The Volunteers Arrive!!

The British School in San Jose is used again with the volunteers.  They arrive at various times on Monday February 13th - either at the airport or bus terminal - and are then taken for the night to the British School. Then they set off at 5am to arrive at Fieldbase by 7am

Dinner ready to go at the school

Peace before the storm!

We were up at 5am to get the last minute preparations completed and to greet the volunteers at 7am.  We formed a "welcome tunnel" but the volunteers did not seem impressed - hopefully they were just tired.  

Welcome speeches

Volunteers excited to hear more

Breakfast was catered in and afterwards the lessons began - "Intro to Raleigh", Fieldbase tour, introductions to their "hotel", basic first aid and Casevac training, "Risk Assessment", "Communications kit Training", "Wellbeing", etc.  They also collected the equipment they would need for "Jungle Trek".  

Their accommodation is a little basic despite it's name - "The Hotel"- its two marquees joined together over a concrete pad!  

Room for 48?

Not quite a Marriott!

Whilst the volunteers are at fieldbase all meals are catered in and served. When the volunteers are out in their various phases we still get lunch catered but take it in turns to cook an evening meal.

Day 2 again started very early with the volunteers up at 4am and off on a mini trek, after a quick breakfast.  This is to get them used to carry their rucksacks with reasonably heavy loads - approx 15-18kg - and to teach them navigating skills.  

Its strange having so many people about after a relatively quiet few weeks but this is the whole point of the expedition!   The volunteers are only at fieldbase for 3 days before going off on Phase One.

Julie has been assigned to Alpha 3 and they will be going to La Cangeja (https://www.sinac.go.cr/EN-US/ac/accvc/lcnp/Pages/default.aspx).  This is a 5 hour bus journey from fieldbase so another early start!!

Pre Phase Visit (PPV) - Trek for me!

The Volunteer Managers (VMs) visit their project sites to see where they will be living for phase one of the expedition and what they will be doing.  As Raleigh has a "rule of three" I was asked to accompany Jenna and Mayte - the VMs assigned to Trek in phase one.  Trek takes the volunteers through rainforests and up volcanoes on a variety of stunning routes that tourists don’t get access to and is designed to be challenging both physically and mentally.  The experience allows volunteers to practices their leadership skills, team working and get a real sense of achievement. 

 

Bridge being repaired!!

Ready to rock the Trek! 

Rain ain't getting us down!

We were driven 45km from Field Base and dropped off.  In addition to our personal items we carried two tents, cooking equipment, food, comms equipment, a huge medical kit and of course a shovel....We did also take the kitchen sink in the shape of four washing bowls plus a 25lt water container.  Overall I guess we carried about 25kgs each.

Community Center - luxury

Camping on a soccer field

Quaint villages in the valleys

Stunning views

First few kms were extremely muddy and hilly.  Unfortunately Mayte was not feeling that great due to missing breakfast - not a good way to start a trek.  She was dizzy and suffered a bit from V&D (vomit and diarrhea) - not unusual on trek apparently.  However she bravely carried on.  Day one was about 12km and we were lucky to be able to stay in a community center as it rained quite a bit that night.  Day 2 was going to be a long one so we were up at 4am and on the road at 5am.  

Day 2 felt like it was uphill all the way.  We asked one local if our destination was far and he said it was "all the way to the sky"!  He was not far wrong.  We climb 78 floors according to Apple and hit 30, 888 - roughly 19.5km.  We were heading to El Silencio were we were able to pitch the tents on a soccer field.  Luckily we were able to use the toilet in a neighboring house but when we woke up the following day they had locked their gate - hence the shovel!!

Mayte unfortunately developed lots of blisters on her feet - not having worn her boots in properly - and we slowed considerably from an average of 4.9km to less than 2.  It was a little painful walking so slowly but we had plenty of time, especially since we started out at 5am again.  We were back in field base around 11:30am.  Overall I believe we walked over 79,888 steps and went up 137 floors.  Getting back and having a shower never felt so good!  

Great experience, super team, great morale - so happy I only had a 3 day trip and will not be taking part in the full 19 day Trek.  Sorry Julie!

Happy to be back at Field Base

Julie Arrives!!

Six days after I landed in Costa Rica I am joined by Julie.  She is a volunteer manager and will be supervising groups of 14 or so volunteers aged between 17-24 as they go through the three phases of Natural Resource Mgt, Community Resilience Mgt and Trek.  Unfortunately she will be in a bunk room with the other 8 VMs but she is fine with that!

Reunited!

Fresh from a cold shower

The Bunk Room

The management team is now complete!  This consist of the Fieldbase roles - Mgt, Deputy Operations Controllers (DOCS) and Logistic Mgrs (LOGS) - and the VMs.   

I tend to wake up around 6am every morning as the sun pierces through the window and walk from our sleeping quarters (Casablanca) to the main office for breakfast.  

The focus is now on the VMs induction so that they will be ready to supervise the volunteers and pass on the knowledge of the projects, safety, cultural awareness, social media, comms, first aid, etc.  Lessons start around 8am and end at 6pm.  Long days and lots of material to take onboard.  My job (Logs officer) is a little easier - just making sure all phases of the projects have the right food, comms, tents, etc.  Most days are pretty relaxing except a day or so before a project starts. 

The VMs will be doing Pre Project Visits (PPVs) over the next few days.Raleigh has a rule of three so I will be joining two VMs as they experience part of the Trek.  We will be dropped off some distance from fieldbase and will then navigate our way back, following part of the "Pura Vida" trek route.  We start off on Tuesday Feb 7th at 6:30am and are expected to be back around midday on Thursday.   I believe we are treking 15km on day 1, 19km on day 2 and 12km on day 3.  Should be okay as long as it does not get too hot or too wet!!