Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Volcan Irazu

Showing posts with label Volcan Irazu. Show all posts

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Living For The Weekend

It is now a full week since the Advanced Fieldbase Team touched down in Costa Rica and as a reward for their endeavours (pats on the back all round), were given the morning to take a trip up Volcan Irazú on a glorious Saturday. Bravos 2 and 4, both noble steeds, were loaded up and 90 minutes later, Team FB (Fieldbase) had ascended through the clouds to the summit. Scenery aside, a striking observation was the number of cyclists battling their way up Irazu’s flanks in the 25 degree heat. We doff our caps to you; a feat worthy of the upmost respect. Dubbed ‘El Coloso’, Irazú towers above the city of Cartago at 3432m and the views from the top were spectacular to say the least - the layer of cloud cover below providing an almost heavenly view (admire Ale’s stunning snaps below).

Sunday/Monday will see the relentless activity at Fieldbase kick up yet another gear – the Venturer Managers are on their way. Dave F, Tim and Pedro are San Jose bound to meet the recruits and return them safe and sound to Turrialba, where they will be welcomed over a breakfast of Gallo Pinto before the fun and games of training begin.

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Hola! Volcán Irazú

Welcome again to Expedition 11C where the advance team is in situ and ready for action. After a bonza barbie from barbeque kings Tom (pictured) and Pete last night (they're both in the logistics team so it was super organised)...

... our treat this morning was an early jaunt up a volcano. At 3432m above sea level, Volcan Irazu (pronounced a bit like 'Oovavu' from Shooting Stars') is pretty high. So we hopped in the landys, which we parked in reverse when we arrived. This was just in case the volcano decided to get active on us (in fact our deputy programme manager Ivan's safety brief included the immortal lines 'if anyone spots an eruption please let everyone else know'). Gulp.

With that we set off for an hour to meander round the beautiful turquoise crater lake of an active volcano, a first for many of us:

The guys decided a boyband shot was in order along the way:

Left to right: Keiner - our host venturer co-ordinator; Tom, Mark and Pete -all logistics; Ben our newest arrival - a medic project manager, and Ivan - our deputy programme manager.

Move over Take That!

As we walked up to the lookout point we had a totally awesome view of the smoke plume coming from Volcan Turrialba which we can also see from fieldbase on a good day:

And here's the obligatory group shot but with the added twist of us trying to kill each other (not really):

With that we headed down to say hello to a friendly furry thing which had bounded up to us on arrival. However, the adorable creature known as a Koatimundi in English ('Pizote' in Spanish) displayed its Jekyll and Hyde nature when it ran off with Tom and Julie's cake. They weren't happy.

After so much excitement, most of us headed back to fieldbase. But a small number took a detour to visit a project site from the last expedition, 10L, in Volcan Irazu national park. One of last year's teams helped to develop a trail system with paths and drainage. Here's Laura our logistics manager returning rakes to a happy Horacio, one of the park rangers:

And Keiner was chuffed because he was able to run up and down the path at top speed which his little brother had helped to build last year:

Laura and me (Gerry, the comms officer) huffed and puffed our way up before realising that altitude sickness was potentially kicking in. So Mark from logistics and our driver for the day, did a sterling job of negotiating hairpin bends, giant potholes, crazy cars overtaking, cows in the road, and hills so steep they would be black runs if they had snow on them, to get us back in one piece. Phew!

How to send your loved ones a message

It's easy. Scroll down to the bottom of the most recent entry and click the comments link. A box will then appear where you can write your comment - please don't forget to tell us who the message is for including the full name and project group of the recipient. You can select name/URL from the dropdown menu to tell us who it's from (you can leave the URL blank if you wish). Finally, click on 'Post Comment' and you're done.

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Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups
(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)
The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

Basha
Jungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

Bodega
A Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

Bravo
A term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.
The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)
Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, Chicos
Spanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic
A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13A
Costa Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)
Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)
An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)
A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)
Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)
Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Gallo Pinto
A traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans (yum!)

Icebreaker (Rompe Hielos)
A getting-to-know-you game

Longdrop (Letrina)
The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)
From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

Maxis
Short for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

Nicas
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

Ninja
A popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPS
Legendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)
Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)
Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

PURA VIDA!
A very special Costa Rican phrase that means hello, goodbye, I’m great, it’s good, pure life, basically any positive, feel-good thing can be Pura vida!

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)
As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)
A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)
The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa Americana
Purveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)
Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

Tang
A fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

Ticos
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Trangia (Mini Cocina)
A portable cooking stove. Used primarily for trekking, a trangia’s compact design makes it perfect for easy transportation. Literal translation in spanish - mini kitchen. Makes sense

Turrialba
The location of Fieldbase

Venturers (Aventureros)
Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)
The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)
A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”