Delta Yankee 3- Rumble in the jungle! Pt2

All sorts of things might be happening, but things in Piedras Blancas National Park has continued in it's enjoyable and steady rate.
After doing a weeks worth of work the group have cleared the vegetation right up to and including the 5.5km mark of the trail. All that remains of the work is to widen the path, level up the terrain, dig trenches for the rainy seasons and build bridges as the trail runs smoothly.
Easy as counting 1, 2, 3!
The rangers have been clearly impressed by the achievements of the group.

To reward themselves, the group on one of their rest days went to a nearby town called El Golfito. There the group, bought fresh fruit and vegetables and delicious milkshakes and enjoyed briefly a taste of Civilsation.
The group was also planning spending two nights at the beach at the end of the phase.
Another thing worth mentioning was a thrilling footy match between England (Hugh, Faruk and Will) and Costa Rica/ Nicaragua (Bernardo, Enrique and Luiz the Ranger). Not Only was the National Anthem sang before the match, but there were also the sort of crunching tackles you would see on a Saturday afternoon, as well as the trickery and skill of a Wayne Rooney. It was a thrilling match and England came away Victorious, the score was 10-8.
With only a few day remaining of this phase and Raleigh everyone is determined to make every single minute of this amazing life experience count!

Alpha Yankee 6- Birthday Twist by Camilla O'Connell

I had been looking forward to having my birthday while on Raleigh because I knew it would not be a normal birthday at all. How many people can say they have celebrated a birthday in a Costa Rican Indigenous Reserve?

The actual day started bright and early at half past five, apart from everyone wishing me a happy birthday it seemed like any other day Alpha Yankee 6 have had in Alto Cuen as we removed our bags and the tools from the primary school classroon we sleep in, and set up the three bowl system ready for breakfast. Suddenly we all heard screams of 'Ayuda Ayuda' from the football field. Fearing the worst we rushed over to find out what was happening only to find Kitty, who had gone on an early morning run, being chased by a turkey. Luckily an Alto Cuen local came to her rescue and scared the evil turkey away with a piece of cloth.

After breakfast of Gallo Pinto and lots of ridiculously sugary coffee. Everyone set out to work, some people went out to collect wood, others went down to the building site to help the roof beams go up, but Wellard and I stayed at the camp as we were on camp duty that day. An Alpha Yankee 6 responsibility of camp duty is to make improvements to the camp so we decided to make a bar, only serving water and a little bit of tang of course, which would be perfect for the nights festivities.
Everyone was very impressed with the new 'Tayni Bar' when they came back from working for lunch, which was plantain, which most of us love.
Despite the rain we had a prductive afternoon on the bulding site and a wonderfully refreshing evening swim in the river. When it finally came to supper, our cook Apapeta had made a feast of chicken stew and rice. Supper was followed by the real birthday festivities, I was given a group card there was a bonfire and marshmellows lots of face paints and even a lot of dancing.

It was a shame not to be with my family an friends but my birthday in Alto Cuen was a day I hope to remember for the rest of my life!

Delta Yankee 1- Trekking for Dummies- A survival guide by Mags Chileav

The Turrimacho Trek is fast heading from Coast to Coast and with only three days of walking left before they can relax on the beach here is their survival guide-

1. Always have compeed- great against monster blisters.
2. Multiply any estimation of time or distance by a factor of 3.
3. When the route card says flat always assume hilly.

4. Pulperias are an oasis- always stock up on biscuits which, for efficiency purposes, must be purchased in a multi-pack.
5. Underwear is a waste of valuable snack space.
6. All clothing garments may be turned inside out and worn with a new lease of life.

7. There is NO hot water in Costa Rica, the sooner you accept this, the easier it will be.
8. During meal times, keep you ear open for chance seconds.
9. Windows, water and shiny silverware are the only mirrors you'll get on trek.

10. Looking hungry and speaking broken Spanish to local well occasionally result in pity pancakes or tortillas.
11.Footsteps in the sand well last forever in you heart heart.