X-ray 2, moving mountains to send messages home

X-ray 2 - welcome to the jungle

Sitting here in Carara you can really appreciate the beauty of Costa Rica as the lush rain forest provides shade from the beating sun. We now have the strange feeling of a roof above our heads as we are staying in Casa Verde, the rangers station.

Our home - Casa Verde

Having been here for 4 days we're getting settled in and beginning to bond even more as a team through  group activities, quizzes, card games and working together (rather than in separate shifts as we did in Playa Hermosa in our work with the turtles).

We've been perfecting the third trail system alongside one of the leading rangers Oscar.  At the sprightly age of 56, Oscar is there for us 100% working and sweating with us, as well as bringing us coke on the rocks and bananas. He's told us many things about this wonderful place that is our home, the great trees and insects, the scarlet macaws and even the endlessly fascinating jungle cats.

We've gravelled and laid the big stones for about 50m so far and we have a lot more to do. We wake up each morning excited for the day ahead and as we put down the fingers for the days to come we realise how every day is special and we make the most of it even more.

from Ben P, Project Comms officer

Aishath carrying gravel

Nicole carrying more gravel

Suwen carrying even more gravel

Ben coming back for yet more gravel

Quick update - X-ray groups are go

X-ray 1 got to Nicaragua safely, staying the first night in a school in Jinotepe.  They've now started trekking and are requesting extra porridge to keep their strength up.

X-ray 2 arrived at Playa Hermosa and got stuck into turtle patrols straight away.  Rumour has it there was  film crew there yesterday so they could have 5 minutes of fame, at least in Costa Rica.

X-ray 3 have been moving rocks and building paths in Carara National Park.  Oscar, the ranger there, has given them a wildlife tour which everyone enjoyed.  They have upgraded their accommodation to include an outdoor hammock area.

X-ray 4 successfully made their way to Achuapa and then on to their community where everyone came to meet them and helped carry the tools and equipment back to the site.

X-ray 5 enjoyed an awesome welcome party hosted by the community and have spent time getting to know their new mums, dads, brothers and sisters.

Introducing the new X-Ray groups

So everyone is on their way for Phase 2!

Even though early mornings are becoming quite routine now, 3.30am is still quite brutal especially after the Halloween party the night before.  No complaints from the new X-Ray groups though.  Everyone made their packed lunches, ate breakfast, stuffed their rucksacks and loaded the buses ready for a prompt(ish) departure.

So the X-Ray groups are as follows:

X-Ray 1 - Miratombo Trek (Nicaragua)
David M, Vic L, Charlie
Marco, Gustavo, Louis, Luke, Jonas, Matt Whiteside, Carlyn, Anika, Anna, Tiggy, Victoria M

X-Ray 2 - Environmental (starting with Playa Hermosa)
Claudia F, Jim, Nicole
Diego, Ben A, Jack, Harley, Ben H-D, Ben P, Jacklyn, Mela, Suwen, Puck, Aisheth, Hester

X-Ray 3 - Environmental (starting with Carara)
Pauline, Martina, Sarah F/Natalie
Matt Wilkinson, Jose, Omar, Claudia A, Floor, Dave R, Vera, Lilian, Shannon, Nick, Alex

X-Ray 4 - Los Loros water gravity project (Nicaragua)
Florian, Claire S, David A
Pedro, Hidde, Callum, Ziggy, Archie, Henry, Yorleny, Laura, Frankie, Lydia, Patrice, Andrea

X-Ray 5 - Miraflor house building project (Nicaragua)
Sarah C, Jae, Katie
Jonathan, Angel, Rory, Paul, Ben B, Max, Arlenne, Bodyl, Vinnie, Eveline, Sophie

If you could mark your blog messages with these X-ray groups it will help us get each one straight to your loved ones.  (Even though messages aren't being published on the blog at the moment we still print them all out and get them out to venturers just as soon as we can - so keep up the words of encouragement, they mean a lot.)

And speaking of the Halloween party here's a picture of Barney to put you off your breakfast...

Pretty in pink?

Conquistando el Miratombo!

Empezamos nuestro trek – Miratombo - a pocas horas de iniciar la caminata sentíamos muchas emociones encontradas entre miedo, curiosidad, nervios y otras. Empezamos en el cebollal, rodeando los maravillosos paisajes montañosos de la Reserva Natural Miraflor- Moropotente, en la que disfrutamos del aire puro de la zona.

Lucy, X-Ray 2 PM

Desde el primer al sexto día disfrutamos juntos de las vistas surreales que rodeaban a estos lugares, encontrándonos con habitantes de las comunidades que sin conocernos nos brindaron su completo apoyo, cariño y hospitalidad. Entre los primeros días nos encontramos uno de los mayores retos para nuestra caminata, el cual fue subir desde una pequeña comunidad llamada Rodeo Grande hasta el Cerro Las Brisas en la Reserva Natural Quiabuc, fue un día intenso enfrentando una de las cuestas mas difíciles y sin fin jamás experimentadas; cansados, algunos con ampollas en los pies y empapados en sudor, sin embargo, ni eso seria suficiente para detenernos, ya que todos teníamos una gran fuerza de voluntad para conquistar la cima del cerro y obtener el merecido descanso que nos habíamos ganado.

La sensación mas gratificadora y emocionante, era alcanzar la meta del día y saber que todo el grupo lo había logrado con mucho sacrificio y esfuerzo, olvidando toda traza de dolor en los pies, cansancio o insolación, fue realmente satisfactorio sentir tantas emociones en un día y poder decir “Yo SI puedo”, y como grupo lo lográramos.

Relaxing at the top!

Todos los días fueron un reto hubo frio, calor, sol, lluvia, una batalla contra los elementos y mucho camino por recorrer, sin embargo, al final es una decisión personal hacer de cada uno de estos momentos un recuerdo maravilloso, basta solo detenerse observar a tu alrededor y ver que la naturaleza, el mundo, la vida son realmente hermosos.

Todo esta aventura nos hace reflexionar sobre aquello que tenemos y no valoramos, entender que para tener un día de felicidad no se requiere de posesiones materiales, solo basta nuestra voluntad, perseverancia, alegría y coraje para enfrentar los obstáculos, nuestros miedos internos y dificultades que se presentaran en nuestras vidas para poner a prueba nuestro valor como seres humanos.

Mayerling and Teydi

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.

Diary of the Miratombo..

...continuing Endgoes diary of the Miratombo trekkers!!

Day 7
We left the mountain of military station and continued our trek. When we got to our end point, we searched for somewhere to stay. Finally we reached a local school but unfortunately it was closed so we stayed in building next to the school. It was still under construction but there were lots of rooms to sleep in and a common area for cooking - it's certainly better than staying in tents!

Happily, Bravo 3 visited us today and delivered our food drop plus fresh fruit, water and sausage - oh my god... SAUSAGE for dinner!!! We almost forgot the taste of sausage - thank god and thank Bravo 3!!

Day 8
Our rucksacks were super heavy again after the food-drop however our spirits and energy were very high after a nice food and sleep. We walked 16km in just 5 hours today. During the day we passed through an impoverished area of Esteli and while it can be distressing it is also amazing to have such experience to see the slum side of a city. During each rest break we would find check the map in order to reach every checkpoint before our end destination although we did get slightly lost in the countryside we figured out a right way shortly afterwards. We arrived at the community at noon and enjoyed delicious local food and coffee. At night everybody was hyper active but without any reasons. We like our group and our trek.

Day 9
Relaxing day! We climbed through a few hills in three hours stopped and settled down at a local restaurant – there's nothing to do but enjoy life and a barbeque dinner. Life is short, catch your time and have fun.

Day 10
After downhill with million rocks and uphill with around 60 degree slopes finally we reached a hidden village in Nicaraguan mountains. There's a beautiful waterfall here and, with help from a few locals, we managed to locate it and swim around in our first waterfall of the trek. We are proud to be adventurers.

Day 11
Today was Saturday; we had a half day walk and planned to stay in a school for rest however the school was closed and the locals could not find the key for us. Finally we stayed in a local family's house. It is very small and our roll mats are practically connected each other - how close we were!

Day 12
Muddy boots and muddy body – we’re exhausted but enjoying the muddy life! Our hearts felt tense because we thought the second food drop was missing but we found it in the end. Everyone recharged their energy with a shower after reaching the checkpoint however two of our soaps were eaten by a pig - one was mine!

Goodbye for now - I'll share with you more at the end of the trek.

The secret diary of X-Ray 2

On Raleigh we encourage originality and innovation, and, in that vein we present the diary of the Miratombo Trek by Hong Kong's finest: Endgoes Mak!

Day 1
We are at the start of phase 3; the last phase that the Miratombo trekkers will walk step by step, side by side, to achieve the same goal and complete their expeditions! The large team of X-Ray 2, with 17 members in total, come from different places but have the same mission today: 1) sleep during the long journey from Costa Rica to Nicaragua to charge our trekking batteries and 2) celebrate Tyler's birthday – happy birthday Tyler!

Dutch mountain leader Rolo flies the flag! 

Day 2
The trek has begun and everyone is extremely excited! Two of us expressed our feelings by action and walked really hard, however, this resulted in sun cream and camel bag leakage! Although this lowered the weight of our rucksacks, the weight loss was minimal compared to the total weight of our giant rucksacks! The rucksacks are heavy, yet we can all handle it. We arrived at a community centre within 50mins, after our first short trek. Many of us shared a piece of cake during lunch. It's believed that the trek will be a piece of cake!

Day 3
We were so efficient! After the first night in the community centre, we woke up at 3.30am and managed to finish breakfast, pack our rucksacks and clean up within an hour. We played Ninja and waited for sunrise before beginning to trek. Today, we trekked for 15km and walked through many communities. The barbed wire and fences have been our number one obstacle. However, despite the challenges we faced, we finished today's trek by noon. We arrived at a tiny community centre and then washed in the river together. Today was a lovely day and our group is bonding.

Day 4
This morning we faced the challenge of the first river crossing in our trek. The water was flowing quite quickly and it reached up to our knees. It's great that we all crossed it safely and successfully. The river crossing was an exciting experience made more so for the fact there are no more for the rest of the trek.

Day 5
Today was the hardest day of the trek so far and could be totally represented by Zichari's boot! His boot could not withstand the trek and the sole broke off. We tried to fix it with 'duct' tape from Scotland yet it did not work. Zichari has a number of blisters and so do others. However, the natural scenery is awesome and we are enjoying it very much.

Miratombo trek = awesome views!

Day 6
Today was a long day, with a trek up to the military station, our base for the night but we were all mentally and physically healthy when we arrived – although two of us did collapse with relief for just a few minutes! All in all, we are fit and perfect! In the evening, from the military station, we saw the whole city of Esteli lit up below us. It is 10,000 times bigger than the town that we passed through this afternoon! Trek so far has been a remarkable experience and we are looking forward to the next 14 days!

Blink and you'd have missed it

So another Raleigh phase has gone by quicker than a meteor flashing over the Cheviots; here’s a run through of the endeavours of those fine Raleigh guys and gals’

Our trek groups have routed their respective routes. X Ray 1 delved through the heart of Costa Rica, almost coast to coast. Beginning in Barbilla National Park they have breached the continental divide and are celebrating their success at Punta Judas. Whilst Turrisantos may sound like a beach resort, apparently its completely the opposite. And you need to like peanuts. and tang. and getting slightly lost. but mainly peanits.

X Ray 2 conquered the Corcovado, tackling the eponymous national park and La Amistad in the hot and humid southwest of Costa Rica. They finished with three days striding the sands at Playas Madrigal, Carate and Piro.

X Ray 3, up in Nicaragua, mastered the Miratombo trek, with their final days in the Maribios Volcano chain, enjoying stunning views of Volcan Momotombo and Lake Managua. They visited many communities along the way, were treated to food by smiling hosts, slept on volcanoes, traversed deserts and rivers, all celebrating in style at Lake Asoscosas.

X Ray 4 have completed their work on the ‘Quebrada Bonita’ trail in Carara National Park, enjoying a day trip to Playa Hermosa, and celebrating several birthdays throughout the phase. The traditional celebratory energy bomb cake was pimped with addition of oreos. Must have been some huge sugar crashes down in Carara after that...

X Ray 5 in La Amistad have also been productive on the ‘Gigantes del Bosque’ trail (Giants of the Forest’. They have enjoyed various outings to the swimming pool in Altimira, a local farmers market, and to the Valley of Silence Ranger station where Raleigh undertook a project a few years ago.

X Ray 6, after 18 days of pouring rain, finally had a day of sun! They have been working at Volcan Tenorio, undertaking an overhaul of the path to the waterfall on the aquamarine Rio Celeste.

X Ray 7 have continued the work of Alpha 7 on the adobe brick houses in La Naranjita, mixing mud and ‘old man’s beard’ to create a ‘cement’ between the bricks, alongside trips to Esteli and visits to X Ray 8...

...who have completed the community centre in San Jose! This was celebrated with a fiesta yesterday afternoon, featuring all the classics - pass the parcel and some rather competitive musical chairs. They too undertook trips to Esteli, visiting the cigar factory and there was a barely a dry eye when they said good bye on Tuesday morning.

Finally, X Ray 9 in Dorbata. In their one phase, they whipped up a school building faster than a Groundforce montage and have enjoyed the good life in the beautiful surrounds of Chirripo Indigenous Territory. The school is already in use and the group enjoyed a game of football with the locals, the torrential downpour during the fixture making the Brits feel truly at home.

They’ll all be back at HQ tomorrow for all the fun and games of changeover so stayed tuned for the latest goings on at Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Conquest of the Corcovado (...almost!)

Having determinedly strode onwards through the scorching heat of the sun in Southern Costa Rica, trudged the open mud tracks, battled the mosquito-laden, humid jungle and waded across the winding waters of the Rio Rincon, X Ray 2 are fast approaching their desired destination. The glimmering promise of the Pacific has been sighted at the Golfo Dulce, and its inviting waters enjoyed at Rincon.

Such glorious adventure has not been without its misgivings however, and with blisters in abundance, food rations proving increasingly monotonous alongside 3 weeks of grime, sweat and dirt scenting the air surrounding us, we urge ourselves to our final destination.

The Corcovado trek has been rich in diverse wildlife. The vibrant colours of Costa Rica’s butterflies amongst the mystical fog of Santa Lucia’s bamboo fields have brought us a wealth of beauty and calm, in contrast to the alarm evoked at the sighting of snakes as they bask on our route, or the cohesive confines of spider’s webs strewn from trees.

Group morale has been faultless as we strive towards our adventures end. Two more days and we can rest our weary limbs and contemplate what will have been a unbelievable journey across some of Costa Rica’s most stunning landscapes.

X-Ray 2 - Corcovado Trek

Unaware of the rough terrain and high mountains we were to endure with bags brimming with trek essentials, we departed in the cold early hours fom Prognosso. It wasn´t long however until the scorching sun seared down upon us, as we began our first climb up a dry, dusty road that we began to feel the pain pulsating in our quadriceps.Thankfully this was quickly relieved as we approached a valley abundant in orange trees, where we were greeted by a very happy dog.

After crossing 2 rivers, eating lunch and walking several kilometres we came to the sickening realisation that we had gone the wrong way, resulting in us camping in the moist, soggy, mosquito-riddem jungle. Somewhat depressed and demotivated, the group must be credited for their determination to correct this profound error of judgement. After powering through torrential rain and a dark, gloomy jungle containing many uphills, we reached our first village with a pulperia. Here we stocked up with haste and were even eagerer to maintain our speed when we heard of the hot springs at the end of our day. After reaching this paradise we spent a much needed hour bathing in the luxurious pools that sat on the river bank, shortly after reaching our destination, an the second day was complete.

Another tough day followed as we began to feel the heat, but we battled through to the ranger station at the summit; complete with flushing toilets, (ice-cold) showers and soft matresses. We departed the next day by the lead of a guide who macheted his way through the jungle. After a couple of mild river crossings, we were stopped dead at the foot of a near-vertical mountain. 2 hours of solid uphill later and we were at the top, fully deserving of a drawn out lunch break. Feeling rejuvenated and hearing that Amistad and X-Ray 5 were close, we sped down the otherside to see our friends, full of joy and elation at our achievements. Tomorrow the ´perilous´ journey continues...

X-Ray projects, some background

Many of you undoubtedly read the previous post regarding X-Ray allocations and spied some new locations in amongst some familiar names. Well observed. Whilst some of the groups will be continuing the work undertaken by the awesome Alphas, a couple of new projects have cropped up which I will give you a background.

The Turrisantos and Corcovado treks, as you may have guessed, are the same as those that ran in Phase One, albeit with one new addition, the Miratombo trek, which will be tackled by X-Ray 3 during the phase. Starting up in the north of Nicaragua, near to Esteli. This route snakes its way through the Miraflor and Estanzuela wildlife reserve, and for the second half of its duration, the mighty Volcan Momotombo remains within sight; the trekkers celebrate the trip’s climax in the crater lake of Asososca.

Environmental efforts continue at Carara and La Amistad National Parks, with X-Ray 4 and 5 respectively, however the new kid on the block is Volcan Tenorio, visited by X-Ray 6. Located in the north of Costa Rica in Guanacaste province, it is notorious for the ultramarine Rio Celeste, which attains its colour due to mineral deposits and the emanation of sulphur from the volcano. Whilst in the park, X-Ray 6 will be repairing access trails alongside constructing a stair case down to a waterfall on the Celeste. This is one of several projects Raleigh will have undertaken on Volcan Tenorio; previous Raleigh groups assisted with the constructions of a bridge and Latin America’s first disabled access pathway in a rainforest.

X-Rays 7 and 8 will carry on the community projects undertaken in La Naranjita and San Jose up in Miraflor, Nicaragua, whereas X-Ray 9, in a new project, have swung south to Dorbata, in the Chirripo Indigenous Territory which is located on the Caribbean slope in the Matama area. Populated by the Cabecar indigenous people, one of the largest groups in Costa Rica, X-Ray 9 will be constructing a school in the area, which due to its remoteness, is generally only accessible by foot. The majority of the population are subsistence farmers, with one notable import to the community being football boots!

We will of course, bring you news and views from the projects as they break. If you haven’t already, whet your appetite by checking out the fantastic photo review of phase one (see the link on the left hand toolbar), composed by Ale. I can assure you it only gets better the more you watch it.

Updates from X-Ray 2

Well, the blogs are flying in after Bravo 1 phoned with updates from X-Rays 2 and 3. The two blogs from X-Ray 2 are a little delayed due to a lot of their communications with fieldbase being via satphone, which doesn't lend itself to passing on long blog messages!! So without further ado, here are our group bloggers.

X-Ray 2 - Clare Jones

Blog 1: Monday 7^th November 

Day leader Tom attempted to gently wake X-ray 2, after the success of the previous morning’s alarm call but failed to operate the radio! Instead the group were woken by the sound of the radio crackling and Tom shouting “get up” as if we were convicts! X-ray 2 left Alto Cebadilla at 05.30am ready for the day’s 13km trek lead by Jesus, the day’s navigator. The day began with light drizzle and steep hills from the onset. Eventually Moritz, Tom, Clare and Jonathan came across an old shack which the group had lunch in out of the rain. The lunch hour consisted of laughter from playing “elephant, bibalibob-bob”, chici-chici-cho, chici-cho-coco” and ron-maka-ron”, raising everyone’s spirits after 800m worth of hills and getting soaked. After lunch the sun shone and X-Ray 2 reached their destination at 1.30pm. they set up their camp over stunning views of Lake Arenal and Volcano Arenal. Dinner was cooked by Jesus, whilst everyone was snuggled in their tents due to the chill of beginning 1000m above sea level. After playing card games and having teeth chattering while chatting, X-Ray 2 suddenly felt the ground shaking; with panic on her face, Rachel shouted “Everyone don’t panic!”. In fact everyone else was calm. Day leader Tom managed to keep everyone calm by using the toilet nearby and not realizing we had just experienced an earthquake measured at 5.9 on the richter scale. X-Ray 2 ended the eventful day under the stars in their tents preparing for the following day’s 18km trek. 

Lake and Volcan Arenal - a fitting reward after a hard day's trekking

Blog 2: Saturday  12^th Nov

The camp awoke at 03.30am ready to be lead through the jungle by the legendary Don Luz. Don Luz hacked his way through the jungle with his machete ensuring X-Ray 2 were safe and sound. When asked whether he enjoyed working with Raleigh, Don Lux replied; “yes I do a lot, I enjoy talking with the venturers and the PMs and enjoy listening to them speaking English. I enjoy this job a lot”.

The jungle’s tough terrain resulted in many of the venturers falling flat and skidding down the muddy slopes. Exciting but very challenging trekking through the jungle but the main consensus of the group was that it was an enjoyable experience. Don Luz then took X-Ray 2 to the hot springs where they bathed in warm water such luxury for the smelly, dirty venturers. PM Rachel thought the experience was magnificent and unique. After the springs the group walked a steep descent to the waterfall on the Rio Celeste which was an awesome sight. X-Ray 2 then continued their trek until they reached their final destination, El Pilon. After picking up their food supplies and setting up camp, we had a lovely dinner of chickpeas, rice and sauce and then retreated to our tents. The distance of the day was 15km through the difficult terrain of the jungle. Day leader Marette kept the group in high spirits. The weather was hot and humid and the scenery was amazing! 

The jungle...quite a lot of trees!

Rio Celeste..yes the colours are real!

Just some of the stunning scenery witnessed by X-Ray 2

X-Ray 3 15^th November: Sarah Bartram

Blog 2: since the last update x-ray 3 have had the first La Cangreca table tennis tournament (on a broken ping-pong table we found in the Rangers station, balanced on a picnic bench). We were all kept entertained by Laura’s heated disputes with referee Randy; and there were some impressive performances from Lisa, Randy and Sarah Church. But the real star of the show was Don Boliver, one of the park rangers who put us all to shame.

We’ve almost been to see a waterfall. We walked for about 45 minutes before heading back to camp, only to find out from the rangers the next day that we’d been about 300m away from it! We walked through some beautiful rainforest along the way though and plan to go back another time.

It hasn’t all been fun and games though, the project is proving tougher than we anticipated. As the ground where we are digging trenches is made up of hard rock and clay, which takes a long time to break up with a pic-axe before it can be dug up. However, fuelled by such culinary delights as chips, sausages, salad and Anna and Lisa’s empanadas, X-Ray 3 have been powering through and have dug over 60m of trench and have started laying and filling the pipes. After all this hard work we have spent our afternoons swimming in the river, working on our chess skills and stretching out to Randy’s river-side yoga classes.  

Back from the Jungle and Still Breathing!

After returning from 3 days of hot and humid exploring deep in the jungle that is La Cangreja, your guest Blogger (Jed) can now update you on all our beloved groups' progress.

A bit of background on La Cangreja, where X-Ray 3 are ensconced.   La Cangreja translates as 'The Crab' - as the hills are said to resemble a huge crab.  I couldn't quite see it myself, but it's a good a name as any!  La Cangreja is a national park of preserved pristine jungle.  In my 2 nights there I saw beautiful scarlet macaws, giant (and I mean giant) butterflies, bigger than life beetles and the ever-present never-ending hordes of ants.

During this nature-fest I was working hard to set up the water supply project, so I spent my time designing the system that the group will install.  It will enable a further project to allow disabled access to the park and assist with the ongoing ecological research.  The water supply system is over 850m long and the group will have to dig (by hand!) a 1m trench for this distance over remarkably steep terrain.  X-Ray 3 will certainly have their work cut out over the next few weeks, but the results of their hard graft should last for the next 50 years.

The group themselves have now got their jungle camp set up with basher beds, hammocks, long drop, cooking station and even a communal games area.  The camp is on the banks of the Rio Negra, which is great for a dip after a hard day's work!  I'm sure they will have a unforgettable jungle experience.  There's a few pics below (thanks to Anni and Lisa) showing the group in action.

As for the other groups here's today's round-up:

X-Ray 1 - Turrisantos Trek
The field base team have met up with them and they are currently descending Volcan Turrialba as I write this.  Hopefully they will have hit the summit and had a chance to smell the sulphur!  Tomorrow they head off to Guayabo National Monument, which is the remains from a previous civilisation thought to be over 3,000 years old.

X-Ray 2 - Guanacaste Trek
The trek group are making good progress and will reach Lake Arenal tonight, where they can take in the stunning views of the lake and volcano, and also go for a deserved and refreshing swim.

X-Ray 4 - Playa Hermosa
They are having what I'm told is a 'lovely time at the beach'!  They've also managed to collect a huge number of eggs and have already released countless tiny turtles into the Pacific Ocean.

X-Ray 5 - Achuapa
Now fully settled in to the village, the work kicks off today.  They will be continuing the work from last phase on the youth centre.  They should also be setting up some time with the community to play games of football and baseball with them.

X-Ray 6 - Miraflor
They arrived safely in their community last night and today will be starting work on the water supply project for the village.  They'll also get to explore their new home a bit more and get to know the families they are staying with.