There's no denying it, these bloggers are bound to make you jealous. Whether it's their guts, their energy or their tan you admire, overseas volunteers have got plenty to share with you about their remarkable work in fascinating countries. Read on to find out what you could be missing.

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Friday Jul 03, 2009

A word on the actual work!

Holaaa, I was reading through some of my other posts and realised I havent really talked very much about what I actually do at the orphanage yet! Well, its my day off today and its raining just now so I thought I would give a brief run-through:

On normal days I turn up at the refugio a little before 3.30pm, and head down to the courtyard type area where most of the kids usually are, on weekdays there is only the very young ones as the others head to school during the afternoon and return around 6. So I go in and bascially play with them, sometimes on the junglejim and in the den-house, sometimes just carrying them round (Alejandro demands this nearly everytime I walk in, as does Michelle and even Teresa...who really is a bit big for it now, but I guess I can view it as a workout), I also often just sit and try to talk to the children, mainly in Spanish as they take great joy in trying to teach me and I can understand a lot of what they say now...though I can rarely answer properly! We also do lots of art stuff, mainly just drawing and colouring in though as theyre not often allowed to play with glue or paint as the nuns (who run the place overall) tell me it is too messy, though I think they are rather strict and it is also just part of the discipline!

At 5 the kids get their dinner, which can be anything from bread with sugar toasted on top, to chocolate cake, to soup! They have some very strange dinners, often sugar-filled, but I guess as they run on donations it depends on whatever they have been given, and whatever they can afford to buy for each meal. The kids do also get  lots of milk and fruit though, so it isnt all bad. After that its playtime for the kids again as the volunteers help to do the dishes, wipe down and stack away the tables and chairs (mucky wee pups they are!) and also sweep and mop up the floor, before heading out to interact with the kids some more until its time to start getting them bathed. This part of the shift can be a nightmare, getting them in to the small bathroom, stripped and into the large sink we use to shower them, out of there again, dried and put into pyjamas (and almost all of them wear nappies too which surprised me). This may not sound so bad, but many of the kids start wailing as soon as they are in the bathroom, and try their very hardest not to cooperate in the slightest in the whole process...also Pearlita will often decide to grab the shampoo and pour almost half out before rubbing it in her hair, which then takes ages to rinse out, meanwhile Jose seems to love grabbing the shower hose and soaking all the volunteers! A shock I wasnt expecting the first time I bathed him! The lucky volunteers will be upstairs at this stage bathing the 5 youngest children, a much easier task!

Then its time to watch tv for around a half hour, and many of the kids will come and cuddle you and sit on your lap and fall asleep then before being taken off to bed at 7.30...

So theres a bit more insight into the work I have been doing here! Not a long shift, but pretty tiring! Especially in this Mexican heat... Anyway, thats all for now, I am in my last week at the orphanage now so will soon update on my last few days and those final goodbyes which are going to be so hard! Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 7:41 PM )
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Tuesday Jun 30, 2009

Could you live on £15 a week?

One challenge is the GX allowance. £15 a week is all we have to live on, outside of food and accommodation costs. It’s actually quite good for me, since it’s stopping me buying all those naughty treats which inundate vulnerable civilians who dare to wander the streets of Ealing. This is good for developing good budgetting and dietary habits before the total freedom of University hits me in October. People can supplement their allowances with their own money, but I’d rather learn to live on £15 a week; why not, if you know you can?

We’re staying in a YMCA at the moment, which is both a challenge and an opportunity. The residents come from different backgrounds, but most are fairly troubled: some are here because they’ve got leanring difficulties, so need some extra support; others are homeless; others are recently out of prison... I don’t know every reason, but none are here just through their own choice. Mealtimes etc can be a very lively experience, especially if you end up with more beans than the person behind you etc etc! But really, nearly all the residents are extremely welcoming, friendly and curtious towards us- lively young peopeleare often actually the masters of such courtesy, I find! Anyhow, it makes life more interesting, and complements our program’s aim to teach us about development and social problems in the UK.

We're looking forward to moving to King's Lynn, and finally settling into our host homes. But until then, there's no risk of boredom in London. We've seen the sights of central London, prepared for the King's Lynn phase, helped teach salsa to the elderly, cleared half a lawn full of nettles at a YMCA, rediscovered shopping, met another GX group for their farewell party, watched a film and attended a meeting about climate change... Life is full to the brim!

Posted by Sally ( 10:43 AM )
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Monday Jun 29, 2009

Short update...

Hey Hey Hey! Just me again, thought I would take a little time to write a short update today, before I head to work in a little while. There are lots more volunteers just now with 5 arriving over the weekend incuding my two friends that I met over Facebook, and still more to come, although 3 are leaving in the next couple of days! It will be really sad to see them go, and they all say it will be agony leaving the kids, I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to them myself!

Anyway, now that there are more volunteers around, we have a set rota which we organise each week, allowing everybody to choose their fair share of shifts (now only a short 4 hours compared to 5 hours before!), so today I am in at 1 until 5, whereas most other days I do 3.30 until 7.30. As you can tell, this makes for a lot of free time which is really nice for us all! Though I think during my last few days I will try to go in lots to see all the children before I leave, especially those favourites you cant help yourself from having! (By the by, mine are Jonathon, Alejandro, Lucy and Judy!) It really is very hard not to form favourites here and to become really attached to the kids, so I cant imagine what it will be like once it is time to go!

With all this time off it is good that Puerto Vallarta offers so much! There is plenty of culture around to be seen, with music played constantly everywhere, and artwork often on display and for sale down near the beachfront. Although this is often swamped in tourist attractions, which I have to admit are fun as well! I have already been parasailing here and also plan to take a trip on the pirate boat, which runs daily with all inclusive food and drinks, an acrobatic show and fireworks following the beautiful sunsets here. Well that is about all I have to say for now... Speak soon! Fi.

PS. The weather definitely got better!! Mon the sunshine!

Posted by Fiona ( 4:48 PM )
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Tuesday Jun 23, 2009

Settling in

Hi again well I have now been here for a few days and really starting to get a feel for that place, a lot of relaxing, unfortunately not in lots of sunshine as it is now the start of the rainy season here in Mexico! Still nice and hot though, and nice enough weather to have been exploring Puerto Vallarta a little bit. It is a lovely place with a mix of old and new, with traditional culture meeting the tourist attitude, as loads of Americans come here on holiday in the same way that many Brits head to Spain in the summer.

I have been playing with the kids at the orphanage lots now and really starting to get to know them better, all of them are absolutely adorable and really appreciate having volunteers there to play with. Its not all fun and games though, meal times can be insanely messy! Also, I can now say that I have put a nappy on a baby/child for the first time! In fact I must have put about 8 on yesterday on different children! Now that I have been here a few days Im really starting to get into the routine, mostly heading to the orphanage in the afternoons, around 3 until 8pm to see the kids into bed. So just a short update really to mention the work ive been up to, two volunteers i have been talking to on facebook for several weeks now are arriving on thursday which should be nice as i will finally get to meet them in person! (So, another hint if you are heading off alone and a little nervous, check facebook or other social networking sites for groups for your placement or voluntary organisation to talk to others who will be there at the same time before you go!)

Anyhoo, until next time... adios! Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 4:48 PM )
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Will I miss tomato ketchup?

I am Lucille, a politics student at Manchester University. I am volunteering in Ghana for two months with Tzedek - a Jewish charity which works abroad, regardless of race or religion, providing direct support to help local people, so that they can help themselves.

I'm going in under two weeks and currently I'm preparing for my trip. I got this email from my friend Josh and thought it was worth sharing. I don't think they included this advice in the Brandt guide to Ghana I was reading on the train to Leicester today:

Dear Lucy

By now you will have been blasted with ideas, suggestions, rules, regulations and requests.  Much of it is very important and valuable; a whole load of it is just crap. Based on my trip to Vanuatu I offer you the following...

1. People will make judgments about you based on the colour of your skin - never take it personally.

2.Learn the local language early or at least key words

3. Get 'British presents' to give to people at the end of your stay

4.Use silver foil to cover your dishes when you cannot be bothered to wash up

5. Write a diary – even if it just activities with no thoughts or feelings. Do catch up if you get a week behind it will be worth it

6.Write a full A4 list of reasons you are volunteering in Ghana this summer– keep it secret

7.  Before you go write down a list of what you expect to miss and then during your time away what you actually miss. (interesting afterwards)

8. Don't get too upset if you can't read all the books you planned on reading

9.  Keep a recipe book of all the weird foods you make and Keep a quotes page

10.50 amazing photos that are well thought out are better than 500. No one wants to sit through 500

11. Have loads of plasters – they are amazing for fixing holes in mosquito nets

12. Try local food even if it looks nasty

13. Enjoy every day and don't feel pity for local people.

14. Do sketching!

15. Use the postal service rather than pay excess luggage when you want to bring loads of cool stuff home. Pay it even if it is loads it will be worth it in the end. Surface mail doesn't actually take 2 months.

16. Mantra: It could be worse

17. You can't save the world and you are not a selfish colonialist for going to Africa to try

I have been asking lots of friends post- gap years in Africa for advice on what it like to live in Africa.  Their responses were surprising and always interestingly detailed. Apparently in Africa, I'm going to look forward to having clean feet, something I have previously thought very little about. (As however much I shower my feet, I will still feel dirty) Apparently, I will be missing tomato ketchup and other random food items. They all say Volunteering in Africa was the most difficult and rewarding they have ever done. It feels strange for me, sitting in my PJ's on my comfy sofa in suburban Leicester, with my mug of tea, in a week I will be far from my world. These descriptions will be my real experiences and no longer just 'apparently'.  (But apparently it's normal to be a bit nervous too!)

 

Posted by Lucille ( 11:13 AM )
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From Malawi to Norfolk

My Global XChange team (GX team 88) have now completed Phase 1: our 12-week stay in Malawi. Now, it's onto Phase 2, for which we'll be spending 12 weeks in a host community in the UK. For the lucky team 88, that means 12 weeks by the sea in Kings Lynn, Norfolk! We'll again be volunteering with local organisations, living with local families and learning about global citizenship together, but of course this phase will be a totally different experience; Malawi and the UK really are worlds apart, and just as the Malawians have a lot to learn from living in the UK, we UK volunteers and our host community have a great deal to learn from the Malawians and how they judge and cope with life here. I'm personally really looking forward to this opportunity to learn about hardship in the UK, as I've always lived in a fairly comfortable environment, in an area with relatively few social problems. Kings Lynn is also far more diverse than my virtually monocultural home, so that living here will give me a far deeper insight into the diverse make-up of our country.

There are a few things to consider before I get started. Our team is down from 20 to 18; we’ve lost a program supervisor to illness, and a malawian volutneer to discipline (though she'll be coming back soon, after an apology and commitment to be better!). Because of these problems, we’re stil in London, and will be here for nearly 2 weeks in total, though we were meant to leave for our new host community -King’s Lynn- just a day after arriving here!

This caused some emotional confusion after all the excitement and anticipation built up around phase two. As one volunteer said, rather poetically in his gruff Welsh accent, “up feels like down and left feels like right”! But we’re over the initial troubles now it seems, and are actually really enjoying London. We've had chance to explore our nation's capital with people who've never left Malawi, and we've had loads mroe time to bond as a team before being sent to individual host homes in counterpart pairs.

It’s been really special showing the Malawians the UK. Only one has ever been out of Malawi, so escalators, lifts, huge multi-storey buildings, fast trains, the tube, big red buses, our nice clean, finsihed-looking streets, Primark, even beds with mattresses and hot showers… everything is unfamiliar to them. We're worried by the idea they're forming that, “The UK is a thousand thousand thousand thousand times better than Malawi”; UK volunteers all felt a lot happier in Malawi, where people are so friendly and communities are so strong.

The Malawians haven't been impressed by everything of course. We did a tour of London on Saturday, and although seeing the Queen on her birthday and visiting the missionary Dr David Livingstone’s grave were higlights, they weren’t so impressed by the naked bike ride we stumbled excitedly upon. “It was disgusting” was the comment of my own counterpart!!! He thought that people with such disgusting bodies (his view, not mine!) shouldn’t be allowed to show them in public! Others were more openminded, and enjoyed the chance to see what white people looked like underneath their clothes!

Immediately after this, we walked along the south bank near the London Eye, where there were all manner of street performers, again celebrating the eccentricity and individual freedom integral to British culture. My counterpart very much enjoyed the street performers' acts, despite believing that they were using Malawian-style magic to acieve their feats. I tried to use this opportunity to explain the importance of this freedom and individuality in British culture,and thereby highlight the wonderful side of the naked bike ride. He aggreed freedom was very good, but when I then swung it round to the naked cyclists’ case... well, "freedom, yes, but with clear restrictions"!

He he. Still it’s all good and they do seem to be enjoying life here.

Posted by Sally ( 9:46 AM )
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Sunday Jun 21, 2009

And so it begins...

Well, I have now arrived in Mexico...still pretty bewildered and overwhelmed at the moment, but enjoying it nonetheless! The week of preparation came and went without hiccups, and on Friday morning I set off to the airport to catch my 8 hour flight to New York where I stayed the night, and praised the 5 hour jetlag which allowed me to get up at local time 4.30am with no trouble at all to head off for my next flight to PV.

First of my troubles only arrived once I was at Puerto Vallarta airport, where the man who was meant to pick me up was late, and with no contact number written down I was left feeling completely abandoned! Thanfully he turned up shortly after, although then revealed that he did not know where I was meant to be staying, and so took me straigh to the orphanage, which seemed fine until I saw there were no other English speaking volunteers there at the time... so I was left to my own devices to play with the kids wh are absolutely gorgeous by the way! After about 20 minutes some girls did show up though (even though they normally didnt do Saturday afternoons) and sorted me out, so at least it all ended well.

So today is my day off to relax and get to know the place...hopefully soon i will figure out how to do apostrophes on this keyboard, until then please excuse me! Anyway, the internet cafe is really close to the flat so hopefully I will be in touch again soon. Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 11:02 AM )
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Thursday Jun 18, 2009

Thinking about the global issues

GX is a great program, because as well partaking in such practical voluntary work, volunteers also learn about global issues surrounding development,. To enable them to be more effective global citizens in the future. Every week, two volunteers host a “Global Citizenship Day (GCD)”. Through these, we’ve learnt about topics such as climate change, poverty, HIV, community cohesion, community development and religion. GCDs are also a great opportunity to develop teamwork and leadership skills, which are central to the GX program and life beyond.

There are other avenues for developing our understanding of development issues. This has been the first time I’ve lived in Africa and, I suppose as expected, I’ve seen that development here is very low. There are decent main roads connecting towns, but the 85% of the population that lives rurally has no such facilities. There are health centers spread across the country, but standards aren’t great, and many citizens aren’t educated to use them. Only primary education is free, and even then many don’t attend because of poverty- they are too hungry, they have to stay home to care for younger siblings or sick parents, the distance is too far to walk and they can’t afford transport…

However, a speaker who visited us from a local NGO shared a very important point about poverty and development; he said that instead of just copying the West and building airports and tarmac roads, inviting multinational businesses, moving people from villages and agriculture to towns and industries etc, development should be bottom up- driven by the needs and wishes of citizens. Living in “the developed world”, where depression, suicide and general dissatisfaction levels are the highest in the world, we know that money can’t buy happiness and satisfaction. Development NGOs need to meet with communities, discuss their barriers to such life satisfaction, and together come up with the best possible solutions.

I would say that GX is a terrific program for preparing you for life and work. There are so many challenges (living with a total stranger, in another stranger’s home for 6 months, working as a team of 18 hugely different young people, language barriers, miniscule budgets, relying on just two program supervisors, living without beds and washing machines&hellip, but with them come so so many opportunities. Because of this, depending on your nature, and also on the team and situation you’re in, GX could either be the worst or the best 6 months of your life. I’m only half-way through the program, but touch-wood… I think it’s going to be unforgettable for all the right reasons!

Posted by Sally ( 2:40 PM )
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Wednesday Jun 17, 2009

Hello, my name is...

Fiona! A 19-year old Scottish student about to head to Mexico for 5 weeks starting next weekend. I normally spend my days in dreary Aberdeen, so you may guess that I'm rather happy at the prospect of Mexican heat for 5 weeks of my summer – you wouldn't be wrong!

After loving 3 weeks of South Africa working in a monkey sanctuary last summer, I have more confidence to head further afield, for a longer period this year. I'll be working in an orphanage in the largely tourist-orientated town of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific Coast. I plan to work at the orphanage (and hopefully venture to the disabled children's centre nearby, as well as visit the local school) for three weeks, before heading east across Mexico towards Cancun, and spend 3 days in New York City before finally heading home to Sunny Old Scotland.

Now I'm sure you've all heard about the recent Swine Flu 'Crisis'. Maybe you think I'm slightly crazy to still be planning on heading to the reported origin of the virus. However, since the WHO dropped their advice against "non-essential travel", all systems are go! Though it has helped to make me more aware of the health precautions I should be taking, the hysteria over the virus appears to be the bigger obstacle! When I first visited the doctor 6 weeks prior to travel, I was informed to not even consider going! Following this set back, I couldn't get another appointment for 2 weeks – ah bless the NHS – at which point I was scolded for having left it so late! Finally seeing the travel nurse, I was again scolded,  and given yet another appointment to receive the vaccinations needed. The moral of this and the first of my advice... see the doctor early, sometimes the recommended 4-8 weeks before travel isn't enough!

So with that all out of the way... The clothes! Important as they are...remember that it's best not to take a rucksack filled solely with bikinis, shorts and summer dresses! Weather conditions can be pretty unexpected, so it's best to check average weather conditions before you go! I learned this the hard way last year, taking only one warm jumper to South Africa to then be met with the long cold nights of their winter, and no central heating! Mosquito repellents are essential in many hot countries, particularly within malaria danger zones (in which case anti-malarial drugs are also essential so please seek advice from your doctor, alongside other precautions against biting beasties).  Also on a health note, sun cream! I won't bang on about skin cancer, but please just remember it! If you fancy lots of activities during time off from your voluntary work, remember to take suitable clothes and shoes with you – hiking in flip-flops = bad idea. Also, adaptor plugs and microfiber travel towels are amazing.

So that's me and that's my plan! Hopefully the next week doesn't bring any hiccups... Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 10:10 AM )
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Monday Jun 08, 2009

Sustainability

The next step was to make it sustainable. We went to the Town Assembly to find out why they weren’t supporting the nursery, and were given the phone number of the government worker responsible for nursery schools. We called her and arranged to meet in three days time. Two days later, I was napping in the nursery after classes when a huge shiny white 4-by-4 pulled up. The logo on the side showed me it was a Unicef car. I woke up as quickly as possible and greeted the Unicef and government officers responsible for nursery schools in Malawi! They promised us massive assistance, but first we had to move the nearby primary school from our building.

Our next, and most promising, move was to meet the local MP. In that meting, he agreed to build two primary school blocks so that Unicef can begin their work at the nursery. He’s also pushing our proposals for income-generating activities for the nursery, so that they can continue to function without regular donors. He has delivered 100kg of rice to make porridge for the children (many of whom miss school because of hunger). And he gave us a large immediate donation to buy essential items, and especially toys for the children. As you might imagine, we were walking on sunshine on the way home that day!

Things now are looking really positive. As I write, 75 children’s names are on the school register, and we see new faces every day. Together, Unicef, the Malawi government and the local MP have promised all the assistance, resources, classroom maintenance and teacher-training we need. GX certainly seems to have passed on to me some of the secrets of sustainable development! And it’s wonderful to have been given the opportunity to leave such a positive long-term impact on the school and its surrounding community.

Posted by Sally ( 4:08 PM )
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Monday Jun 01, 2009

Running a nursery on a shoe string

I’m working (with my Malawian counterpart) at a nursery school in a semi-rural, fairly poor village. When we arrived at the nursery school we found the following resources: a dirty but sizeable room, a small plastic table too high for children, and a bucket with two cups. There were also, thankfully, 6 eager and saintly teachers, who were all Mums from the community, volunteering without monetary reward and (here’s the downfall) without training or experience. Enrollment was 20 children, though around 200 live in the catchment area.

Can you imagine the challenges you might face trying to sustainably develop such a place? I was daunted. How could I improve a nursery and teach 2-5 year olds when I have no experience or training? How could I communicate with children and teachers with no common language? How could we run a nursery with no paper, crayons, paint, or toys? How could we create a good learning environment with no cleaning equipment, nothing to decorate with, no cement to fill the holes in the floor and no glass to mend the jagged broken windows?

Well, the answer is that we couldn’t. But we didn’t have to. Actually, it seems you never really have NOTHING to work with, and the key is to seek out and pursue every minute opportunity available to you. My incredible Malawian counterpart has helped me build up my confidence, and has eased communication by teaching me Chichewa (the local language) and translating for me. In the face of no resources, we found ourselves pummeling cassava to make glue and flowers to make paint, collecting plastic bottles, containers, boxes, bamboo and scraps of fabric from the tailors to make dolls, instruments, building materials and decorations… In the face of no resources, we became very resourceful! And actually, very soon we had decorated our classroom and provided “toys” for the children without spending a single penny. It was wonderful to see the change.

Posted by Sally ( 3:22 PM )
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Thursday Apr 30, 2009

Crossing cultures

Hello! I'm Sally. I've grown up in the rural North-West of England, but am now enjoying a gap year, centered around volunteering, which is taking me to much farther corners fo the globe. So far, I've spent 6 weeks in India on "The Prime Minister's Global Fellowship", 3 monhs volunteering for a small grassroots NGO in Cambodia, and 6 weeks volunteering in Malawi.

So, I'm blogging to you from Malawi. The program is called "Global XChange", and is orchestrated by VSO and the British Council. It's a 6-month program, which gives 18-25 year-olds the opportunity to do volunteer work in a truly cross-cultural environment. 9 volutneers from across the UK team up with 9 volunteers from across Malawi (or another developing country), and spend 6 months- 3 in each country- volunteering and learning about Global Citizenship together. I had to fundraise 600 pounds to be on the program, and the rest is covered by VSO and the British Council.

I hope my gap year will give me skills and experience that I can channel in the future, so that I can really help people in a big way. I also want to help people now. So far, it's going brilliantly!

Posted by Sally ( 4:16 PM )
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Friday Apr 11, 2008

I will never forget

On the Monday we started the work on the trenches and laying the pipes; the humidity was almost unbearable at times, which made it a real challenge to mattock out the dry ground beneath us, but the locals helped out and really showed us how it was done! We spent every lunch time under the shade of a large fruit tree, where the families arrived with our lunches and we waited until the midday heat had died down before starting work again. Due to it being the last phase, we really wanted to get the water project completed, so we put as many hours we could into making sure it would be done in time. During this time, we also went round and met the other families, and had many gatherings and treats given to us - it was really moving how grateful they were for us being there. Our dad, Javier, also treated us to a special Sunday meal by killing the pig that they had been feeding up for a few months. I awoke to him at the end of my bed urging me to come into the kitchen, only to see it hanging upside down from the roof, completely skinned - definitely a moment I will not forget!

Thankfully, just the day before we left, we finished at about 10am and had the water running. It was such a relief to see the water come out of the tap - it was travelling down a 9km pipe all the way up from the springs of a mountain - and the locals were even more pleased to see it. That evening, people from miles away came for the final party, and it ended up being a really special night. Our family gave a speech to both me and Alex, saying how much they will miss us and that we are like family to them; our Spanish had also improved considerably by this time, and were able to write a letter (with the help of a dictionary) about how much they meant to us also. Upon leaving that morning, it was very upsetting to see them leave. Not only had I became so close to the family, but to all the other locals as well - even the children, who were always keen to try and learn English and play games with you. Most of our group were in tears, and I had a few of my own admittedly; it was just such an incredible experience, I can't even describe it. The way they loved us and looked after us will never be forgotten, and I promised them that if I can I will one day come back and visit. It was an amazing end to an amazing expedition I've had with Raleigh. The people I've met, the things I've done and the places I've seen will never be forgotten; we are all so lucky to have had this opportunity.

Posted by James ( 9:52 AM )
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The final phase

Once I had arrived back from my trek and fully recovered from my illness and bleeding feet the 3rd phase was soon underway. Mine was community - I got Los Lores, a very remote Nicaraguan village. It was probably the most nervous I have felt about all the phases, purely due to the fact that you live with a family for 3 whole weeks and one other person who hardly speak Spanish at all. The actual project was laying pipes, as they had no clean running water; the only thing they had was a river 15 mins walk away, that wasn’t clean and quite dangerous. We had a 2 day bus ride in an American school bus before we arrived at the village, only to be greeted by all the locals. We quickly got introduced to our families and were taken back to theirs, where they fed us and showed us where we were sleeping. I was paired with another lad called Alex, who thankfully knew as much Spanish as me! Within the space of that night, we had such a laugh with our family at learning the language and hearing all about their community that we both felt straight at home. Because we had arrived at the start of Easter, there were also many celebrations that were underway, which were they were keen to get us involved in - they took us to this beautiful part of the river where we swam, went to the church service and then that even had a fiesta where we danced until the early hours. It was an absolutely amazing start to our phase and it was soon to get better.

Posted by James ( 9:46 AM )
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Wednesday Mar 19, 2008

Phase 2 - The Dragon Trek

After the 1st phase had finished, they quickly arranged the 2nd - I was placed on the Dragon Trek, arguably the toughest trek based in Costa Rica. It consists of a 19 day hike going through 280km of mountains, climbing a total height of 14,000m with about 30 kilos in weight to carry. To be honest, to say it was daunting was an understatement! But we prepared the food drops and packed our bags till they were fit to burst and had an evening of entertainment; a bbq and a huge party, which was really enjoyable. It was also my birthday - something i thought i had managed to avoid - causing one of the most embarrassing moments of having to stand upon a chair, with a cake and a hat, and have 130 people sing to me. You can probably understand why I wanted the ground to just eat me up at that point!

At half 4 that morning the mini bus took us to our location, and left us stranded there with only a compass, a map and a radio for comms. Our route consisted of going in an arch across some of the largest mountains in Costa Rica, before arriving on a deserted, untouched beach stretching for miles. The first day was through extremely dense rainforest; the experience is surreal. It is fairly dark underneath the overlying canopes, but the heat is so intense, and the physical aspect in the humidity and heat meant it was by far the hardest thing I've done. This didn't put any of us off however; we made it to our destination, but with a realisation that the next 3 weeks were to be very similar. And so they were! There were times when every person in our group really struggled, including me, but it is definately a mental barrier that you have to push through to realise your potential. The reward for climbing 5,300m in the space of 3 days was the peak of this just spectacular mountain. The peak is symbolised by a plane wing in the ground; it was where a crash happened many years ago, and is in respect of the lives lost. Which gives you an idea of how high it was. You could see for miles around; the clouds were below us, the mountains could be seen touching the horizon and you could even see where the sea met the sky. No words can explain the feeling of euphoria you recieve from these achievements, and that's what alot of the trek was like.

As we neared the beach, illness started to go around, so we decided to have a rest day at a local town, find a commuinity centre and recouparate. The locals treated us to a football match bare footed - by this time our feet had toughened up so much that any toe punt could be made without pain! We headed off early the next day, and had to put 2 days together to make up for lost time. This meant doing a 35km trek one day, which last for 14 hours. We awoke and walked in the dark, only to be still walking at 8 in the evening. By this time I had also managed to come down with an illness, which caused me unable to keep down food and general fatigue. The medic suggested I take a taxi on one of the days to allow my body to rest; being the stubborn person I am, i decided to attempt it. It was definately the hardest day of the trek, but with such amazing support from the team and also the strong desire to accomplish the day, I made it. The arrival at the beach was definately worth the wait; by this time we were tired, hungry, dirty - this didn't stop us having huge grins on our faces as we ran and dived into the warm sea, having the suns rays glisten across the white sandy beach for just miles. We had two nights there in which we set up camp and had huge bonfires, with a bbq to celebrate our acheievements. It was an amazing end to an absolutely amazing phase. I'm soon to find out my next phase, which will be community based, and I can't wait!

Posted by James ( 5:42 PM )
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