Monday 9th March 2009

Hello to you all from a wet and rainy Field Base. My name is Natalie and I am the field base medic for this phase. Amy and Julian have gone on a road trip to visit Alpha 5,7 and 8 and Amy has entrusted me with managing the blog, along with others, in her absence. That may not be the wisest of decisions Amy but I will give it a go!

Alpha 1 and 2 our intreped trekkers have moved on to Los Patos and Bacona respectively, they both seem alot happier walking in the dry, those knees are taking a pounding but spirits remain on a high.

Alpha 4 are putting the finishing touches to their trenches and planning a weekend at the beach! How jealous am I.

Alpha 5 had a day off today in anticipation of Amy and Julians arrival who were loaded down with food, chocolate and post from home.

Alpha 7 are now back in El Galope, where the original A7 were (including me) to finish off those wells, they are looking forward to moving alot of bricks.

Alpha 8 are now in full painting mode after their day off yesterday.

Alpha 9 are still carrying wood to make those vertical struts.

Life at Field Base is very quite people wise with only 2 of us here, and it's my turn to be on radio duty tonight so I need to go and prepare/make my bed in anticipation. I hope all the groups will be calling in with more news of their progress but hopefully not too early!

Over half way through

I cannot believe how quickly time flies out here, we are now over half way through phase two, and the whole expedition! At least that means for most of you at home, there's now less time until your friends and loved ones get home, than they've been away for! So here we go with another Alpha group round up.

Alpha nine are continuing to put up the frame of the comedor, and have now finished putting in all the vertical struts. Also just for a change, they have been carrying even more wood! Keeping going with their extra activities, there has been more football and some of the group are going to do some teaching at the school. For William’s mum – don’t worry, his ankle is fine, he twisted it playing football but it is much better now!

Alpha one continue to make excellent progress. They are headed to Rincon today to pick up their final food drop, which has seven days of food, so they’ll have very heavy bags! They’ve now reached the Osa Peninsular, which is home to the Corcovado National Park, so they’re coming into an absolutely stunning area now and over the next few days they should get to see some incredible wildlife! We’ve got a few photos from the group when Ross and Laura visited them on their recent food drop…

Alpha one ready to set off in the morning... L-R Olivia A, Livvy, Lily, Sam, Kirstin, Oliver, Claire, Davis, James, Bruno, Kyran, Mark, Lucy and Charlotte.
Mark, Kirstin and Bruno

Alpha four are in great spirits and made the Fieldbase team laugh a lot this morning by delivering their SITREP in the style of Borat! They’ve made excellent progress on their trench digging and had the rangers join them for dinner the other night. They are also preparing for their visit from Laura and Lizzy who will arrive later on this afternoon, but have keeping schtum about what treats they have planned for their arrival!

Alpha seven reported having an amazing time up the volcano, but said they didn’t get much sleep because all the local kids came too and stayed up all night! They have now finished their work in Los Playones 2 – and have helped supply running water to four houses. Last night they held a huge party with all the community to celebrate, and also mark Marvin’s birthday – we sent him lots of messages from the blog and other groups, including his brother Dion in Conte Burika via the radio. Today they are heading back to Los Playones, where they will continue digging wells.

Alpha eight are getting ever closer to finishing the community centre. They have now finished plastering the walls and have started painting. They have also been planning the mural that they will all paint once the building is finished. The weather has apparently got much warmer so yesterday they had a big water fight to cool off!

When I spoke to Alpha five last night they reported that they are all “hunky dory”. They have been continuing with clearing the paths and are going to start work on a bridge today. Last night, the rangers and some local people joined them at their camp for a camp fire and guitar playing. They have also been preparing for their Fieldbase visit from Julian and me, we’re heading off to see them tomorrow morning. They’ve even built us basher beds and have promised us that we will be treated to some incredible sunsets – I can’t wait!

And finally, Alpha two have had a couple of hard days, but they have said it was totally worth it as they have seen some beautiful views. They stayed at a farm last night and are heading to Plomo today. We also had some very happy bunnies on their birthdays – Will, Dirk and Emma were all thoroughly spoilt with cake and jelly beans! We have a few photos from the day, along with some messages from the group, kindly brought back by Lizzy and Anna – enjoy!

Dirk, Will and Emma on their birthdays…

From Emma
Hi Mummy, hope you got my voicemail. Having a really good day, the parcel made my morning. We might be able to climb the summit today which would be amazing, but you will get a full report when I’m back. Thanks to titch and J for cards and I hope things have got better for Daddy. Love to Thomas, Harry and all. Love you. Emma x

From Rose
Hi Mum and Dad. Thank you so much for the card, it came at just the right time, was so nice to have something from home. Am having a great time though. Hope everything is ok at home and Will is getting on well with the interviews. Love you and miss you, Rose xx

From Verity
Mum, Dad and Phoebes. All is well on the Macho trek. I’m having an amazinfg and challenging time. I miss you all very very much. Lots and lots of love, Vee.

From Catherine
Hey Mum and Dad. Everything is good on the mach trek but it is tough. I’m looking forward to my letter coming in the next food drop! Love you, Catherine xxx

From Dirk to Tessa:
Ik heb echt een geweldige verjaardag gehad! We hebben veel Bergen beklommen, met 30 kg op mijn rug. Mijn groep heft goed voor mij gezorgt en ze hebben voor me gezongen en ik had een lolly gekregen! Bedankt voor je berichtje, ik hou van je! Xxx Dirk

From Floor:
Lieve family Bodewes, Het gaat nog steeds geweldig, het is zelfs zoning! Vandaag gaan we weer lekker bergen beklimmen. Ik mis jullie, maar ik overleaf het allemaal en hoop
dat jullie me niet al te erg missen… Ik hou van jullie! Veel liefs, Xxx Floor

We should also have a few more messages from some of the other groups once everyone gets back from the road trips next week. Finally, I also just wanted to say thanks for continuing to send all your lovely messages, we're getting about 30 a day at the moment and they're keeping us on our toes trying to make sure they get out to the right people as quickly as possible! We're also working hard to update the blog as often as we can, but making sure everything is running smoothly whilst all the groups are out on phase means that Fieldbase is a very busy place! Also, all of the sites are remote and have no access to the internet, so the only way we can get pictures is when we go and visit the projects. I know it's frustrating waiting for updates and pictures, but we do get them up as quickly as we possibly can so please bear with us, and just think that there's now not long until everyone gets home and they can show you all the thousands of pictures they're no doubt taking themselves whilst out on phase!

Amy :o)

Get ready for amazing Alpha nine pictures...

I know you've all been dying to see these so without too much introduction, here you go... enjoy!

Dominique, Anna-Louise, James, Philly, Tish, Bart, Kayleigh, Bart and Louise The perfect Raleigh picture...

Dion and Adam

The group in the school where they sleep

Nick flexing his muscles...

The boys carrying the planks back to the village

The stunning view of La Carona from the hill

The local children...

Alpha nine medic Anna-Louise hard at work planing the floorboards

Kayleigh also hard at work, sporting her beautiful leopard-print head scarf, which is unfortunately hiding the famous sea-fringe (sorry guys - i know you all love it so much!)

Bart working on the floorboards and Adam taking a well deserved rest...

Alpha nine on their finished floor! L-R Bart O, Dion, Bart LDJ, Nick, Adam, Kayleigh, Sophia, Roz, Louise, Bella, Ivan, William, Tish and Dominique

Pics of Alpha one to follow shortly!