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

Cruising Costa Rica

After completing the handover of myself (Carina) and Bravo 3 in the glamourous location of a car park, Nick and I commenced our road trip to visit X-Rays’ 1, 3 and 4 in Costa Rica.

Day 1 – Tracking down the trekkers
After taking in the beautiful scenery during our ascent into the hills, we arrived at La Esperanza to be welcome by the slightly whiffy (sorry trekkers!) but very happy X-Ray 1s! Sporting an array of ‘interesting’ outfits to keep warm, the group were adjusting to feeling a little chilly for a change as a result of being at an altitude of 2500m.

Bundling themselves into extra clothes and sleeping bags, the group warmed themselves up with a delicious dinner of pasta with lots of fresh veg and sausage, followed by one of Vanessa’s, now famous, banana cakes. Lottie also prepared energy bomb for the group, so all in all, it was a good food day for X-Ray 1!

Day 2 – Masterchefs a.k.a X-Ray 3
After an early rise with the trekkers we travelled to Carara National Park to visit X-Ray 3. Due to an overflowing river, X-Ray 3 has relocated from their jungle camp into a ranger building. With running water and bunk beds, the group have made themselves at home and managed to use the kitchen facilities to create some impressive food out of Raleigh rations, such as Emma’s Banoffee Pie! Having enjoyed a meal with the group we then played numerous games of Mafia as well as being entertained by Jed as only he knows how.

The following morning we walked into the jungle where the group is hard at work clearing flood and storm debris from walking trails.

Raining in the rain forest

Day 3 – X-Ray 4 challenge for the Masterchef crown!
Having travelled the short distance from Carara to Playa Hermosa to visit X-Ray 4 on the turtle project, we were greeted by a very chilled and happy group. Loving the beach environment, the group have been busy building up the storm walls following the bad weather at Hermosa over recent weeks. The storm walls protect the baby turtles from being drowned in the hatchery and so the group are enthused about working as hard as possible to prevent further damage. At night, they have been undertaking two beach walks to search for turtles and nests to enable them to relocate the eggs for protection.

X-Ray 4, sunset at Playa Hermosa

Again, impressing us with their cooking skills and challenging the efforts of X-Ray 3, Carlton and Sophie treated us to a delicious dinner of homemade veggie burgers and chips. The cooking in phase 3 is particularly impressive and Nick and I were delighted to get stuck in! Hopping back in Bravo 3 the following morning, we headed off early in order to deliver X-Ray 1’s last food drop.

Day 4 – Home delivery!
One food drop that trekkers love is the last one as they don’t have to carry it! With this in mind, we delivered X-Ray 1’s last food drop to Playa Palo Seco which is the end point of the Coast to Coast trek. Ready and waiting for their arrival today, we hope the trekkers enjoy the food and the messages of support tucked inside the food sacks!

Following the food drop, Nick and I headed back to fieldbase where we are preparing for the return of X-Ray’s 1–5 on Monday.

Highlights of Romeos, Costa Rica!

Romeo 1 Coast to Coast Trek
18 days of trekking culminated in an emotional moment when we caught our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean and ran straight for it! In total, we have walked over 250km across Costa Rica. In the process we have battled torrential rain, mudslides and way too many mosquitoes.

On day 12, we climbed 1000m and reached our highest point of 2800m. The route we took was a steep climb during which the group used trees and vines to help us with the ascent. It was incredible, everything was covered in moss and the trees were so high that they blocked out most of the sunlight. As we crossed a whole mountain range the views were incredible.

Our accommodation on trek consisted mainly of community centres with varying degrees of modernity; some had showers and some had a wooden long drop, covered in cobwebs, lurking at the back of the garden. We also camped a few times and have collectively decided that anything is better than being in a tent (though this is probably because every time we camped we had torrential rain!).

Day 18 was the most amazing day; we managed to reach our end point at the beach by noon and then had the rest of the day, as well as day 19, to relax and bask in the sunshine! We went swimming, watched the sunset and awoke to fresh coconuts in the morning which Simon and Cat knocked down from a tree in our campsite. Overall Coast to Coast has been an amazing experience which has pushed us to our limits and surpassed our expectations. 

We made it! Pacific Coast

Romeo 3 Playa Hermosa/Carara National Park
Phase 2 has proven that the Raleigh experience just gets better and better. From living in the beach at Playa Hermosa to living deep in the jungle at Carara National Park, our environmental phase has been amazing.

Working very closely with turtles at Hermosa proved to be an unforgettable experience for the group. During our night patrols we saw both Ridley and Green turtles, collected and buried their eggs in the hatchery, and released newly hatched turtles back into the ocean.

The group also enjoyed living by the beach, especially our post-work paddles in the ocean and collecting coconuts from nearby trees.

Before we knew it was time to say goodbye to the beach and make our short journey to the jungle.  Despite a leaky group tarp, relentless rain showers and constant humidity, jungle living proved to be a fantastic experience unlike any we have ever had before. The famous Romeo 3 refried beans recipe kept our spirits high and our efforts at trench digging were rewarded when whole areas of path remained free from flooding.

We saw lots of wildlife around camp include Capuchin and Howler monkeys. The group were also lucky enough to see crocodiles at a nearby river and even a baby crocodile on one jungle walk. There were also a wide species of birds around camp including the famous Scarlet Macaws.

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the phase for many was meeting the rangers whom were very welcoming and helped us at any opportunity, even cooking dinner for us at the beach.

Altogether Romeo 3 bonded fantastically and worked exceptionally well as a team.
 
Romeo 4 Carara National Park/Playa Hermosa
Our project was a two part adventure divided into digging trenches in the jungle of Carara National Park and saving turtles at Playa Hermosa! From living in the jungle to sleeping next to the beach, this project had everything.

In Carara National Park we dug trenches to drain flood water that engulfs the walking trail during rainy season. Maintaining the trail enables the park to generate income which is used for essential preservation work.

After nine days of living under the canopy of the trees we moved to the sunny, sandy beach of Playa Hermosa to help with the conservation of turtles. We built wooden dams and dug trenches to protect the turtle hatchery from sea flooding.

At night, we patrolled the beach looking for turtle nests and would rebury the eggs in the safety of the hatchery. On three occasions we assisted with releasing baby turtles back into the sea and this was truly a special and unique experience for us all.

Every few days during the project our PMs ran sessions on sustainable development. We realised how useful this information was when one of our fellow venturers, Che, entered into a conversation with a tourist about the project, why we were doing it, and what Raleigh is all about. The depth of Che’s knowledge not only impressed the tourist but also impressed his fellow venturers who thought he’d been sleeping during the information sessions! The tourist was so inspired by the information he received, the next day he and his partner very generously came to the project site bringing gifts of food, snacks and soda! The whole group was extremely grateful and also delighted to know that the importance of our work is appreciated.

Alpha Romeo 4 turtle power!

Alpha Romeo 4 finished their trail building project at La Cangreja after a week into phase 2. So imagine their surprise when they found out that their bonus 10 day project was to build trails and dig trenches to save turtles at Playa Hermosa. Aaaaah! Here's Charlie 'Chich' Chichester to explain more.

La Playa Hermosa: a seafront paradise, green palms, bright blue sea, and a small house right on the beach. We wake up in such a beautiful place with the sound of waves crashing, however it's always accompanied by the sweet sound of venturers' snores.

We've been digging trenches and clearing sand in the morning for Costa Rican turtles and clearing out of control jungle paths in the afternoon, next to a crocodile-infested river. As we are more ferocious than the crocs no one seems to be worried, not even our hobble-legged PM Jonny who returned to us after breaking his foot on trek. Jonny isn't quite up to joining the few of our venturers who go for a 5am run along the sand but he is making progress.

Sadly it is the wrong season to see the turtles. Some of us planned to ride them off into the blue horizon of the sea [blogger: good job they hid then!] but a lot of the eggs are at least now secure.

So instead, while working in the baking hot sun, many of us are beginning to look like freshly cooked lobsters. It will all be worth it  though as we'll have helped a new generation of turtles blossom!

Delta 4 - Turtle Patrol in Camaronal!

Words: Mags Chilaev

Delta Romeo Four, a group of extraordinary people on an extraordinary mission- saviour of Camaronal turtles and constructors of the world's best jungle camp. With the weight of this mammoth task on our bronzed shoulders we set out to the shores of Costa Rica, with an air that’s been suppressed by intellectual powerhouse Chris Florren: ‘toned, tanned and turtles.’

The sea gods, smiled upon us on our very first night as we were roused at the late hour of 9.28pm to witness the nest of a leatherback. The vivid image of the shy creature pushing eggs out of her rear will stay with us for some time. This hearty introduction to Camaronal was spoilt the next morning when the half the group suddenly observed Richard undress in the limited privacy of his basher bed, signalling the need for a changing room.

Our duties have been in two parts: construction of a new hatchery to house turtle eggs and collection of the eggs, day and night patrols.

The last week has been an exciting one for Camaronal turtle guardians that have ranged from evacuating our camp to digging up palm trees. Our first adventure began on the morning of the 11th march as our worried PM’s relayed to us the horrifying details of the Japanese Earthquake. Though initially concerned we calmly evacuated several kilometres inland to the mountains where we spent the night and watched the minimal impact of the ‘tsunami.’

The next few days saw us returning to normality as we continued our work on the beach hatches, under the relentless sun; patrols on the beach at night in search of turtle eggs- there are worse work sites! In the evenings we play beach football with other volunteers and park rangers though Raleigh United have been slipping in the premiership. On 15th March we entertained ourselves by hosting a tribal themed party as the divas of the camp dressed in palm leaves, whilst the men wore grassy appendages. We all feel particularly privileged to be on this phase together and anticipate future adventures together.