Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Saturday, 11 July 2009

09F (10 Week Expedition) "Fiesta de Espuma" & Deployment

A blog from Oli in Sarah's absence as she is currently in Nicaragua putting her plans for Global Communication Domination in place (and spending quality time with our fantastic venturers!).

The 09F Venturers enjoyed a cracking final night before heading off to exotic climes yesterday morning. After a BBQ, Send-Off Speeches by Julian & Oli and a superb photographic slideshow from Guy, it was all Movers and Shakers to the floor. The venturers danced the night away in a cascade of foam and banging tunes, before emerging from their tents in remarkably good form at 3:15am the next morning when called for breakfast.

Holman and Tony show us how to get down Costa Rican Stylee

Nobody puts Tessa in the Corner...

Oli (DEL), Guy (PHO), Julian (Da Boss), Matt A & Harry get down to the Big Beats

Hands Up in the Air

Brandon as the Abominable Foam-Man

All Alpha Groups have now arrived safely at their project destinations.

Alpha 1 have now completed Day 2 of the Guanacaste Trek (and their first river crossing!). They spent last night in Pataste Arriva and are currently heading to Rio Cantanuria.

Alphas 2,3 & 4 crossed the Nicaraguan border yesterday and spent the night at Asociacion Antorcha, continuing to Esteli today.

Alpha 2, the Maribios Trek, completed the first 6km of their journey via horse trekking routes into the village of El Guaylo where they have stunning visits of the pine forests they will be walking through tomorrow, over the mountains to the village of Achuapa.

Alpha 3 trekked 5km into La Calera, Achuapa this afternoon and begin work in earnest tomorrow.

Alpha 4 have arrived at Las Palmas in Miraflor and are tonight spending their first night in their community before having a special lunch with community leaders tomorrow.

The groups are now communicating via radio, doing twice daily SITREPS.
Zero Listening Out.....

Friday, 10 July 2009

09G (5 Week Expedition) Project Manager Training

The 5 week project managers, Sandrine, Alex, Maja, Julia, Freya, Charlie, Rachel and Kate have been busy doing their volunteer manager induction with Ross.

Here is the official staff team for 09G together with fieldbase staff. Jana, one of our 5 week medics will join the team in a few days time.

The team doing the classic 'dead' pose!

Meet the project managers:-

Sandrine Paillasse - Project Manager

Alex O’Connor - Project Manager

Maja Skolysz - Photographer

Julia Bartliff - Project Manager

Freya Godfrey - Project Manager

Charlie Hufton - Interpreter

Rachel Beresford - Interpreter

Kate Pigott - Medic

Their training has included healthy and safety, water safety, first aid and of course radio training. Ross talked them through the technical aspects of how radios work as well as voice procedures. Then it was time to get out in the field and practice, ‘Hello Zero! Hello Zero! This is Alpha 1."

Ross demonstrating how the radios work

How does this work?

Kate throwing up the aerial

Sandrine and Alex giving a SITREP to Field Base

Today the team are off to jungle camp for two days where they’ll be practicing hiking with a heavy rucksack, navigate, set up camp, cook on trangias and survive in the jungle.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Venturers sleep tonight!

The venturers started the day with a spot of radio training with Wendell and then split into groups and headed out to the surrounding fields to test their radios and give their first SITREPS. When they are out on project sites they will have to give SITREPS twice daily to let us know what they are up to and of course give us information to put on the blog!

Heading Out to Find the Perfect Spot

Michael and Jonathan Keeping the Radio Dry

Oli throwing the aerial over a branch

Shane holding the antenna

Holman, Jalmar, Bernado, Toni & Fredy setting up the radio

Bernado doing the SITREP

Ben guiding Tom on how to SITREP

Chloe & Jonathan calling in to Field Base

Then it was time to pack and head off into the jungle. A short trek and the venturers arrived at jungle camp full of energy and ready to learn how to live in the jungle.

Alpha 4 (Miraflor) packing for Jungle Camp

Alpha 3 (Achuapa) packing for Jungle Camp

Charlie getting ready for action

Henry, Lenin, Holman & Matt walking to Jungle Camp

Alpha 4 Ready for Action!

A Fatigued Alpha 3 arrive at Jungle Camp

Carl, Jasper & Michael enjoying a Jungle Snack

Oli & Laura put up their beds for the night

5* Jungle Hotel!

It's time for dinner...

The Evening's Entertainment: A Dance-Off

Guy taking a break from dominating the photography scene

"Batman" (Oli, our DEL) and the Yellow Fairy (Raquelle) visit Jungle Camp with a Mobile Shop

Party @ Jungle Camp

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?”