Advance team...ready! PM’s...ready! 3, 2, 1...GO!

Awooga!

 (apologies if you’re not old enough to remember the original Gladiators...am clearly showing my age...)

Fieldbase is humming today with final preparations for the arrival of the Project Managers tomorrow – we’re all seriously excited! I say humming rather than loudly buzzing – that’s because we’ve sent 4 of the team to San Jose to do airport pick-ups and stay over in San Jose this evening, and those 4 just so happen to be the loudest!

Tomorrow is when the intensive Volunteer Manager training begins, so we’ve had to get ourselves seriously organised in the last week...

The Logistics team (Nick, Roeland, Katie, Amy, Becky and Krisztina) have prepared all the vehicles, counted and recounted stock, organised the bodega into a beautifully tidy and precisely arranged storage space (you could eat your dinner off those shelves), got all the food orders in (rest assured we’ll never, ever, ever run out of porridge as a lorry load arrived today, sorted all the maps and radios – and I’ve barely scraped the surface there of what’s been achieved this week so well done guys.

Emma the Medic have set up the medical room, sorted existing medical kits and ordered new stock, made up all the trek and static kits, carried out medical one-to-ones to check we’re all running like the well-oiled machines we are, and prepared the medical training for all the PMs including the health and hygiene briefing for everyone on expedition – very important!

 

Jen the accountant has been very busy with the books, with the all important trip to the bank, counting the cash, sorting out expenses, creating a new accounting system for the shop and putting together a cash flow plan, balancing the dollars and colones, meaning we always have the green to make the scene! 

Katie our Admin Assistant (a Medic who has returned for a second expedition) has been dealing with the rotas, managing the database, sorting post, setting up the shop, putting together all the project packs and Venturer allocations, making sure we’re in stationery and keeping our valuables safe and sound and under lock and key.

The two Photographers (Bjorn for the 10-week expedition and Dave on the 5-week expedition) have been putting together a plan for all the shots we need to get on exped, and also capturing some of the best moments of this week for a slide show we’re having tonight! (I believe this entails a short video of me jacking up the Landie for a considerable amount of time, so I am not looking forward to this ritual humiliation...)

Keiner has been managing the whole HCV programme, organising all their inductions, and putting together the project packs (as well as teaching us all how to sound really cool in Spanish!). And Andy's been helping us all out with anything we end up screaming for before his fellow PM's arrive tomorrow.

Finally, I believe Ross and Pedro have been doing some stuff too! As well as whipping all of us into shape, they have been busy putting together the projects and basically finalising the master plan – all will be revealed!

As for me, well you’ve seen some of what I’ve been up to – I’ve also been planning the magazine and the merchandise and basically putting together a whole comms plan for the expedition, so we can keep you all up to speed with what’s going on and make sure you all have some brilliant mementos to keep afterwards.

If the first week’s anything to go by, I reckon it’s going to be an expedition for us all to remember for the rest of our lives.

Roll on tomorrow!

The Top Gear Challenge

And so, Raleigh Driving School continues. We’ve had 3 passes – well done to Roeland, Katie and Nick who are now fully qualified to drive a 4x4. Woop!

The rest of us are still in training, and in the last couple of days this has entailed towing another vehicle, loading a roof rack and preparing for and taking a road trip – which took place this morning to Volcan Irazu.

Beginning with a 5am start (this is supposed to be our day off!) we met at the office, checked all the vehicles (not a small job to check all the tyres, functions and levels) and then set off up into the mountains in convoy with Bravo 1, 2 and 3.

Bravo 1 (or Betty as her travel companions dubbed her) is our oldest but most loved Landie – an old faithful, she doesn’t quite purr like a dream and she whiffs a bit but she’s a battleaxe, and deserves respect. This was my carriage, with Roeland driving and Emma and Bjorn joining me in singing along to ‘Roxanne’ by The Police at full volume as we meandered up the steep, misty, winding roads to the summit. And what a sight when we got there! Turquoise blue waters, lush vegetation and the sighting of a coatimundi warmed our cockles while the cold wind blew and our bodies adapted to cope with the oxygen levels at 3,432 metres.

our new friend the coatimundi

After a jumping photo opportunity, followed by a brew at altitude, we headed back down for the road trip back, taking a slightly off-map route but still making it in great time! So here we all are, back safe and sound, all knowing a little bit more about driving in Costa Rica, map reading, 4x4s and volcanoes.

All well worth the 5am start!

PM Dawn...

Hola from Fieldbase,

This is Andy, Project Manager, here at Fieldbase a week early; trying to help out when needed (call me ‘The Floater’) and generally keeping a low profile whilst the Advance Team bond (and as a result featuring as first guest blogger).  And I’d best explain why I’m here early. It’s because Becky, Logistics Co-ordinator, and I are married……to each other (two fantastic years as of yesterday!), so we travelled out together; I needed someone’s hand to hold on the plane because I’m a nervous flyer!

As you’ll have seen from the first post, we arrived early Friday (8^th June) morning. Since that point it’s been a case of getting settled in and getting set up for the other Volunteer Managers to arrive and the Venturers thereafter. Amongst other things, we’ve taken a tour of the site, been given instructions on how to wash up/use the toilet, undertaken a swimming assessment, which we all passed with flying (maybe that should be butterflying) colours, got ourselves semi acquainted with the local town Turrialba (more on that to follow), learnt the rules of Racing Demons, stopped to admire a mesmerising Costa Rican sunset (see the previous post), and organised the bodega. As i write this, some of the advance team are learning off road driving skills.

In terms of our environs, we are (field) based just outside the aforementioned Turrialba in a cluster of buildings including the office, bodega, and Volunteer Manager & Venturer accommodation. It has all mods cons such as electricity and running water (sometimes cold, but that’s often welcome!). A very friendly and playful dog called Splatches also greets us warmly when she’s around.

To get into the local town, Turrialba, it’s about a 25mins walk, or a 5mins drive. Turriabla is where you’ll find everything from numerous butchers, a toy shop, restaurants, the post office and classical guitar playing in the plaza. It has a population of around 40,000 and the feel of a buzzing market town. If I’ve time, I’ll try to learn some basic Spanish there at a language school. That would be muchos……good.

Further afield there is the local pool around 20mins walk away, accessed via a gravel lane, which is flanked by fields of sugar cane; the workers were toiling said fields in the searing midday sun as we walked by, so massive respect to them! The view from the pool is one of lush green vegetation on all sides. As you might expect from such an environment, there is an abundance of wildlife. Small black birds (around the size of a wren) dart around, what look like birds of prey (maybe condors but in reality I think they are vultures) drift around on thermals, humming birds flit between flowers sipping nectar and last night I caught a glimpse of a frog about the size of my hand; quite some sights for this city dweller.  

 The whole area is managed by CATIE, an educational institution concerned with reducing poverty via promoting competitive/sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. 

Don’t let the above give you an overly rosy view of the place though. The hard work of setting up has only just started, and in the heat, even the most basic tasks can be quite draining, leaving clothes and bodies sweat-covered. Accommodation, although comfortable, is pretty basic and it rained all day yesterday. This, of course, is all part of the challenge of which there’ll be many more besides over the next few weeks, and then some when we get to project sites/trek phases. Bring it on!

Andy (The Floater) Youl