“YOU WANT TO VISIT ONE OF THE COMMUNITIES?  WHY SURE….!”

Working with local partners in providing development assistance to rural populations in Central America made the objectives much easier to achieve.  The partner’s knowledge of and established involvement with the target communities was an important element in getting things done much more efficiently.  There were some disadvantages, though.  Whenever I would visit the projects we were implementing with them, the on-the-ground staff would invariably chose the most isolated and hardest-to-get-to locations; I believe mainly to show me just how hard they were working “for the cause.”

In 2010, I traveled from Nicaragua to Honduras for a four-day field trip to communities in the mountainous region of Catacamas, in the south-central part of country.  The project involved providing community members with access to development funds to carry out small economic and community improvement activities.  It was a revolving fund; with those who received financing putting it back in after a time to benefit others in the community.  Projects ranged from small-scale fish farming and chicken-raising, to a joint effort to build latrines for an entire community.

On this occasion, we drove about four hours from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa to spend the evening at a small community center with a dormitory.  Early the following morning, the local technical workers saddled up two mules and a horse, helping me to mount one of the mules.  We headed out into the mountains to travel to one of the more isolated communities participating in the project.  What they had neglected to mention prior to the visit was that the community in question was approximately three hours into the mountains.  That’s three hours INTO the community and THREE hours back (actually it turned out to be FOUR hours back).  I learned ten important things on that trip:

1)       Don’t listen to the local guide when he turns to encouragingly say “It’s just around the corner now!”  Do you know how long a corner is in the mountains?

2)      When it starts to pour down rain, don’t bother putting on the poncho.  The rain will eventually seep through to your clothes and the poncho will only serve to raise your body temperature by about 10 degrees in the already stifling heat.

3)      Correctly adjust the stirrups on the saddle BEFORE you begin the journey. (Although being a long legged gringo on a small mule means that there is probably no right adjustment.)

4)      Let the mule pick its own way on the narrow trail through the mountains.  Do not try to stop it from pausing to munch on some tender shoots along the way, even though it adds precious minutes to the time you have to be mounted on the damn animal – it won’t listen to you.  Be aware that the mule will also find every low hanging branch that can “Thwop” you in the head, so try to stay alert.  The exception to the “let the mule pick its own way” rule is when it sets its legs stiffly forward and starts sliding out of control down a rain-soaked muddy incline; be ready to leap off.

5)      Putting your hand between your butt and the saddle does NOT alleviate the pain.  Your hand just goes numb.

6)      Resist the urge to leap off the mule and strangle the guide when he smilingly turns back to you about three-quarters of the way there and says “This is great, isn't it?”

7)      Do not expect that the return trip will be any shorter, or that the rain will let up in the afternoon.  It won’t and it won’t.

8)      Do not think that getting off the mule and walking alongside will bring any comfort to aching limbs.  You just have to get back on eventually and getting your foot into the stirrup and your other leg up over the back of mule to the other side is like climbing a twenty foot pine tree.

9)      After five or so hours of being on the mule, deep meditation, prayer or other types of transcendental pleading may temporarily take your mind away from the fact that you are not yet back, but does not stop the pain, the tears or the fact that no one, at any point in time, had included this kind of journey in your job description.

And finally:

10)   Do NOT bother filling your canteen with water.  Fill it with whisky.