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PTA Student Project Award 2005
Amy Gribble

The past year of my life has undoubtedly, to date, been the best. Admittedly, the first eight months of it were only marginally exciting - dedicated to working in a supermarket, restaurant and cleaning houses. However, it was these months that made the next 4 and a half so sensational.

The 1st of May saw me leave on a Raleigh International expedition to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, armed with the world’s largest medical kit, honey (to flavour the cardboard porridge), a roll of gaffer tape and two pairs of pants (excessive luxuries). Living for three months in diverse groups of people including Costa Ricans, youths “at risk”, and international volunteers, Raleigh put us through our paces quite spectacularly.
My first phase was an invaluable community water project in the second poorest region of Nicaragua. Here we swung our pick axes in the remote village of La Vanailla, digging trenches and wells into bare rock. At night we returned to the families we were living with throughout the mountains. The hospitality of the villagers, sleeping with the chickens, and eating rice and beans for all three meals is something I will never forget. Other memories include washing in the rain, playing football in a swamp and attending a vigil to St. Fatima. The time I spent in La Vanailla was a truly rewarding and eye opening experience.

Before I introduce the next project, please imagine yourself continuously damp with rotting feet… “Dragon Trek”, a 250 km trek over the mountains of Costa Rica, ascending one and a half Mount Everest whilst carrying a ridiculously heavy rucksack. I find it very hard to put my experiences of Raleigh into words, but the trek is by far the hardest to describe. It is definitely the most physically and mentally challenging thing I and the rest of my team had ever done. Highlights include stretchering our medic eight kms out of dense rainforest after I had to try and put a drip in her arm (day one), taking five hours to cover 100 metres on the map due to a cliff of vertical jungle we flung ourselves down, and then wading neck high through white water. We lived off the aforementioned porridge, a fifth of a tin of tuna at lunch time and the joys of half a spoon of “Beanfeast” at night. We kissed the 3 metres of flat land we encountered, trekked with a mad Belgian man only ever seen wearing his boxers pulled up to his neck, witnessed incredible views (the landscape, not just the mad Belgian), and had a dazzling, often hilarious journey that ended up on an environmentally protected beach where we all collapsed with memories (and scars) to last forever.
The final phase was an environmental project set in the palm tree-lined bay of Curu. Here my group lived on the beach in bashas - camp beds constructed out of wood and tarp - with the sun rising between our toes and enough Howler monkeys to get fed decently (only joking, still porridge). Raleigh had been in the bay for three years building artificial reef and identifying fish in order to push for a marine park to protect the diverse marine life - including endangered white-tip reef sharks - from net fishing. This involved continuously diving to 30 metres and learning all the species names under the watchful eye of Dona Julietta - queen of the bay - and her shot gun (for the fishermen, not us). This really was a once in a lifetime experience.

Overall Raleigh International is the best thing I have ever committed myself to. Although a tough and sweaty, smelly existence (honestly the best bit), you have experiences that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, and without doubt it fills you with confidence and opens your eyes to other ways of life. A huge thank you must go to the PTA for giving me the project bursary to help with the fundraising.

After the expedition I decided to travel with friends I had made on Raleigh. The time we spent in Peru was astounding. This included taking in the sites of Macchu Picchu and Lake Titicaca, eating guinea pig, sand boarding down the world’s highest sand dune, and finishing with a grand finale on a local boat sleeping under the stars for three days over the River Amazon to Brazil. Here we got ourselves to Rio de Janeiro, where we proceeded to tan ourselves on Copocabana beach, support Botafogo at a football match (because no-one else would), stand on Corcovado for sunset, and party in the favelas. The next stop was Guatemala, which involved an interesting cross-dressing party on the stunning Lake Atitlan, tubing through white water (never again), exploring the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal and riding like cowboys. I then left our party to travel back to Costa Rica and took part in a turtle conservation programme on the Caribbean coast. Working alongside scientists, I excavated old nests and patrolled the beach by night. My 19th birthday saw me hold aside the back fins of a turtle to count its eggs as it laid them, and watch the moon rise out of the sea like a huge orange flame - definitely a birthday to remember.

The last tropical destination of home is very significant, not only do you get to shower, but you start to reflect on what you have done and achieved, and will be prepared for whatever the next part of your life holds. So for those of you reading who are considering a gap year, don’t consider, go for it and make it the year of a lifetime.