X-ray 3: goodbye jungle, hello beach!

With the Mirador and garden finished and the path completed and signposted, the venturers spent a dazzling night under the twinkling stars. The rangers thanked us for our hard work by hosting a pork and chilli night. Hats off to the guys who ate the spiciest chillies in the jar-especially Rich who didn’t wince one bit!

Then it was time to say a sad goodbye to the jungle camp that has been our home for the past 3 weeks. We were especially sad to say goodbye to the river, as our daily baths there were the highlight of our day during the phase.

The last two days were spent at another ranger station on a fantastic turtle beach. We were even lucky enough to liberate 103 baby turtles and rescue one nest. Some of us even stumbled across some giant crocodiles on a late night walk along the beach.

We had a brilliant farewell meal in the local town of Jaco- a surfer’s paradise and tourist trap. We also celebrated the 20th birthday of Gabo with icecreams and cake.

Everyone had an amazing time on our phase, the lowest score out of 10 was 9. Woohoo X-ray 3 –bring on the final phase!!!

Ailsa, Dani and Sam working on the Raleigh garden

Dani, Matt and Rich put the finishing touches onto the sign

The group on their finished path

Oliver, Matt and Ian relaxing in the river

The group enjoying their daily bath

Sam celebrating her first class degree (mentioned in an earlier blog!)

A change from pork and beans

Having fun on the beach in Jaco

An eight-armed Matt

The birthday boy

El trabajo de Raleigh en El Cacao/ Raleigh's work in El Cacao

Escrito por Urania Rodriguez Espinoza

La comunidad El Cacao esta compuesto por 85 viviendas. En el año 2002 esta comunidad fue beneficiada con la construccion de una casa communal, la cual fue construida gracias al apoyo de Raleigh. Esta organizacion en conjunto con la Cooperativa Juan Francisco Paz Silva, donaron los materials necesarios ademas Raleigh aporto en la mano de obra, enviando 3 brigadas las cuales trabajaron muy fuerta en la construccion de la casa communal. La construccion de esta casa communal fue de gran importancia para la poblacion debido a que e utilizado para realizar reunions socials, events culturales y otras actividades surgidas en la comunidad.

Ahora en el año 2009 la comunidad El Cacao es apoyada una vez mas con el proyecto de instalacion del recurso agua potable en sus hogares. Este proyecto es de gran importancia para los poblaadores debido a que sea un gran problema obtener el liquid vital como es el agua. Gracias al apoyo de mano de obra y materials que Raleigh ha aportado los pobladores no caminaran muchos metros para obtener el agua para tomar y realizar otras actividades.
A travez de estos proyectos la comunidad ha tenido la oportunidad de convivir con las brigadas de Raleigh lo cual para ellos ha sido muy especial recibir a participantes de la brigada como un miembro de la familia a los que reciben con mucho amor y cariño y lo consideran como un hijo mas.

Las familias de la comunidad se interesan en darle alojamiento a los participantes del proyecto debido a que ellos aprenden mucho de la cultura de otros paises, ademas se interesan por aprender ingles aprovechando las clases que imparten las brigadas de Raleigh.
Los jovenes tambien se han involucrado mucho en las diversas actividades promovidas por Raleigh y estan interesados en ser participantes voluntaries en Raleigh debido a que en el año 2003, un joven de la comunidad El Cacao fue participante de Raleigh y ahora trabaja como tecnico de la cooperativa asociada con Raleigh.

La comunidad expresa un agradecimiento profundo por Realeigh por el apoyo y interes de resolver los problemas de la poblacion y los felicita por su incidencia en otras comunidades.

The community of El Cacao is made up of 85 houses. In 2002, a community centre was built thanks to the support of Raleigh. This organisation, working alongside the Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva, donated not only the materials but also the manpower, sending 3 groups of venturers, who worked hard to complete the community centre. The construction of the community centre was of great importance to the community as it is used for meetings, cultural events and other community activities.

Now in 2009, the community of El Cacao is hosting Raleigh again as they return to work on a project to bring drinkable water into their homes. This project is of great importance for the villagers as at the moment it is difficult to obtain this vital liquid. Thanks to the support from Raleigh, the villagers won’t have to walk many metres to get water to drink and for other uses.

Through these projects, the community has had the opportunity to share experiences with the venurers. The experience of having venturers stay in their house is special for them, and they receive them with a lot of love and affection, seeing them as another member of the family.
The families in the community are interested in having venturers stay with them because they can learn a lot bout the cultures of other countries as well as learning English, taking advantage of the classes given by the Raleigh venturers.

The young people of El Cacao have been very involved in the activities promoted by Raleigh and are interested in becoming volunteers with Raleigh, as in 2003, one of the members of the community was a Raleigh participant and is now working as a technician with Raleigh through the Cooperative.

The community express their deep thank to Raleigh for their support and their interest in helping to resolve the problems of the villagers. They also congratulate them for the impact they have had on other communities.

Gemma's X-ray 4 diary

Wednesday: X-ray 4 were up bright and early as always. We spent the morning beach combing-collecting rubbish and clearing driftwood. Dania and I now have enough shells to start our own Camoranal jewellery line. Unfortunately we couldn't work on the bridge today as we were waiting for a wood delivery. However, we didn't let that stop us, and we used the extra time to brainstorm ideas for future projects and and ways to improve the Camoranal experience for both tourists and volunteers.

Thursday: X-ray 4 had a rest day and celebrated one of the fellow volunteer's birthday. We made her a card, sang happy birthday and buried her in the sand-poor Blake!Some members of the group embarked on a challenge, well Hamish and me. We set up a camp 300m away from the rangers station with little more than a hammock, some pasta and the clothes we were wearing. Tonight was also an interesting night for turtle watch. There were many turtle sightings, although strangely many of them did not lay their eggs. This meant that more time was dedicated to setting poacher traps and imitating Nelson's (the park ranger) stealth techniques.

Friday: Today we finished the main walkway of the bridge and began putting up the handrails. Cesar, Norman and Noah worked very hard together with the rangers including Helbert, the new architect. Hamish and I were collected from the depths of the wood by Dev and Dania. Many of the 24 hours were spent playing charades, singing and making up stories in between cooking, sleeping and reflecting. Bravo 1 arrived today and recieved a warm welcome- we promised them it wasn't just because they bought us the tuck shop! We all watched the beautiful sunset on the beach before being treated to Dania's delicious vegetable curry (she is the only on who can make our basic food exciting!). The fieldbase team then joined the turtle watch and were thrilled to see a turtle laying eggs and help to rebury them to protect them from the poachers. Everyone is looking forward to the trip to Samoa beach tomorrow, where we will stay overnight- the perfect end to a perfect phase!