Roaming 'round Nica

On Monday 20th August, fieldbase trio Björn, Jen and Carina set off on a road trip in the trusty Raleigh landy ‘Bravo 3’. Our goal was to visit all of the groups working and trekking in Nicaragua to deliver food, messages and support.

Day 1 – Challenge 1: Navigating the Nicaraguan border
After presenting copious amounts of paperwork, showing our passports four times, and having the vehicle searched, we breathed a collective sigh of relief when we rolled across the Nicaraguan border a mere two hours later! Reaching our destination of San Juan del Sur, we rested for the night before continuing on to La Tunosa to meet the trekkers, X-Ray 2.

Carina, Björn and Jen, San Juan del Sur

Day 2 – Happy trekkers!
Arriving in La Tunosa, we were greeted by the happy – and I should say, very clean - faces of X-Ray 2 who had reached their destination and had time to wash before our arrival.

Teydi, HCV from Nicaragua

Before settling in for the night there was a quick dash into the city of Esteli so that Zichari could replace his broken walking boots – it turns out that duct tape is a useless substitute for a boot sole! Having distributed the mail and blog messages to the delighted recipients, we ate a meal of macaroni cheese with fresh veg. With water melon for dessert, a very well fed group fell into bed at the grand old time of 7.30pm.

These boots are made for walking...

After rising at 4.30am we waved the trekkers off at 6am and set off for our next destination.

Day 3 – The Charlies - Raleigh's ICS programme groups
We visited Charlie 2 in the community of La Quinta, Miraflor, where the group is putting the finishing touches to a water gravity system to bring fresh water to the community. As well as completing the gravity system, the group are working with the local community to ensure that the system is maintained in the long term.

In the afternoon we had to make an emergency trip into Esteli to replace a child’s football after it had met a tragic end under the wheel of Bravo 3! Luckily, a new ball was obtained and a smile was returned to the faces of the local children. Having spent the night with a local family, it was another early rise before continuing our journey to El Portillo.

Day 4 – X-Ray 5 and their water project: latrines!
Awaiting us at El Portillo, Achuapa, was the very lively X-Men 5s who are working in the community to build eco latrines. We caught up with the PMs Becky, Leanne and Istvan and learned that the group have also been engaging in other work such as planting trees and helping out in the homes of their host families.

PMs Becky and Istvan

Having settled into the community well, the group are in high spirits and are very much enjoying life in El Portillo, spending time teaching at the local school, playing Mafia, and taking classes in Capoeira with Sofia.

Super loos!

Day 5 & 6  – Charlie 1
Continuing onto San Nicholas, Achuapa, we arrived armed with a large amount of paint to enable Charlie 1 to decorate the community centre that they are currently building. The group are working hard and are determined to complete the large building on schedule. Having designed a beautiful mural for the outside, we are sure that it will look fantastic come the opening ceremony.

Community centre, San Nicholas

Day 7 – Feeding the trekkers!
We headed to Cerra Negro Ranger Station to leave three large sacks of food in preparation for the trekkers’ arrival a few days later. The sacks contained delights such as macaroni cheese, pasta, tinned veg, biscuits and refried beans to ensure that the trekkers have the energy needed to keep going!

Cerra Negro is a volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua. It is the youngest volcano in Central America and as such is yet to grow vegetation, leading to its striking appearance and name meaning ‘Black Hill’. X-Ray 2 will scale the volcano as part of their trek and will no doubt return with some amazing photography to show for their efforts!

Cerra Negro

Day 8 – Home, Sweet, Home
After spending one last night in Nicaragua, we headed to Cartago to rendezvous with the Logs Manager, Nick, so that I (Carina) could continue on with the Costa Rican road trip. Björn and Jen returned to fieldbase to be welcomed home with a delicious meal of Lentil Dahl and homemade bread.

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....

News from the Charlies

The Bravo 4 roadies arrived back this morning from a brief visit to our Charlie groups 2 and 3! When we arrived they were putting some serious elbow grease into their project work; digging, shoveling, cementing and painting there buildings to life in the sweltering Costa Rican sunshine. Still, the girls were enjoying themselves, smiling brightly and passionately singing there way through the day!

Charlie 3 had a mammoth day of work on the 5th August, rushing to get the project finished before it’s time to leave. The pig pens are well on their way to being finished and the pits are were being finalized with a few finishing touches when we arrived. It’s hard work to say the least but these girls are doing an incredible job. A couple of days ago some local women from the community came to visit the group with some fresh fruit. They got chatting and explained how impressed they were with their work. The locals commented on the fact that they are not used to seeing girls doing such hard and heavy labor, and how impressed they were with they strength and courage. Quite right. In response to this Charlie 3 invited to them to share some dinner with them that evening, to which the locals graciously accepted.

Teaching English at the local school!

Charlie 2 are also on good form. We left them earlier this morning, head to toe in blue paint, as they made the final touches to their kindergarten. Later on today they intend to mark there stamp on the walls with a muriel of the world with footstep going from the UK to Costa Rica and there names printed around it! As well as the hard work, the group have been soaking up the beautiful scenery around them, washing and swimming in the gorgeous river just a five minute walk down from the building site, and yesterday went to support the local boys lose at a game of football. Hmm, perhaps they were distracted. One of the highlights of the expedition for the girls so far has been the opportunity to sit in on the classes at the local school. Yesterday they attended Biology and Math's lessons, which was then followed up by a salsa class with the pupils and teachers - sounds like a fun day at school! Last night we all enjoyed a fairly intense, home-made game of Taboo. Unfortunately the road trip team were beaten by the girls as they raced there way to a whopping 14 points last minute! We only had 7… a poor show from us but fun all the same.

After chatting to the groups it seems that the guys are really enjoying working on the projects and being surrounded by new cultures. As the work comes to an end the final product is starting to take shape and the groups are gaining a real sense of achievement now that they can clearly see what all the hard work is for. Vicky Foden commented “It’s been the hardest two weeks of my life, but so rewarding. Even more so when we get to meet the people that it’s going to benefit.”

Charlie 1 have come to the end of their expedition and we said goodbye to them at the airport this morning. Our Charlie 2 and 3 groups finish their builds on Monday and will continue on to part two of their expedition, the adventure challenge - fun times ahead! Pura vida.

*Blog written by Dawn Tennant and photo's by Polly Baldwin

Romeos, Charlies and a sad farewell

Here to keep you occupied and in the loop are a few mini updates from the Romeo groups...

Last night Romeo one arrived at destination Rio Pejibayo and managed to strike gold with some luxury accommodation. The owner of a beautiful wooden house with incredible views over some of Costa Rica's magnificent landscape generously offered the group a home for the night. They graciously accepted. Unfortunately for the team the swimming pool had just been emptied that morning…it’s a hard life. Romeo two enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch with ranger Don Luz yesterday, and spent the night at the ranger’s station in El Jilguero. Today they will be making their first steps into the jungle! Romeo three over in Los Pailas are working those muscles hard by busily moving bags of gravel and rocks over to their new trail. On Monday they climbed to the peak of Las Pailas. Unfortunately for the group as they reached the top they were met by the rain, yet this didn’t dampen any spirits (excuse the punn). Happy to say that everyone is on great form and the team are enjoying the hard work and unpredictable weather. Romeo four are busy building their park trails and enjoying life in the jungle. At the end of the week they will move out of La Cangreja to breathe in some of that salty sea air as they begin part two of the phase at Playa Hermosa, volunteering at the turtle conservation. All is well with Romeo five. They are working hard on their community centre, soaking up the culture and settling well into their host families. Romeo six are making great progress with their own community centre. They are currently working on building up the walls and flattening out the area. They are looking to make a start on the roof in the next few days. Romeo seven finished the roof to the water system yesterday. They are now spending their time digging more trenches and taking in the Nicaraguan culture. Romeo six and seven will be joining forces this weekend and heading over the International Music Festival in Achuapa for some cultural music. The groups have big plans to put their own musical talents into good practice by forming a band and performing a little something of their own - chart toppers watch this space!

Our Charlies are also cracking on well with their projects...

Yesterday Charlie One left Alto Parma and headed to Piedra Vieja where they spent the night in a local school. Plans for today include a trip up to Caite where they will climb Barres and head back down to stay at Galan for the evening. Charlie two are working hard on their kindergarten. They have finished plastering up the walls and roof and today will be making a keen start on the floor. Charlie three are putting the work in on their biogas unit. They have already dug out the pits and are now laying down the brickwork for the pig pens. Everyone is well and enjoying project life!

Charlie three!

A little of the latest from sunny fieldbase... Bravo one (Wellard, Kat, Cathy and Emily) are currently making their merry way around many of the Romeo groups at the moment. They are currently driving through Nicaragua and checking out the projects there. The Bravo four road trip team (Sabrina, Phil, Abi and myself) will be heading out tomorrow to visit some groups of our own; saying hello to all the guys, bringing them the delights of 'the shop', such as the over subscribed Zinc Oxide tape and baby wipes, and of course collecting the latest news and gossip for you back home.

From elation to sadness to relief and even a little confusion, emotions are flying high here at fieldbase as our 11H volunteer managers come to the end of their Raleigh road and we prepare to say goodbye. Volunteer managers Andy, Megan, Wendy, Sarah, Siew, Nick and Hayley are leaving us after five incredible and invaluable weeks on expedition. Tonight we will be celebrating will a gourmet meal and some good old Raleigh-oke to sing them farewell! What better way to end. Guys, it’s been a pleasure - pura vida! 

*Blog by Dawn Tennant, photo by Pedro Rodriguez

The Challoners Have Arrived!

The Challoners arrived at field base this morning! There was just enough time for the groups to get organised and grab a quick spot of lunch before they rushed off again to start their adventure! Here are the groups...

Charlie Two

Zahra Akbar

Jasmin Bhamra

Eleanor Dimmock

Victoria Foden

Katherine Grundy

Eleanor Kershaw-Green

Emma Leane

Eloise Loach

Rachel Lord

Sarah McCann

Claire Richardson

Sophie Russell

Ellen Victor

Catherine Scutt

Clint Stevens

Charlie Three

Serina Allen

Charlotte Allen

Helena Bunney

Hayley Cherkas

Philippa Johnson

Eleanor Kendrick-Jones

Christina Lane

Sarah McKay

Sophie Orlans

Claudia Rouse

Hannah Watts

Ella Wills

Zorica Bowie

Mary Dunabar

If you're leaving messages for any of the challoners please make sure to put their Charlie group down and their name. Many thanks - Pura Vida!

*Blog written by Dawn Tennant and photos by Kat Mammone, unless otherwise stated.

Blogtastic - Delta 3, Alpha 5 and Charlie 1

So apparently the field base team can't get enough of these ruddy muddy road trips and early this morning some of the guys went out on another day visit, this time to Delta 3 to see what the group has been getting up to over the last few weeks. Let's get up to date with their news.

We can't quite believe that tomorrow we'll down our tools for the last time and on Sunday morning we’ll say goodbye to the community who have welcomed us so warmly. We’ve been working so hard on the community centre – shoveling bucket after bucket of soil to level the floor, trying our hand at bricklaying, mixing cement and digging a sanitation trench. On arrival the maestro de obra (who mysteriously only allows us to call him Pollo, Spanish for chicken) confidently told us we would easily be done a week early but the torrential Costa Rican rain prevented this from becoming the reality, although its done little to dampen our spirits. The rain caused the wood for the roof to bow slowing progress considerably. However the bulk of the work is done but we’re all disappointed we won’t see the finished product! It hasn’t been all work and no play of course. We held a party with the community to celebrate Nati’s birthday that was an amazing success – the perfect opportunity for us to get to know the locals and gorge on sweets. We taught the children how to play British bulldog. The game did take quite a while due to the fact that they didn’t really understand the concept of being ‘out’. This Sunday was our first day off since we arrived so after a welcome lie in (until 6am!) we set off into the jungle on a walk lead by Nemesio, one of our hosts. The first part of our walk was up what can only be described as a vertical mudslide but we continued on into the jungle with Nemesio leading, creating a path for us. After slipping and sliding some more we came to a beautiful waterfall only when we were back in the village did Nemesio tell us that he almost didn’t take us due to the snakes in the jungle! Probably best for the more snake shy among us. Last night we were invited to celebrate the birthday of Brandonly, one of Nemesio’s sons. We were given Tamales – a traditional Costa Rican dish of vegetables, maize, meat and rice wrapped in banana leaves and boiled. It was a perfect opportunity to get to know more of the local people.

Delta 3, it’s been emotional. But fear not, more adventures coming up imminently in phase two so hold on to your hats. We'll be seeing Delta 3 as they arrive back to FB tomorrow with the rest of the groups. Next up we have some more news from Alpha 5 over in La Cangreja National Park where they have been spending their days deep in the jungle, working on the trails.

Alpha 5 have survived their first week of living in the jungle. It’s been very wet, muddy and itchy. The camp now has a “shower” (bucket and cover area) and an organized kitchen. We have dug up 2km of piping which is going to be reused. Unfortunately the project to start the wheelchair trail has been abandoned due to lack of permission. Instead we are repairing and improving the existing trails in La Cangreja. So we head off into the jungle in the mornings with our shovels and rakes. On our nature walk on our day off we saw a Fer de Lance (enormous snake!). We also ate masses of fried plantain, which made a nice change to the tradition Raleigh rations of Pork & Beans!

Alpha 5

Yoga!

Blog messages!

PM's Ronnie and Conner - nice effort on the beard front from Connor

Digging the trenches for the pipes

We visited Alpha 5 towards the end of our road trip and were able to relax with the group as they chilled out after a hard morning's work, and tucked into some Guanabana fruit! Now for a little catch up with our Bespoke expedition. Charlie 1 give us the latest as they settle into project life in Cuchey in the indigenous community of Tayni. Written by Elise.

Hello to everyone! We’re all well and having a great time. Our building is going well and we will be putting the roof on soon. The locals are very welcoming. Today they brought us Coca Cola from the shop. Hopefully we will be having a sports day with them next week. It’s sunny and it rains during the night. The highlight of our day is going to the beautiful river to wash and bathe. Our spare time is spent playing our new favorite games: Mafia and Cups! Hope all is well, you’ll be hearing more from us soon!

Pura vida!

*Blog written by Dawn Tennant and photo’s by Kat Mammone, unless otherwise stated.