Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...

Helen and I have just got back from visiting Echo 4 at their idyllic beach front campsite. We left on Sunday and flew to Mumbai and then jumped in a taxi. Seven hours later we arrived at the sea-side town of Velas, in Maharashtra state.

The group took a different route to us and had a long two and an half days of travelling to get to Velas. They got a bus for eight hours from Fieldbase, and then picked up a overnight train, before jumping onto another bus for the remainder of the journey. Train travel is India is like nothing you will have of experienced anywhere else. The train lines connect the whole of India and, according to the Lonely Planet, a staggering 18 million people travel by train everyday – so what better way for Echo 4 to see the real India!

The group spent their first couple of nights staying with local families in the village. They were cooked some delicious meals, which apparently were very different to the curries they had been eating further South. Everyone loved staying with the families and getting to know the village they would be staying in for a couple of weeks.

On Sunday they moved into their campsite, and what a campsite it is! Echo 4 had made their camp right on the beach front where they will be working. They had strung up their bashas from the trees at the side of the beach, and already started to settle into their new home. We arrived just as the sun set over the beach and, I have to say, it was truly breath taking.

Sun set

Echo 4's beach-side campsite 

As Helen and I were this Phase’s loop, Echo 4 were keen to impress and cooked us an amazing vegetable and rice stew for supper and…wait for it…banana and nutella pancakes! Yes, in the case of the loop competition, bribery will get you everywhere…and when nutella is involved it’s sure to be a winner!

After supper they gave us a run-down of what they’d been up to since they had got to Velas. The local villagers had visited their campsite and officially welcomed them to the village with flowers; they had met with the project partners and agreed the work for the phase. They’re going to be building a hatchery, so they can move the turtle eggs to a safe place to hatch, doing a litter pick to clean up the beach, repairing some steps to the beach to help access and, of course, doing their nightly patrol for turtles!

The night patrols are split into five shifts; 10pm to 11pm, 11pm to 12pm, 1am to 2am, 2am to 3am and 4am to 5am. The group will do each shift in pairs and patrol up and down the 2km of beach. If they spot a turtle laying its eggs, they will wait until the turtle has gone back into the sea and then, very carefully, move the eggs to the hatchery. This will keep the eggs safe from being washed away by high tides and also protect them from any poachers and dogs. Another very important part of the project is to raise awareness of turtle conservation within the village. By showing how turtle conservation is done, the aim is for the villagers to follow suit.

The next day we were up early to start work on the hatchery. Despite the intense sun everyone got down to business and worked hard to make a safe place for the turtles’ eggs. To make the hatchery, they had to clear a large, square of sand and take away the top layer of dirty sand to reveal the fresh sand that the turtles like to lay their eggs in. The hatchery should take them about four days and then it will be straight on to working on the steps for the rest of their phase.

First job, clear the vegetation on the top layer of the hatchery

 Digging out some tricky roots

 A work site with a view!

After a hard day’s work it was time for a treat and a dip in Echo 4’s beautiful swimming lake. It felt a bit like a hair commercial as we all washed our hair in the pool while trying to avoid the jumping fish! All in all, it was a lovely way to end a great day. As ever, Echo 4 came up trumps with supper, cooking us a Raleigh style spaghetti Bolognese, and then it was another early night for all ready for a hard day’s digging and, of course, the turtle night patrols!

The washing lake 

Helen and I left early the next day so waved a fond goodbye to Echo 4 and jumped in the car ready for our long journey back to Mumbai. We arrived in Mumbai late afternoon and were lucky enough to be able to have look around; we visited the famous Gateway of India and even managed to squeeze in some shopping! Another early flight back the following day and before we knew it we were back at Fieldbase.

The Gateway of India in Mumbai

Hannah, Lou and Maz left yesterday afternoon on the second part of the loop. They’ll be visiting Charlie 2 and Echo 3 and will be updating the blog with their news early next week. So far however, all the reports from the groups have been good and, as ever, everyone seems to be having a fantastic time – which is just what we like to hear at Fieldbase (and I’m sure what you all like to hear as well!).

And here are a couple of blog messages from Echo 4 for you:

From Albertine Potter Van Loon:

Hee Mams en paps,

Een brief is onderweg! Kyk uit naac de volgende blogberichten; houdt me op de hoogle wil verder (nog) niets verlerlappen vanwege de brief!

Laat Eric ook eens bloggen! Liefs!!

From Emma Christopher:

Hello Miss Michaela!

I was given your blog message today (the 5^th Nov) from the girls at Fieldbase who have come to visit the project site, thank you! It cheered me up and was really needed after a hard morning digging sand. I hope you are ok; I can’t wait to see you at Christmas. Lots of love, xxx

Tango 5

Guest blogger Lee here!

I have just got back from an amazing six days with tango five trekking in Kerala. This blog is an update for you all.

Day one:

We all got up bright and early and after eating some bread wrapped in omelette for breakfast and left field base on our four hour journey into Kerala. After a quick stop at one of the coffee shops along the way we arrived at our destination around 11:00 ready to begin trekking. We had a brief introduction from the Muddy Boots guys and then embarked on our first day of trekking. 

The trek was 6km through a tea plantation where we got to see some amazing views and eat our lunch undercover in a locals’ shed. We arrived at camp shortly after lunch and put up our tents, made our group shelter and then prepared dinner; tuna, pasta with sweet corn. Due to the rain and not being used to trekking we hit the sack quite early.

Day two: 

Today was our first proper morning of trek. We woke up early and set off on a 7km trek through some more tea plantations and arrived at our camp just in time for lunch. Our camp for the night was a watch tower used by the forestry agency, it had all the mod cons; western toilet, western shower... that was about it. After lunch we walked a further 2.2km to a heart shaped lake. After the walking was leech care time. I managed to pull 13 of them out of one sock! We stayed in a watch tower for the night and crammed 8 people into one room whilst the PM’s and Dan slept in tents up on the roof.

A double rainbow!

Day three:

We got a bit of a lie in this morning as there were only two tents to pack away; 6:30. After a good night’s sleep at the watch tower we set off on an 11.8km trek. The trek wasn’t too hard and we were rewarded with a chai stop at the end of the day. We had our first really good campsite as well, we got to set up our group shelter properly, wash in the river and pitch out tents with a bit of space! The weather turned in the evening and a couple of people were woken up by the thunder.

Day four:

Early start this morning! We had a 14km trek to get through! It was really good seeing the team pull together to help each other out on our first long day of trekking. Again, we were treated to some amazing views and waved on by a number of locals as we walked through their villages. Our campsite was in a coffee plantation where we pitched our tents on concrete rather than grass. There was an elephant nearby and a chance for chai. 

Day five:

We had a massive lie in this morning and were joined by Hannah for rafting. The group had to build their own rafts and then float down the river with the guides steering them. All in all a relaxing day! The weather held up so we all got to work on our tans. Probably the best thing about the day was lunch. It was from a restaurant! Everyone agreed it was much better than rice bags. The afternoon was pretty chilled and consisted of chai and sorting out the next five days food. 

Day six:

My last day with tango 5! Today was the groups first cycling day – they had 40km to cover during the day over mixed terrain. Everyone was kitted out with a good bike and helmet and we were followed by a tuk tuk and a jeep which held our water. The cycling was really good and it was another day where the group really mucked in to help each other out on the challenging bits. Unfortunately I had to leave at midday to be back at field base before dark but when I got back I heard that they had all completed the cycling!! 

That’s it from me. Keep checking the blog for updates for the other groups.

Lee

And they’re off!

Phase two has officially begun! Everyone’s packed, on the bus and off! We’ve just done a quick sweep around Fieldbase to make sure no-one got left behind, and I’m happy to say everyone is in their new groups and off to start their new adventure.

Back at Fieldbase we’re settling back into life around here. Maggie and Jon are learning the ropes and being shown how to man the operations room, where everything is and most importantly, how everyone likes their tea and coffee! Tim is teaching Jon how the logs team work and Maggie is getting her head around the Fieldbase medic role.

Time for a cuppa! 

It’s always pretty quiet after the craziness of change-over so we’re enjoying catching up on work and getting ourselves organised for the next phase. I might even treat the team to my culinary skills and attempt to whip up a peach crumble later...we’ll see!

During change-over one of the venturers (Megan Hounsome) gave me a poem that she had written with her group during the training weekend they all went to in the UK before coming out here. I thought it was rather lovely and worthy of a blog post...so here it is:

“To India we are going, where the curry will be flowing, so we thought we’d write a poem.

These are India’s highlights, the food, the people and sights.

We’ll do some Bollywood dancing, see cows and elephants prancing.

We’re all afraid of D and V and washing our hands will be the key.

To see a new culture is our mission, experience diversity and religion.

To sum it up it’s gonna be great.

Raleigh International – we can’t wait!”

We’re happy to say, that if phase one is anything to go by, the poem is certainly living up to expectations!

Here are a few messages from the venturers for friends and families back home. We handed out all the blog messages and post over change-over and everyone was really excited to get them...so keeping them coming!

From Matt Bell to Anthony

Mate,

Just got your message. 1^st November, so your flight is in a few hours. Good luck mater, feeling excited for you J Probs won’t get it for a few weeks but keep me up to date with how they go. Just remember the Europe combo 4 when the reg ain’t watching nut, nut double nut. Getting the sypmtons in mate, but cheers for you writing and I’ll see you at Christmas.

From Emma Christopher Echo 4

Hi Mum, Dad (and Freddie!)

Thank you for your message, it was nice to hear from you so soon! Glad to know you’re not celebrating in my absence. We were told our projects today and I am working on an environmental project working with turtles! I would tell you about it but the message would last forever, so keep an eye on the blog to see what we’re doing.

I hope everyone at home is good. Lots of love, xxx

From Dan Rose

Yo yo Mum, Dad and Robyn and whoever else reads this. I’m so excited as out of here tomorrow. I’m off on the Demon trek which apparently isn’t as treacherous as it sounds. I’m really happy to be doing a trek as I really want the change in experience that I’m going to get after working so heavily in the community on my last phase. It’s going to be awesome climbing some summits and ride a bike on some crazy Indian roads overlooking some beautiful sites. Apart from that everything else out here is wicked apart from my camera breaking. Anyway, I love you all and are missing you tonnes. Rob, stay strong buddy, I love you.xxx

Gemma Bennet – Tango 5

Hi guys,

I just got your letters and cards; it was so good to hear from you! Happy Birthday mum, this is the soonest I could get a message on. And also congrats to Dave! So, so proud of you for passing your first aid course! And yeah, you could have loved the thunderstorm! But now I’m going on trek, woop, so I’ll hopefully hear from you when I get back.

Love to all,

Gemma xxx

All change! All change!

Everyone’s back, in one piece and after three weeks of digging, cementing and trekking, they’re finally clean! Fieldbase has been a whirlwind of activity for the last couple of days, with all the groups arriving back early on Tuesday morning.

Echo 1 was first off the bus, followed by Tango 6, Charlie 1, Tango 5 and Charlie 2. As soon as the buses rolled into Fieldbase, Helen and Lee from logs jumped on them to give everyone a warm welcome and tell them the plan for the next couple of days.

Tango 6 arrive back at Fieldbase

Helen and Lee welcoming everyone back and giving them their instructions for the day 

Lots of excited reunions 

After some excited hellos, everyone got straight into cleaning and sorting their Raleigh kit. They then headed off into Mysore to relax for the afternoon. We have a sneaky suspicion that everyone’s idea of relaxing involved pizza, internet cafes and probably a lot of ice-cream (well that’s what I would do!)

Everyone had a lovely time in Mysore. As well as pizza, some of groups went to Mysore Palace, others explored the markets and the trekkers headed straight to the beauty salon for a well deserved foot massage and pedicure!

Lots of cleaning and sorting out kit 

After supper the venturers entertained us with a night of skits. Charlie 1 showed us what a typical day was like at their camp, while Charlie 2 gave us a ‘Big Brother’ style run-down of what life had been like for them. They also gave us a wonderful rendition of their digging song.

Echo 3 taught us all about long drop etiquette and treated us to a bespoke rendition of the ‘diarrhoea song.’ Tango 5 reminisced about the highs and lows on their trek, while Tango 6 sung a catchy little number that had helped them get up and down the rolling hills of Kerala. All the skits were very amusing and it was a tough decision for our three judges, Lee, Maz and Clare. The two Tango groups tied first place, with the winner being decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors. It was a tense finale, but after ‘best of three’, Tango 5 won fair and square and took their prize of a giant bar of chocolate away with glee.

Charlie 2 with a guest appearance from Tim

Some tough judges!

A tense finale!

Helen and Tim also revealed the winners of the loop competition and crowned Charlie 2 the loop champions! They too rushed away to enjoy their giant chocolate prize!

After the skits, the venturers enjoyed swapping stories over a few poppadoms and the PMs escaped into the office for a quiet night and to catch up on all of the gossip from the other projects.

Despite all the groups getting up at the crack of dawn to travel back to Fieldbase it certainly wasn’t an early night for our venturers, as they swapped stories and caught up with each other into the early hours of the morning. The hot topic on everyone’s lips was...where’s next!

They didn’t have long to wait to find out where their Raleigh Expedition would take them next as Helen told everyone their new groups and project allocations after breakfast on Wednesday.

 So... (Drum roll please)...introducing phase two!

Charlie 1; Charlie and Kim

Lucy C, Jenni, Victor, Jake, Lucy S, Robyn, Kate, Lizzie H and Anne.

Charlie 1 will be heading back to Mallagali to work on 15 new eco-sanitation units for the village. They’ll be living in the school and enjoying lots of delicious home-cooked curry and, of course, lots of cups of chai!

Charlie 2; Anthony and Andy

Aaron, Claire, Megan, Matt, Lisa, Maya, Steph and Harriet

The group will be going back to Mangode to get stuck into the last four biogas units. They’ll be camping in the garden of a local family and also taste the delights of traditional Indian food.

Echo 3; Kath, Rachel and Jonny

Lukas, Veerie, Lucy J, Lavinia, Leticia, Jamie, Suthakar and Hannah

Our other biogas group will working in Gandathur and returning to the beautiful reservoir side campsite. They’ve got four units to complete this phase and, like the previous group, we’re sure will get involved in other activities around the village.

And the brand, spanking new Echo 4...Sian, Ed and Hannah

Esmee, Albertine, Stewart, Sterre, Lizzie G, Will, Victoria, Emma and Shruti

Echo 4 is a new project that we’re running with a small NGO, called Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra (SNM), who work on sustainable environmental projects in South India. This project will see our venturers help to preserve the Olive Ridley turtle population in the costal village of Velas in Maharashtra state. At the moment there is a big problem in the area with turtle eggs being poached. Our group will be helping to make a pathway from the local village to the beach where the turtles live, so that tourists can visit the beach, and see where the turtles lay and hatch their eggs. They will also be on night-watch to see where the turtles lay their eggs so they can be taken to a safe place to hatch. By bringing tourists to the area the villagers will be able to benefit from the money they bring in and not need to illegally sell the eggs.

The groups have to travel for two and a half days to get to their project and will be going on an overnight sleeper train which will be very exciting. As it’s an environmental phase, the group will be living in bashas, making shelters and cooking for themselves – all on the beach. It sounds amazing, Helen and I are going to visit on Sunday and we can’t wait!

There’s just one trek this time, as we’ve got another environmental project, so the lucky Tango 5 venturers going on the Demon Mountain trek are...Ali and Claire, Amelia, Zoe, Gemma, Alexander, Anna, Valerie, Dan, Shafeeque and Julie .

Our new Fieldbase medic is Maggie and Jon is also joining the Fieldbase massive and helping Lee out in logs as our lovely Tim will be heading home next week L.

After finding out their new allocations all new groups were straight into getting to know each other and getting their kit ready for their next phase of adventures. They’ve got an early start tomorrow to head off to their projects groups so today everyone’s packing, cleaning, sorting and getting very, very excited! 

New faces and ending phases...

Hannah and I have just got back from visiting Charlie 2 and Echo 3 and finding out what they’ve been up to. It was great to see the groups and see how they’re all doing.

We’ve also got a few new faces around Fieldbase, of both the human and cow variety!

Emma and Lucy arrived on Sunday and they’ll be joining the groups for Phase 2 and 3. After a good night’s sleep they’ve settled into Fieldbase and are being brought up to speed on all the training they’ll need on expedition.

We’ve also been joined by another PM, Ali Parry, who will be going on both treks in Phase 2 and 3. Ali is also part of the Borneo massive and has led three treks over there and can’t wait to get out into the Indian jungle!

Oh, and Majie has had her baby calf! Who is incredibly cute and we’re sure will be a big hit with the venturers when they return.

Welcome to Ali, Emma and Lucy 

Our new arrival! 

Apart from welcoming our new faces, we’re all running around Fieldbase and getting it ready for change-over. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone and finding out how the last few days of their projects have been.

So back to Charlie 2 and Echo 3.

Hannah and I drove to Tamil Nadu to visit Charlie 2 on their community phase. They’ve been working in Mangode for the past couple of weeks, which is a beautiful village on the borders of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It’s nestled on the side of a mountain, surrounded by coconut and banana trees, and lots of tea plantations. The families who live in the village are all tribal, with a lot of them relocating from Sri Lanka. The village is very poor, with the majority of the families living in mud huts. What they lack in wealth, however, they certainly make up with in smiles and it was lovely to see how the community had welcomed Charlie 2 into their village.

Despite being slowed down by lots of rain earlier on in their phase, Charlie 2 had done really well with their project and we arrived just in time to help them finish their last biogas hole. So, with work gloves on and mampti' (Indian spades) primed, we got stuck in and helped to finish their last ‘hell hole’! Luckily, we arrived a couple of days after Diwali, so were treated to lots of leftover sweets, as well as chai, which definitely helped fuel our digging!

Charlie 2 with the family they're staying with 

Fun in the hole! Getting ready for filming their music video! 

A cow shed with a view

One of the perks of the community phase is that you get cooked for by the local community, so after a morning of chai and sweets it was back to the campsite for a delicious home-cooked curry. Apparently,   spice levels in the food have been increasing during Charlie 2’s stay in Mangode, but so was everyone’s tolerance and I was amazed how easily everyone dealt with the spice (I was quietly crying over a rather large chilli in the corner!) After lunch, PMs Sian and Kath, took us on a tour of the village and then it was back in the hole to finish it off. Sadly we had to leave early doors the next day to head off to Echo 3, so we waved goodbye and jumped back in the Bravo.

We had a long and beautiful journey to Echo 3. We were lucky enough to see a family of wild elephants having a wash and playing in the river which was amazing and certainly made the hours of sitting in the Bravo worth it!

We arrived at Echo 3 around 5ish, so just had enough time before dark to see the beautiful scenery surrounding their campsite. As I’m sure you’re all aware from previous blogs, Echo 3’s campsite is right on the edge of a stunning reservoir. The environment was very different from Charlie 2’s and, although there were still a lot of banana and coconut trees around, everything was a lot flatter, with soft, rolling hills surrounding us. Being right next to such a large expanse of water also added an element of serenity to the area and I found it a very relaxing and calming place to be.

Echo 3 showing off their digging muscles!

Chilling at camp

We got to camp just as Echo 3 was chilling out and it was lovely to see them as a group enjoying their down time. We bumped into Charlie and Jake just as they were finishing painting the local school and they gave us a quick tour of the village - Gandathur.

Some of the lovely paintings done by Echo 3 at their local school 

Back at the campsite, the cooks were preparing a rather unique, but nontheless delicious supper of boiled eggs and potatoes. As the rain set in, we all bundled off to bed, ready for a 6pm start in the morning. Waking up to see sunrise over the reservoir was amazing, and the group headed down to the bank for a couple of early morning energisers. At 7.30am it was off to work to finish their fourth (and final) biogas hole.

An early morning energiser

The last hole! 

Gemma and Shafeeque kindly gave us a tour of the other three biogas holes the group had been working on and introduced us to the families who would be using them when they’re finished. Sadly, we had to leave Echo 3 early so we waved them goodbye and headed back to Fieldbase.

Back at Fieldbase the preparations for everyone coming back are in full swing. The venturers and PMs find out their new groups and projects on Wednesday and, as ever, I’ll be updating the blog with where everyone’s going for their next adventure! 

When the going gets tough, the loop gets going!

Helen and I set off for our first visit of four groups; Tango 5, Charlie 2, Echo 3 and Charlie 1; and weren’t disappointed.  All groups are over half way through their first phase and were eager to read all your blog comments and post.

Tango 5

First up were the trekkers in Wayanad who had just completed an arduous trek in Meenmutti. When we met them (the campsite was at the top of their last hill of the day) understandably some were not in the greatest of spirits! But once tents had been erected and the egg-fried noodles (ps amazing!) cooked then everyone perked up.

Tango 5 arrive at camp and make sure their tents go up quickly

Harriet and Will show the loop how to make a cordon-bleu meal on a Trangia (no mean feat!)

On our third attempt the reluctant fire was lit and we chatted away, mesmerised by the flames. Harriet led an excellent review of the day from the beginning to the end in minute-by-minute detail. Hannah (PM) remembered serving porridge while hopping around in the rain, Matt & Will remembered an ever-increasing distance when they asked the guide "how much further", Andy had seen some elephants and Anne had some leech bites as proof of the struggle.

We bid the trekkers farewell the next morning. They have continued on well and we can report that today (Day 15) they are completing one of the last hard days in their programme but one which, if the weather holds, should offer superb views of Karnataka and Kerala!

Tango 5, Tim and Helen ready to face a day of trekking

Charlie 2

We rocked up to our hosts a little bit earlier than expected, so cleaning efforts on site were halted mid flow. But being unfashionably early meant we were just in time for a gorgeous lunch, cooked by the beneficiaries of one of the biogas units the group was building. The warm welcome, washing of our mess tins and offers of drinks made us feel like proper guests too.

The loop arrive at Charlie 2

Straight after lunch we rolled up our sleeves, donned our gloves and work boots and joined the work groups on the digging of Biogas dome hole #2 (affectionately named "The Hell Hole"). Now I can partly understand the name, as the graft was tough going. However we quite enjoyed ourselves: from time-to-time our work was broken by the beneficiary of hole #2 who plied us with quenching chai; Helen also led singing efforts in the hole and we started reliving our teenage years to such great tunes as "Grease Lightning" and Steps!

Sian and Kath (Charlie 2's PMs) and Helen and Tim (the Loop) get to work at Charlie 2

Stewart, Zoe and Shruti take a welcome break from digging (due to the rain) and a great excuse for a chai at a local house

After just a day-and-a-half of the work, it really made us appreciate how much of Charlie 2's sweat and effort had gone in already.  Luckily for the loop they had enough energy to entertain us with a Big Brother episode Charlie 2 style.

Evening entertainment by Charlie 2

Since we have left Charlie 2 have taken a pause in their work for day trips to the nearby village in Ayyankoli and have just returned from the hill station at Ooty, where they celebrated Diwali  and the birthdays of Roz and Lizzie.

Echo 3

After two nights we travelled onwards to Echo 3, picking up some fresh fruit and veg on the way that made us especially popular when we arrived! Our Bravo arrived just as Jake, Shafeeque, Kate and Lizzy were returning with full jerrycans from the local water pump. We followed them down the path to a beautiful vista of their basha beds with a lake backdrop.

Echo 3's absolutely stunning campsite, with (luckily) rain-resistant yellow group shelter

Kate cooked up some yummy baked beans and then the sky thundered. This was our bonding session with Echo 3 as when the lightning flashed and thunder grew closer we huddled up closer and closer inside the group shelter. The rain stopped and gave us all a window to retreat to our bashas for bed.

The next day we had a tour by Gemma of all the biogas sites that Echo 3 are working on and were greeted by silent smiles of the villagers. On our trip from house-to-house Shafeeque pointed out the different plants and their ayurvedic properties to us.

Echo 3 building a bio-gas unit at one of their four sites

Now in India you have to learn to go with the rough and the smooth of delays on construction sites. There’s no point getting frustrated when something scuppers your plans. It turned out that not as many people were needed that day on site and so Echo 3 found other positive things to do instead. The group decided to finish off some unfinished tasks at camp, some completed a raft Gemma was working on and others got ready for the evening’s festivities.

While the boys played cricket with the locals in the school, the girls chaperoned Kate who was chosen to be dressed from head-to-foot in Indian dress. A local family styled her hair, loaned a saree and showed her how to wear it. It drew attention from inquisitive locals who thought Kate may be on her way to her wedding!

Kate all dressed up!

The locals helped us to kick off Divali celebrations with some home-cooked lentil curry that even my spice-averse mum would love! Nearly 50 of us: Echo 3, locals and their children crowded underneath the group shelter and when the evening rain came the cooks shielded the open fire with a tarpaulin. The meal was cooked and we got out our mess tins, were served and started eating – however we noticed the locals were still waiting. We found out that the banana leaves they normally eat off hadn’t been brought so we offered clean mess tins to them so they could also get the delicious tucker. Shafeeque became self-appointed feeder and made sure that everyone was well fed with firsts, seconds and thirds!

Charlie being given a chai making lesson

Charlie 1

Last but not least was the eco-sanitation project in Malligali – Charlie 1. We turned up at the school where they were staying and only saw half the group, where was everyone else? Jules and Anna promptly showed us on a tour that took in the many toilet sites they were working on around the town, all within 5 minutes walk.

The loop being shown an almost completed eco-sanitation unit where Jamie and Suthakar  took a break for a photo

The toilets have entered the plastering stage when the cement is made up, transported to the toilet and then thrown on and smoothed out. The pace of work has slowed to everyone’s relief: they pulled out the stops in the early days of foundation digging and transporting the materials. Now everybody has more time to interact with the locals and get all the riches a community project in India has to offer.

Just before 7 we got our mess tins and headed down to the cook’s house for a tasty curry with poppadums. We were so surprised with how friendly the locals were and enjoyed a chai afterwards in a neighbour’s house. He introduced us to his family and a beautiful saree that interested the female PMs no end! As a result the female members of Charlie 1 bought some sarees yesterday and are having them fitted today.

The PMs returned to the school for a surprise production of “Charlie 1” by Charlie 1 Productions. Lavinia got Ed’s accent to a tea and highlighted his tendency to comment on the good quality of the porridge EVERY morning! Anna wore a wig to match Johnnie’s dreds. We all whooped and shouted “Encore!”. We’re hoping they’ll be able to incorporate it into their skit when they return at changeover.

Charlie 1 by Charlie 1 Productions

What about Tango 6?

If you were wondering how Tango 6 are getting on, they're doing fine. As Tango 6 is a few days away we were unable to make a second visit to them this phase. You can find out what Hannah and Sarahgot up to with them at the start of their trek. Despite day in and day out of heavy rain they are battling on through. Day Leader on Thursday, Maya, was upbeat and found creative ways to dry clothes in their evening shelter.

We're looking forward to seeing the groups back on Tuesday 1st when one group will be crowned Loop Champions of Phase One. And that makes this blog title make sense too, as Hannah, our Videographer, will start work on the editing of the groups' music video to Billy Ocean's "When the going gets tough". Watch this space for the final cut!

Tim and Helen.