Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Saturday, 20 June 2009

Busy bees at Field base!

It has been a busy day at field base as we prepare for the arrival of the project managers tomorrow.

Rachel and Guy were setting up the radio room and preparing the maps so that we can see where all the project sites are. Oli and myself did some off road driver training. Lisa was busy in the medical room making up first aid expedition kits and planning next week’s first aid training. David, the man with the money, was busy doing foreign exchange and of course spending and collecting money from the team. Logistics manager Wendell was organising kits for all the alpha groups. Ross has been very busy writing a new guide for risk assessment and creating new food menus to ensure optimum calorific content and a great taste within budget – not an easy task!

Rachel map reading

David counting colones

Wendell hard at work in the Bodega (warehouse)

Later in the afternoon it was time for a break and some exercise, to keep us fit for the expedition and treks ahead. Ross, Guy, David and myself attempted the beep test followed by circuits!

Oli and Tim are now off to San Jose to meet the new project managers at the airport. They will all stay in San Jose tonight and arrive at field base tomorrow morning for traditional breakfast of Gallo Pinto.

Tonight’s weather -

Temp 22°C
Real feel 25°C
Humidity 93%

The team tackle Volcano Irazu

Buenos Dias

Since the advance team arrived at field base nearly a week ago, we have been working hard to prepare for the expedition and make it the best one yet. So yesterday the team had a well earned day off. We jumped in the land rovers and headed west for two hours to visit Volcano Irazu. Volcano Irazu offers some breathtaking views and on a clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea! However as you can see from the pictures below we didn’t exactly manage to see the ocean! Moments after arriving at Costa Rica’s tallest active volcano the clouds rolled in and the rain began. You could say we spent the day with our heads in the clouds!

Volcano Irazu - the facts

Highest point - 3432 meters (aprox. 10,300 feet) above sea level
Irazu has two main craters
Diego de la Haya crater contains a strangely coloured lake, some days it green and others its red!
Irazu is home to coyotes, tiger cats and long-tailed weasels

A team huddle at the top!

The clouds rolling in

The team - Sarah, Rachel, David, Oli, Tim, Lisa and Wendell

The local wildlife

Back at fieldbase head chef Oli whipped up a delicious roast chicken dinner with help from commi chefs Tim, Wendell and myself. Today is our last day of preparations before all the project managers arrive tomorrow. We can’t wait to meet them all and build a great staff team for the 09F&G expedition.

Today’s weather -

24°C
Real feel 29°C
Sunny
Humidity 76%

Hasta Pronto!

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Hola Todos!

Welcome to the brand new Costa Rica/Nicaragua 09F&G blog. This is the place to be for the next few months! All the latest news and photos will be posted here from the Summer 2009 expedition. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the blog and expedition and of course messages to loved ones so please get involved. Simply post your comments after each blog entry and we’ll pass them to your loved ones (on the right is a guide on how to do this).

Field base has been a busy place since the arrival of the advance team on Sunday. We’ve been having fun and games getting to know each other and settling into a very different kind of 9 to 5!

Meet the team -

Julian Olivier - Country Director

Ross McKenzie - Country Programme Manager

Ale Leon - Host Country Participant Co-ordinator

Don Martin - the legend of field base!

Olivia Husemeyer - Deputy Expedition Leader

David Morris - Finance Manager

Rachel Wilde - Administrator and Anthropologist!

Wendell Morris - Logistics Manager

Tim Perkins - Driver

Sarah Rogerson (me!) - Communications Officer

Guy Tavernor - Photographer

Lisa Barrett - Medic

We started off the week with a Birthday celebration for Guy. The girls made dresses out of sarongs and the boys had black ties made from bin bags and of course Ross had his kilt on. A delicious dinner of spaghetti bolognese was prepared followed by a giant strawberry and cream birthday cake. Happy Birthday Guy!

The team have also been getting driver training. We started with a theory session learning about driver rules and regulations in Costa Rica. Followed by vehicle inspections and learning how to change a tyre on a Land Rover. Quite a challenge for some of the ladies!

On Sunday we will be joined by project managers and begin a action packed fortnight of training including jungle camp! We are all very excited about the expedition, meeting all the venturers, and making this an amazing experience for everyone.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to so far -

Field base - where the magic happens!

Lisa cooking some delicious food

Tim doing a vehicle inspection

Oli recovering after changing a tyre!

Today’s weather -

24°C
Real feel 29°C
Sunny
Humidity 71%

Hasta Pronto!

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.

As you can imagine there are 180 volunteers so hundreds of messages for loved ones, no comments go live immediately and have to be moderated for appropriateness, so please do bare with us.

All comments that are pertinent to the post will be publshed and all personal messages will be delivered (even if they don't appear published). Messages mean a lot to all the volunteers; thank you for your continued support.

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?”