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Published: June 22nd 2006
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Phase II was back on environmental project in Piedras Blancas but with a new group and new fellow project manager Kris. Kris is a trek leader but didn't want to do a trek all three phases. We were due to build the second accommodation cabin and continue with trail building. It was a tough phase, with some interesting characters who developed a habit of preferring sunbathing and reading their books to working... but when they applied themselves a great deal was achieved. We built the second cabin but again couldn´t paint because the generator failed to give us enough power to solder the roof. We also finished the loo, septic tank and drainage alongside the classroom and built about 300 metres of trail.
The weather became more challenging as it started raining more but I had several nights where I took the corner off my tarp in my jungle bed and slept under the stars. The moon was directly above making shadows of the tree branches and the frogs in the swamp next door kept up their dafening chorus.
Our jungle camp was rebuilt by the new group and a cooking table was added... we experienced the delights of veggie stirfry one night and a Dutch dish of carrots and mash. It is incredible how much people fixate about food on Raleigh. Given lack of alcohol and the general diet everyone ends up addicted to sugar... several of the venturers discussing the finer points of which Tang flavour was best to snort (Tang is a fruit flavoured sugar powder to put in water) for example, or fighting over sweetened caramelised condensed milk (dulce de leche) in the mornings for your porridge. Since diet is mostly carbs it didn´t suit me very well at all... once we got to go shopping then we munched a lot of protein very quickly since the meat could only last a couple of days, not to mention the big packs of local white cheese we used for lunches, and evryone´s stomachs would then get the shock of rich food. However, we were lucky as a group, wit only one or two people going down to diarrhoea during the 3 weeks. This compared to an entire group in Nicaragua with full-scale toilet troubles!
Memories of 2nd phase:
*Kris and I being challenged to a refried beans eating competition as part of Rob's birthday extravaganza... I won... psychological warfare as I kept giggling at her so she couldn't swallow!
*Finding a 25cm long camarone (shrimp) in the once again empty river bed after a particularly full-on downpour. We headed down to the 'real' river to get him back in and picked up a little fish along the way too which took a while to recover but was seemingly going to survive
*Heading to new waterfalls for a day off.. a 3 hour trek but flat and wading through the river... beautiful spot although a little bit buggy. Munching on water apples (manzanas de agua) en route which are in season right now and delicious.
*Mud sliding on a particularly wet day
*Kris going shopping in Rio Claro and getting stuck due to the rains so required to spend a night outside the park
*Star pancakes from Andy, our tico representative
*Digging a bloody large ditch for a sewage system
*Digging an even LARGER hole for the septic tank
*Sawing wood pieces for window frames for the cabins
*Knocking nails straight so we could re-use them. There is no waste here at all.
*Learning how to make bamboo bracelets and receiving an 'ojo de buey' (bullock´s eye - a seed over here) necklace from one of the rangers
*Interestingly, they call bullseye on a dartboard 'el rojo'
*Having a medevac en route back from the beach with a venturer who passed out and having to spend 3 hours in Golfito hospital getting her checked out and a night outside the park with the park rangers based at Chacarita because it was too late to get in.
*Max and his hot chocolate extraordinaire... the secret is dulce de leche.
*The other volunteers Claudia and Laurent who mucked in with us.
*Hearing a tigrillo or some sort of small cat in the undergrowth right near our camp on a night walk. Probably the same one which Charlotte saw on our first phase
*Spotting puma prints and macaws on the walk to the beach
*Seeing a baby cocodrilo up close and personal on the night walk - we waded into the river to about 2 feet away.
*Building the path which was getting longer and longer - two wheelbarrow runs with gravel in would now take about 30minutes. Building in a downpour was quite amusing!
*Sophie and Max seeing a toucan on the path and Kris and some of the others seeing a coati (rodent type creature)
*Seeing a coati on the jungle walk - my first and only one!
*Feasting on a guanavana - a fruit one can only describe as nectar of the gods and impossible to get in the UK ...not to mention guave de machete and coconuts
*Stopping off in La Gamba on the way back out and buying jewellry from a little ol' lady
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