Hello home, hello home, this is Fieldbase, this is Fieldbase, over.

Well we’ve had a very busy few days here at Fieldbase since the rest of the Volunteer Managers arrived.

After a packed schedule on Friday getting everyone sorted with their admin, swim tests, ID photos and lots of extra Raleigh T-shirts, we focussed on getting to know everyone during a very enthusiastic game of touch rugby.

Yesterday we started with extensive radio training in the morning. The radios will be our main form of communication whilst everyone’s out on their project sites so we spent lots of time practising our SITREPS (A situation report to let Fieldbase know how we’re getting on) and learning how to get our aerials ten metres up in the air!

The afternoon was spent tackling health and safety. After we’d all read the 126 page manual thoroughly, we made sure we’d all taken in the salient points by enacting them in the form of comic skits...

But I have to say, I think the highlight was Rob pretending to be a helicopter by wearing pink fairy wings on his head...

Looking good Rob!

Today we’re on to our CASEVAC, or casualty evacuation training and a bit more medical stuff before an early night tonight as we’re all off to jungle camp early tomorrow morning where we’ll be learning all about how to live and work in the jungle! So we’ll try and get a bit more up by the end of today as we’ll be out of contact until we’re back on Tuesday as apparently they don’t have wireless internet in the jungle!!

Busy bees at Fieldbase

Here at Fieldbase, we’ve been busy finishing off getting everything ready for the arrival of the project managers, so there’s been lots of cleaning and tidying to make sure their new digs are good to go, and lots of planning to make sure we can cram in as much training and preparation over the next two weeks before the Venturers arrive.

Here we all are in our official team photo, along with a picture of Fieldbase so you can see where we’ll all be based over the next three months.




In front of the Landrover L-R: John (Driver), Laura (photographer), Lizzy (driver), Helena (Medic), Don Martin (Logistics and Security Coordinator and all-round legend), Ross (Country Programme Manager), Jackie (Admin), Szeman (Logistics), Wendy (Logistics Manager)

On-top of the landrover L-R: Ale (Host Country Venturer Coordinator) Amy - me! (communications officer), Anna (Deputy Expedition Leader), Julian (Country Director)

We've got a big dinner planned for tonight, which Laura and Helena are busy preparing in the kitchen right now, involving the biggest butternut squash known to man!

Tonight is the last time we'll be cooking before the much anticipated Sandra and Rosie (our local cooks) arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll get some pictures of the whole Volunteer Manager team up and introduce you to some more of the team.

Hola Todos!!

…or hello everyone, and welcome to our brand spanking new blog, where we’ll be keeping you up to date with all the latest news and photos from the Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua Spring 2009 Expedition!

The Fieldbase team arrived in Turrialba a couple of days ago and have been busy starting to get everything ready for the start of the expedition at the end of January.

Although we’re super busy already, it still feels a bit like the calm before the storm, as Fieldbase seems bustling now with just eleven of us, so it’s hard to imagine what it will be like when all 129 Venturers and staff are here in a few weeks time!

Over the next few weeks we’ll introduce you to some of the team and tell you a bit about what role we’ll be playing in making sure the expedition runs smoothly and everyone has an amazing time! But in the meantime, here is a picture of us at the beautiful Volcan Turrialba so you can see who we all are.

We’re all really excited about what is already shaping up to be a great expedition so thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy reading all about it.