the locals from Alto Pacuar, who kindly loaded up with all our tools. The trek into the community took us just over three hours. We walked up a mountain and down the other side into the Chirripo Indigenous Reserve. Accompanying us to our project was our cheeky but knowledgeable translator and guide Pedro, who was born and bred in Alto Pacuar.

When we arrived we were greeted by the community and shown to our home for the next three weeks, the community centre. About 600 people live here, extremely spread out over a large area. It takes our cook, Marisella, two hours to walk to our home to cook us rice and beans at 7am. The village kindly offered to cook for us in return for building their school.

The school we are building is a secondary school with two classrooms for pupils from a range of ages and levels of ability. Marisella's 14-year-old daughter, Particia, is head girl of the school. She wants to become a teacher and is very excited about the new school building as it is "helping her community to develop". Alex is another pupil at the school, he's 20 and wants to be a doctor. He loves living in Alto Pacuar because of the nature and the peace and quiet. He is really looking forward to the new school being completed as it will be less noisy and more focused on learning than in the community centre.

The area is very wet naturally, a situation which has been exacerbated by the tropical wet season. Some moments have been muddy beyond belief with no dry clothes to our names. However, the sun has also shined upon us with two days of glorious sunshine and heat, giving us renewed drive to progress with the school. On July 19, there was no rain, a first for most of us here in Costa Rica! We've never loved dry socks so much. 

Our primary enjoyment of the day is bathing in the creek, a refreshing end to the working day. Our primary unenjoyment, however, is the long drop with anyone who can hold their head above it for more than five seconds receiving a medal. On the other hand, the view from its open side is amazing.

Work on the school has been rapid with people showing real determination to make a difference. In only six working days we've cleared the site, levelled it out, dug the foundations in extremely tough, stony clay with shallow tropical soil), erected the stilts and begun laying the floorboards. We are well on track to fulfilling our goals. We should mention our our maestro, Don Martin, who is our local architect, builder and entertainer. His black Batman cape during the rain makes us all smile.

Rounding off the team are our wonderful PMs and the teacher form the school, Olger. We have been teaching English to the children, which they seem to enjoy, revelling in something a bit different from the norm. They also help out around the building site in the mornings, though some are a little shy. We ourselves have taken up the challenge to learn Spanish and also Cabecar, the indigenous language of the area, and Guaymi, the native language of one of our team members, Ronald.

Overall we are enjoying our time in Alto Pacuar and are all well. We look forward to showing you pictures of our progress soon!

Photos from Delta 3

The school in Alto Pacuar is starting to take shape... here are the latest photos from Delta 3.

Delta 3: Alto Pacuar community project

Oscar Saborio, Daisy Bareham, Daniel Cowell, Tim Carden, Polly Roberts, Qi Li, Martine Kruseman, Luke Sparrow, Esteban Aguilar, Sue-Lyn Cashman-Pugsley, Kala Rudman, Emily Marley, Andy Martin, Hannah Love, Steph Davis, Ronald Caballero, Adriana Solorzano

Delta 3 will be based in the Cabecar indigenous community of Alto Pacuar, which is about 2 hours walk from the nearest road.

The Ministry of Education recently opened a new secondary school in Alto Pacuar. The only problem is that they only have one recently constructed classroom for the nearly 60-70 children, so they currently receive classes in a community centre. Delta 3 have plans to build two new classrooms to accommodate the extra classes.

Alto Pacuar is located in the Chirripo Indigneous Reserve, one of the remotest areas of Costa Rica. 16,216 hectares in size and covering the foothills of the Talamanca mountain range on the Atlantic side of the country, the reserve is populated by about 4,000 Cabecar people. Delta 3 will have an amazing opportunity to live as part of the community and learn more about traditional Cabecar culture.

We spoke to Delta 3 PM Sue-Lyn before she headed out with her team: "Our project site is such a stunning and unique location, unlike anything I've ever experienced. I'm really excited about the opportunity to get a different world view and help my whole team get a new perspective on their own lives. Plus I think we're going to have a lot of fun."


Julian's fascinating fact: The group will be living next to one of the Cabecars' most famous sukias (witch doctor).