X-Ray 3: We like to move it move it

Clockwise from top left: PM Louise, Anders, Ottie, Matt, Mat, Jess, Emma, Kate, Emily, Charlie, Esteban, Ben, Jos, Jelmer and Sarah (and Uber-PM Sarah taking picture)

This week we were lucky enough to leave Fieldbase and Turri's torrential rain to go and visit some of our amazing X-Ray teams where we delivered news from home and the other teams and their next food drop. First stop was the fantastic X-Ray 3 who have been battling rain, mud, jungles, rivers and very large hills to get through to Day 14! They are progressing well and in high spirits - there is something about trek that binds teams together; the 4am wake-ups, porridge for breakfast, up to 25km a day and resulting blisters are tough but the incredible views, 14 incredible team mates and a lot of mental strength get you to the top of one hill, across the river and to the bottom of the next. So what have X-Ray 3 been up to? Well the pictures below should help to illustrate their trek so far.

Support crew Nurse Sarah and Comms Officer (oh that's me) Gabby - with food and treats - we were very popular!

Ants in your... way 

Attempting to get into the magazine with a group shot

Ottie: short straw of the gerry can

The Turrisantos trek route: starting at stunning Barbilla National Park, before spending the first three days trekking through the Bajo Chirripo Indigenous territory. After crossing the impressive Rio Pacuare, a great place for a much needed wash, the groups headed towards the stunning cloud forests of Tapanti National Park; following ridges of Fila de Bustante on-route to Cerro Dragon Peak – and a first glimpse of the Pacific. The final days see the group reach the incredible views of Cerro Bares, perhaps the treks highlight, before making a final descent to the Pacific Ocean and a final flourish (and a run no doubt) into the sea at Punta Judas, a deserted beach and turtle sanctuary.

When we said it was raining we weren't kidding - but X-Ray 3 are loving every second!

Local Costa Rican's have been wonderfully generous to our Raleigh group's

 

Ben, Kate, Emma, Sarah and Ottie at Sunrise

 Morning mist

Ben with the newest member of X-Ray 3

Enjoying a well earned rest and the sun!

Incredible PM Louise, motivating the troops every day 

A little bit muddy

They have completed an incredible 200kms to date - only 70km to go until they reach their end point - a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. So long from X-Ray 3! 

Celebrating International Women's Day, saying no to gender inequality and rising up for women's empowerment

X-ray 3 popping up to say hello

A day in the life of X-ray 3

After working like ants up and down the paths of Carara National Park we are loving our time in the paradise that is Playa Hermosa, where we are saving turtles and enjoying the beautiful setting.  Most of our work is done at night with shifts at the turtle hatchery and beach patrol.  Getting up for work at 11pm gets easier after a few days...

Turtle hatchery

In the daytime, as well as helping the rangers, we are making the most of X-ray 3's creative ingenuity by building up our basher bed home.  It has a fitted kitchen of driftwood, a candlelit dining room and a long drop... with a real toilet seat!

Lilian in the fitted kitchen, planning her next prank?

In our free time we get on down to the beach for a group game of volleyball, rounders or the X-ray 3 favourite - quidditch (complete with homemade snitch and bludgers).  Don (Dave) and LaLa's (Lillian) prank-athon reaches new levels and cloudy-pool-paradise is the perfect location for relaxing.  We eat dinner watching the sunset and then head down to the hatchery to spend a few more hours in the company of baby turtles.

Turtle patrol watching the sun rise... Dave, Floor and Claudia

 

by Shannon Potter, Project Comms officer

Aventura de un voluntariado anunciado - X-Ray 3

Tres en punto de la mañana el equipo de Raleigh esta listo para despertar a todos los aventureros, algunos duermen sobre las frias tables de las tiendas del campamento; los mas intrepidos pasaron la noche en la calida terraza del hogar temporal de voluntariados.

El sonido de las llantas de un gran pickup cerca de las tiendas de los aventureros acompanado del pito resonante despierta murmullos, illusion, risas, abrazor de despedidas y mises de sonrisas.

Musica teckno motiva a los voluntarios a cargar con su equipaje y emprender el viaje con sus nuevos grupos asignados.

X-Ray 3 en el Parque Nacional Carara, Jaco Puntarenas Costa Rica.
Catorce aventureros inician la historia de su segunda fase en el bosque del pacifico, los guardaparques nos Sorprenden con su hospitalidad y la curiosa forma de indentificar el olor de las serpientes.

Rapidamente los 14 hermanos se adaptan en sur nueva casa temporal con zona de masajes llamada "Heaven in Raleigh", Restaurante trois con menu especial,

...cada mañana  avena, en el amuerzo frijoles y en las cenas sorpresas, el bar Carara nos mantiene hidrataos y despiertos al grupo mientras trabajan y no puede faltar mencionar a el rincon especial para hamacas done todos disfrutan del sonido del bosque, monos aulladores, lapas, ranas, grillos.

Mites de risas compartidas despues de largas horas de trabajo, con mucho lodo en la cara tras contruir senderos en el Parque Nacional.  Los voluntarios organizan juegos nocturnos bajo la luz de la luna y velas que mantiene unido y entretenido al grupo.

Juegos de adivinanzas, el famoso ninja, serenatas, futbol al estilo Harry Potter, son algunas de las actividades que hacen que la familia la pase pura vida.!

Ansiosos por el cambio de fase en playa hermosa con last tortugas X-ray 3 disfruta sus ultimos dias en el rio.  Continuara...

Por Vera, Project Comms officer

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?

Fond farewell to Carara

As soon as we had settled into our home, a massive storm moved into the area. Everything was grand following the storm with the exception of the walking trails. These were a mess and so we quickly got to work clearing, raking and using the machete to clear the debris.

Light work for X-Ray 3!

Due to the storm our water supply was temperamental but Josué was a dab hand at mending things! That said we resorted to taking drain pipe rain showers! Soheba’s long hair proved not so difficult to wash under the rain showers.

Yesterday, Henry and Isabel had the icky job of cleaning out the smelly food barrels whilst the rest of us took down the basha village. King Jason’s height proved very handy reaching knots half way up the trees! Isabel was kept busy, making anklets and bracelets for the group. Food wise, we saved the best for last – Ysavier, with Tom’s aid, salvaged our last 4 days of mash dinners and Lottie treated us to our final serving of homemade donuts with chocolate sauce! After playing more of our favourite game, Mafia, we discovered more often than not that Raymond is Mafia!

Hi-ho - part of the team at work

Unfortunately, Emma had departed early with the road trip to fulfil her duties as Fieldbase medic – a loss on our part - but we’re delighted to be reunited back at Fieldbase!

Sarah

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.

From beach to jungle

We departed from Playa Hermosa on Friday and arrived in Carara National Park to greet X-Ray 4 as it was time to swap camps with them. We set up camp in the jungle; it rained constantly and Emma awoke in a paddling pool! Jed, Emma and Sarah made Banoffee Pie for the group to celebrate the start of our new phase in the jungle.

On Sunday, the lovely park ranger, Oscar, showed us around Carara. Soheba spotted a poisonous dart frog during the walk. The following day the rangers moved us from our jungle camp due to the rising river presenting a risk of visiting crocodiles! The whole team rallied together and we moved everything to our new camp. Jed and Jason transported more than their fair share of kit and we trekked the 3km to our new home. Work in Carara is really satisfying; we are rebuilding the tourist trail after flood damage and clearing the drains.

Updates on the team: Isabel and Sarah spotted a family of monkeys really close to the ground today. Henry got some amazing wildlife shots. Raymond redeemed his cooking skills by making us a lovely lunch! Josue has repeatedly had to defend himself in the game Mafia, saying "I'm Costa Rican - pura vida - I'm not mafia!". Along with games of cards, the whole team has been entertained by Jed's endless comedy!

It was great to see the Bravo and welcome back Tom to the rest of the phase.

X-Ray 3 - Playa Hermosa

At the start of the phase, due to adverse tidal conditions, we took refuge in the ranger station as huge waves flooded the hatchery and bashing against the protective wall we had built. It was a morbid experience to see the destroyed turtles nests due to the flooding however, the wonderful experience of digging up new hatched turtles and releasing them into the sea has more than made up for it. We have also learnt how to build turtles nests and on average we’ve see about four turtles a night.

At night we have two shifts: one at 9pm and one at 2am where we patrol the beach to protect the precious turtle eggs and we have even learnt to spot turtle tracks in the dark!

So what have the individual members of X-Ray 3 been up to? Sarah collected eggs straight from a turtle laying them – she says it was a great experience, Henry has sweated ten times the average man as he shovels in the furnace trench every day, Raymond has dutifully kept us orally hydrated as water boy and it was brilliant to welcome Emma on Sunday – her presence has added to the banter. Ysavier and Jason captured an iguana which posed for pictures until its release and Jed has been our resident dancer and all round entertainer.

Earlier today, Lottie and Soheba treated us to a culinary delight of masa donuts and chocolate sauce while tonight Josue and Isabel (who are doing a great job as translators) are serving us up a Latino dish made from fresh fruit and veg Tom bought at a local market.

That’s all for now – more news when we get to Carara!

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.

Musings from Miratombo

Hello to everyone who has been following X Ray’s progress as we give you this instalment from the foot of the Cerra Negra in Nicaragua.

Since our last update we’ve walked over 125km, and after spending several days in the rocky mountains we have now descended to the flat roads surrounding the smoking Volcan Momotombo which has loomed over us for the past few days. Temperatures have increased as we headed south, often reaching unbearable proportions in the middle of the day. Subsequently early starts have been implemented to avoid this, with 3am deployment a common occurrence.
We were paid a visit by Fieldbase’s Dave, Holly, Ale and Jemma whilst we stayed at San Martin – their food drop and messages of support from home were much appreciated, and provided a view of the world far removed from the one we’re in!

Alongside Kelly’s birthday previously, we also celebrated VM Caroline’s birthday, who was 29 on Wednesday. In true trek style – apple juice and energy bomb cake was distributed at 3am, and I’m sure Caroline won’t forget blowing out the candle before embarking on a day of 21km walking.

Over the past few weeks we have continued our wildlife observation, especially amongst the pigs, cows, horses and dogs which roam freely on our route. Mark made the error of leaving his porridge unattended one morning and returned to find a pig with a nose for Raleigh rations, snuffling away in his mess tin. Our accommodation one night also had an animal related incident of note. The routecard informed us we would be staying in a barn – it did not mention that it was overrun with chickens, which quickly made their homes in our rucksacks; several members waking up from afternoon naps to discover they’d shared accommodation with feathered friends.

The past week has been, for many, one of the toughest of their lives – both mentally and physically. The distance has begun to take its toll and had you passed out in the Nicaraguan countryside, you’d be forgiven for mistaking us for soldiers returning from the battlefield as we limp from village to village, bandaged head to toe in zinc oxide tape (Rosie is literally mummified). Nevertheless camaraderie and morale remains high as we enter our final few days and the scale of the challenge we faced had brought us closer together.

Today we arrived at the base of Cerra Negra where we will spend the night and climb the volcano with the Bravo group in the morning, before heading to our finishing point at the lagoon. Soon we will be back in Costa Rica, at Fieldbase, regaling tales of what has been a truly fantastic and unforgettable experience.

Thank you for reading

X Ray 3 out, Deacachimba!

The author Sam would like to wish little sister Molly a very happy 9th birthday. And who are we to deny such a wish. Happy 9th birthday Molly!

X-Ray 3 - Miratombo Trek

X-ray 3's Sam gives an account of week one on the legendary Miratombo Trek

Hola todos que estan leyendo. This is the xray 3 blog coming to you from
Miraflor, Nicaragua.

We have now been on trek for 7 days and barring a few navigation problems, we’ve gotten off to a fine start

After travelling to Nicaragua with x7 & x8 (who are currently undertaking their community phase in Miraflor) we bid them farewell at La Rampla where we began the trek and walked to the ranger station we were staying in at El Cebollal. We arrived just in time to witness a stunning sunset across the mountains from the local viewing point and got in a few games of ninja before dark. The night itself was rather eventful with several members of the group wondering if we had been caught in the middle of an episode of “Nicaragua’s most wanted” after windows and doors began banging throughout the house at 1am. Thankfully Baggers was at hand to assess the situation and discovered that it was only the wind and everyone was soon asleep in their sleeping bags and mosquito nets

After a 330am start and the ever appetising Raleigh porridge rations for breakfast we set off for our first full day of trekking. The day got off to a frustrating start after a few misguided sets of directions from locals but we were soon on the right track making good ground. Later on we passed a local school just as the children were leaving for the day and a dozen also joined us for a few kilometres as we continued on through Miraflor. The most noteworthy moment of the day took place when after stopping to ask for directions a local dog decided to mark his territory all over Ollie’s rucksack, much to the amusement of the group (bar Ollie) and several of the locals.

As a result of the time lost in the morning we were slightly behind schedule when it came to mid-afternoon and so we began looking for a campsite locally before realising that X-ray 8 were only a few km away in San Jose. Raleigh has completed various projects in the area and we headed to the town with a view to staying in the school that was completed with the help of the local community in 2010. However, as it turned out, the local schoolteacher (and the only holder of the key to the building) was out of town so the local community leader’s wife very kindly offered to have us stay in her front room, Much to their surprise we were reunited with X-ray 8 that evening and spent a couple of hours sharing stories about the last couple of days. Thea was also able to be reunited with her host family that she’d stayed with during phase 1 much to the delight of both parties.

We we’re back on the road by 5am with around 14km ahead of us and made great progress all morning. The landscape in Miraflor varies drastically from km to km from desert-like and fairly barren areas to lush green hillsides and patches of forests. At times we could quite easily have been in the American Wild West with locals all riding around on horseback more often than not wearing cowboy hats. We stopped at Universidad del Tropico seco (which Harol attends) for a well-deserved lunch of chicken tortillas and rice and beans. Moral and energy levels replenished we set off for the afternoon and arrived at our rendezvous for the day Buenos Aires within a few hours.

After asking several the locals where the best place to camp was, a very kind lady offered to let us camp on her porch so we set up our tents there for the night. Several members of the group were treated to a lesson into how to lasso a horse by a young boy of only 8 or 9 after one of the families horses escaped and began galloping up and the road in front of the house.

We were awoken the following morning by an ensemble of local cockerels and dogs and were soon packed up and back on the road. Conversation soon turned to that of the group’s skit with the guys from Alpha 3 eager to continue their winning streak, and the other member of the group keen to taste success/the ice-cream that comes with it for the first time! There were several suggestions of songs that could be included in our potential medley of hip hop remakes: “I’m bringing sweaty back”, “cry me a footpath”, “mo blisters, mo problems” being amongst the highlights.

We were supposed to wild-camp again on Wednesday, however it would appear that lady luck was on our side – along with a certain element of local knowledge in the form of Harol who’s proving to be a highly valuable member of X ray 3. Whilst we were sat outside a pulperia having lunch east of el Regadilo, Harol’s neighbour pulled up on a motorbike and gave us the key to the local community centre. We arrived shortly after 2pm and spent the afternoon showering (for the first time in 4 days) with camel-packs under the amused/bewildered gaze of the locals and wondering around town.

The following say was Kelly’s birthday and we celebrated in style with cake, orange juice and a round of happy birthday at 4am. The highly resourceful and incredibly artistic Vivian was also able to put together a birthday card (with a sketch of the group out of nothing but a piece of light paper and a pen).

The morning saw some of the steepest and most difficult hiking to date and yet moral, enthusiasm and encouragement in the group did not falter. The local wildlife also featured throughout the morning, the more bizarre being a pair of goats who were blocking our way and tried to head-butt any one brave enough to approach!

The afternoon was one of considerable frustration as the route through the mountainous area we were passing was far from clear and we were forced to make several u-turns. As evening approached we were still some distance from the rendezvous for the end and so the decision was made to set up camp.

We set off again the following morning and after some excellent navigation work from Baggers and lider del dia/moral officer mark we were soon back on track. Along the way we took in some amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the nearby city of Esteli (which is Deja’s hometown).

Our first week on trek really has been phenomenal and it is safe to say that the feeling amongst the group couldn’t be better. As yet we have walked approx 100 km and have the same to go.

We have now turned south as we head to Momotombo

Xray 3 out deacachimba

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.