10 Feb 2014 (Monday)

Okay, it has been a few days since I updated this!  It has been a very busy and exciting week, which I will try and remember on a day by day account of life here at Raleigh Costa Rica 'Field Base':

5 Feb 2014 (Weds)

Final training day before the venturers arrived, more vital information, however my brain can still only store so much information in day so I think alot of recapping and reviewing will be needed over the next few days!  Evening entertainment, Scottish dancing!  lots of bruises but excellent fun.

6 Feb 2014 (Thurs)

Final preps before the venturers arrive, putting up marquee size tents in the hottest part of the day, great fun (really).  Followed by a chilled out afternoon visiting the local town.

7 Feb 2014 (Fri)

08:00 the venturers arrived and Field Base came alive.  I wasn't really sure how I would I feel about 100+ venturers arriving and what I was expecting of them, but it was amazing and has been non stop since they arrived (hence the delay in updating the blog).

A busy day covering the usual induction stuff and collecting passports etc.  more training, but finally we are giving the training not receiving it!

8 Feb 2014 (Sat)

Allocation for phase 1, the venturers get to find out what and where they will be going. Also I got to find which 12 venturers I will be leading on an epic trek in a few days!

A bit more training and then prep for Jungle camp, and after lunch off on the trek with 12 excited venturers.  An interesting afternoon of navigation in the RAIN!!!! (first time since i have been here).  night camping in 3 x 4person tent with 14 of us, quite snug!

9 Feb 2014 (Sun)

up at 4am, all packed up and ready to trek by 5.30am (amazing, that is for me, not the venturers!).  Short trek to the jungle camp area and tools training at 6am.  followed by a trek back to base and a casvac practice on route, great fun.

Back at field base by mid morning, kit cleaned and ready for some more training throughout the day.  A long day.

10 Feb 2014 (Monday)

Kit prep day for phase 1.  Logistics challenge, pack the food for the first 6 days for 14 in such away that it can be carried evenly throughout the team!  then add various bits of team kit: 4 x tents / comms kit / med pack / wash bowls / cookers and pans etc etc.  Amazingly though we seem to have managed it all by lunchtime and managed to have the afternoon off to pack personal kit and even have some chill out time.

Okay, I have reached the night before Phase 1, Corcovado Trek.  I will be leaving with 12 venturers and 1 project manager at about 5.30am tomorrow morning for a truly epic adventure and I will return 19 days later, with lots of stories and memories to share with you all on my blog.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR AN ADVENTURE UPDATE IN 19 DAYS TIME......

Tuesday 4th Feb 2014 (PM)

Back to training today!  Good, but now I understand how my students 'information overload'.  Lots to learn before the venturers arrive on Friday, and then it will be a busy few days training and preparing them for Phase 1 which will start next Tuesday!!!

Okay, I'm off to learn to Salsa. followed by an even more intense day of training tomorrow.

Still having an amazing time and hope you are all enjoying the photos.

Project Planning Visit "Corcovado Trek" More of an epic road trip than a practice trek!

 Thursday Up and off at 6am! Although that sounds crazy it is actually becoming a normal time to do things here. Four ladies, one landrover and lots of miles later....we arrive in the South of Costs Rica ready to check out some of our overnight stops and look at part of the trek. Ummm, lots of mountains with very steep hills, beautiful scenery and amazing people. Checked out the hot springs which is on our route, amazing clear water. ( photos to follow).

 We managed to find the most amazing campsite area for the night (Costa Rican style 'Henry's!) with a swimming pool fed from the hot springs.

 Unfortunately not one for the venturers as it has a bar, but we they will have showers and toilets where we will be staying that night of trek, so some perks!

 Friday Up and ready to go again at 6am, I know it's quite amazing! But to put it in context, we go to bed at 8.30pm as it is daylight 6 - 6 everyday, with no gentle sunrise or sundown, it is just light and dark. We set off to check more of the route and a few more of the overnight stops, and a lot more very very steep hills (fortunately in a land rover, but in a week or so in will be on foot, ummmmm). We have visited some very cool ranger stations, with amazing views over the mountains, and as long as I don't think to much about how we get there I am very excited about trek.

 We also found the most cool ice cream shack I have ever seen (photos to follow, but just think of willy wonks meets the mountains!).

 Extra bonus, we will be trekking past this. We reached the village where we should start our practice trek from at 11am ish, unfortunately we needed a guide to take us over the next day and a half as it was through jungle and due to various complications this was not possible (however I was not totally devistated as it was extraordinarily hot and we had an epic amount kit between 2 of us).

 So we continued on with road trip after various negotiations to arrange for a guide for the real thing. Off back to field base. 600 - 700km round trip in two days with a lot of off road mountain roads, amazing views and huge thanks to our two drivers 'Blue and Tess' who were amazing. Due to Raleigh rules, they are not allowed to drive after dark ( which if you saw these roads you would realise how sensible this is). We had an overnight stop in Cartago on a spare room floor of a previous volunteer manager. Saturday Up early and back to fieldbase to sort out the risk assessments etc for trek. Spent most of the day on paperwork and sorting kit! Sunday Up at 8am! Wow, breakfast, team meeting and prepare for a hike around the local area to start preparing by body for Trek. We covered about 10km with full kit, which doesn't sound like much but in this heat and with a few hills what reasonably challenging, but has restored my confidence 'I CAN DO THIS'.

 Another chilled evening at fieldbase getting to know the other volunteer managers. Monday Day off! I decided against rafting and for a chilled out day drinking milkshakes and visiting the local town. Very nice. What more can I say! Okay, I'm off to try and get some photos on the computer so you can all see just how amazing this country really is.