Hola from Fieldbase,
This is Andy, Project Manager, here at Fieldbase a week
early; trying to help out when needed (call me ‘The Floater’) and generally keeping
a low profile whilst the Advance Team bond (and as a result featuring as first guest blogger). And I’d best explain why I’m here early. It’s
because Becky, Logistics Co-ordinator, and I are married……to each other (two
fantastic years as of yesterday!), so we travelled out together; I needed
someone’s hand to hold on the plane because I’m a nervous flyer!
As you’ll have seen from the first post, we arrived early
Friday (8th June) morning. Since that point it’s been a case of getting
settled in and getting set up for the other Volunteer Managers to arrive and
the Venturers thereafter. Amongst other things, we’ve taken a tour of the site,
been given instructions on how to wash up/use the toilet, undertaken a swimming
assessment, which we all passed with flying (maybe that should be butterflying)
colours, got ourselves semi acquainted with the local town Turrialba (more on
that to follow), learnt the rules of Racing Demons, stopped to admire a
mesmerising Costa Rican sunset (see the previous post), and organised the bodega.
As i write this, some of the advance team are learning off road driving skills.
In terms of our environs, we are (field) based just outside
the aforementioned Turrialba in a cluster of buildings including the office,
bodega, and Volunteer Manager & Venturer accommodation. It has all mods
cons such as electricity and running water (sometimes cold, but that’s often
welcome!). A very friendly and playful dog called Splatches also greets us
warmly when she’s around.
To get into the local town, Turrialba, it’s about a 25mins
walk, or a 5mins drive. Turriabla is where you’ll find everything from numerous
butchers, a toy shop, restaurants, the post office and classical guitar playing
in the plaza. It has a population of around 40,000 and the feel of a buzzing
market town. If I’ve time, I’ll try to learn some basic Spanish there at a
language school. That would be muchos……good.
Further afield there is the local pool around 20mins walk
away, accessed via a gravel lane, which is flanked by fields of sugar cane; the
workers were toiling said fields in the searing midday sun as we walked by, so
massive respect to them! The view from the pool is one of lush green vegetation
on all sides. As you might expect from such an environment, there is an
abundance of wildlife. Small black birds (around the size of a wren) dart
around, what look like birds of prey (maybe condors but in reality I think they
are vultures) drift around on thermals, humming birds flit between flowers
sipping nectar and last night I caught a glimpse of a frog about the size of my
hand; quite some sights for this city dweller.
The whole area is managed by
CATIE, an
educational institution concerned with reducing poverty via promoting
competitive/sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.
Don’t let the above give you an overly rosy view of the
place though. The hard work of setting up has only just started, and in the
heat, even the most basic tasks can be quite draining, leaving clothes and
bodies sweat-covered. Accommodation, although comfortable, is pretty basic and
it rained all day yesterday. This, of course, is all part of the challenge of
which there’ll be many more besides over the next few weeks, and then some when
we get to project sites/trek phases. Bring it on!
Andy (The Floater) Youl
