29 days later.

The Venturers arrived a few days ago. When 120 kids show up on a bus to your little bubble, it's a bit overwhelming, but by the end of the day, I was kind of excited.

I had a couple of funny chats with them:

"How did you find the fundraising?"
"Oh, I didn't do any fundraising because I didn't want people to pay for my holiday."
"I look forward to catching up with you in three months."

The excitement got me away from my desk for a bit. I helped with the shop, and some young fella came up:

"I need cigarettes."
"OK, we have Marlboro or Derby."
*look at me as if I'm mental* "I smoke Marlboro Lights."
*look at him as if he's a fucking idiot* "Take them or leave them."

I was told I'd be going on the Corcovado trek for four days at the start of phase with Charlotte and Sylvie and their Alpha One group, followed directly by two days at the San Lucas environmental project. Very, very exciting. The consequence of spending so much time out of the office was that I had to get enough blogs written to be posted while I was away. No problem - it's all done and signed off and ready to go.

We had some lols at Rich's expense...

That's Rich's bed. That's his mattress on top of the cupboard.

Allan struck a very philosophical pose the morning after the Venturers arrived...

"My name is Allan, and I'm about to become a meme of inspirational quotes from the gents' toilet in Fieldbase."

Not very much happened after that - I ploughed on with my blogs, and helped out other teams with their stuff. Just, you know, work really.

This morning I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I came down to Fieldbase just before 5am and wrote a bit of a song. I tried to demo it, but people started arriving. Hopefully I'll get to it again at some stage. It's practically impossible to get alone time here. 5am or earlier is the best. This is what my songwriting session looked like.

All the clichés: guitar, plectrum, pen, paper, coffee mugs, earphones, tablet with a DAW open...

Later, I picked up my lunch for the trekking.

Even the picture on the front of refried beans can't make it look appetising. It looks like what somebody lands in their toilet bowl the night after several pints of Guinness.

Today I also learned how the comments bit of the corporate blog works. I basically copy and paste from emails into a Word document and print them out. I then give the to whoever they're for. It's a nice feeling bringing people messages of love from their family and friends a bazillion miles away.

It's the last night before phase starts, so it was decided to put on a disco for the Venturers. Introducing, Club Raleigh!

Where the fuck is Ibiza now? Hah!

So I'm writing this now. It's the day before phase starts. Everything has been leading to this, but it's just another horizon to be brought to us.

It's 29 days since I first arrived in Costa Rica. In that time I've eaten a tongue sandwich, gone whitewater rafting, tried salsa dancing, and got fed Haribo whilst holding a razor in one hand and a shaving mirror in the other.

I've met great people, who in the space of a month have become drinking partners and dancing partners, sharing cigarette breaks and swims under waterfalls, and putting our heads on each other's shoulders to laugh and to cry.

I'm already such a long way from the last cigarette I had outside my back door, when it finally sunk in that I was doing this, and had a sudden sense of "Oh my god, what the actual fuck am I doing!?", and even further away from the depressing existence that drove me to seek adventure in the first place.

Thank fuck for that.

I'm definitely going to be copying and pasting some of that for a blog at the end of expedition.

I'll be without internets whilst I'm out hanging on projects. You'll see an update when you see an update.

Now... bring me that horizon.

Ar aghaidh.

Pura Vida!