The Rio Coco Adventure - Part 1-Jonathan

     The Rio Coco is a river that serves as a border between Honduras and Nicaragua and empties into the Caribbean Sea. The indigenous people who live there are called the Miskito and they speak their own dialect. Their dialect is not in any way associated with English or Spanish, so communication there is limited to those we can find who speak Spanish in addition to Miskito. The trip was beautiful, challenging and enlightening. It was, to say the least a grand adventure.

Day One (Saturday) and Two (Sunday): Travel Days
     After a four hour bus ride to the town of Wiwili (WEE-wuh-lee) from Jinotega, we found ourselves settling into our accommodations for the night. A quaint little hotel provided us with a double bed and TV. Additionally, a combo sink/shower/toilet area allowed for the ease of shaving, washing your hair and answering the call of nature without taking all those extra steps.
     Sunday morning we awoke early to drive a few blocks to board the dug-outs on which we would spend the next six hours making our way northeast to the community of San Andres. The cool, crisp air was multiplied by the humidity and wind produced by our 40 horse-power Yamaha in our 3 feet wide by 30 feet long boat. It was refreshing and welcome after the hot, humid night in the hotel.

Early morning river ride - Welcome to the Rio Coco

      The scenery included grand mountain vistas, homes cut from coconut trees and thatched with palm leaves, and people going about the business of the day such as washing clothes, panning for gold, waving at the passing convoy of Gringos or bathing and playing in the river. My excitement was similar to that of waiting in line for a roller coaster - not sure what to expect, only knowing that an adventure was ahead of me, that I was a bit pensive about it all, but that everything would be okay. 

Boat watching - Sunday pass time along the Rio Coco

When the bough breaks...

     Day Two of travel ended up with our troops for this medical brigade spending the balance of the day setting up the clinic for dental, general medical, pharmacy, eye glasses and Bible study. It was uneventful and ended with us all reporting to an odd structure not unlike many of the homes in the area. The 11 gringos on the trip shared a four room, no bath, no garage, house on stilts that was conveniently located in walking distance to not one, but two latrines and a three sided shack with a 55-gallon drum of river water for bathing.

     Once we all got our mattresses situated (1/2 inch of luxury foam) or hammocks up and mosquito nets hung, we retired for our first night on the river. Bedtime was closely timed to the end of the day's energy produced by the roof-top solar panels. They went night-night, we went night-night.

     Suddenly there was a crash. Startled, sleepy-eyed Americanos struggled for flashlights to see what ill-fated accident claimed it's first American casualty. That casualty was me. The fabric of my hammock, a piece of equipment rated to hold 400 pounds (which is almost double my current weight) failed, sending me hurling to the ground from a height of well over 2.5 feet. Sheila narrowly escaped with her life as she lay just feet away from ground zero. Surely the impact she would have absorbed would have been similar to a Russian center fielder trying to field Sputnik as it returned to earth in Siberia. I survived the incident with only a large red spot on my left buttock and a similarly red color on my facial cheeks.

Day 3 (Monday): The Medical Brigade begins

     Olive Branch Ministries spends a great deal of time in Nicaragua providing medical care to communities both on and off the Rio Coco. The group representing Olive Branch for this excursion included Malena, the fearless leader; Carl, an 83-year-old retired health-care worker with a knack for fitting glasses; Gene, who worked fitting glasses with Carl and Gene's son-in-law, Michael, who worked scrubbing dental equipment for Chuck, a dentist. Also, Barry the MD, Lana a nurse with river work experience, and Robyn, the pharmacist. Additional non-Nicaraguans included my wife, Sheila, who went to interpret, Wilson, who went to provide added muscle, and yours truly who went to take pictures and provide slapstick comedy by falling through hammocks, etc.

Dr. Chuck says, "Say Ahhhh." 

     We also took about a dozen Misión Para Cristo employees who went to cook, lift, direct, register, interpret, plus our own mission nurse, dentists and dental assistants. Add to that number about 15 more auxiliary personnel such as Miskito interpreters, boat operators and the like and you get a picture of how labor-intensive this program can become. Part of the beauty of this team work was to see a medical provider speak English to a Spanish/English translator, who would then speak to a Spanish/Miskito translator, who would then speak in Miskito to the patient. The process would then reverse with the information. It was a beautiful thing. One young man who volunteered to stay and help translate Miskito for us came by way of bringing his great-grandfather to us. It isn't everyday you get to meet a man who has celebrated 110 years. New Rule: Anyone over the age of 109 gets a free pass to the front of the line.

Meet 110 year-old Julian (middle of photo.)

      The biggest excitement of the day was watching Dr. Barry, with the assistance of Nurse Lana operate on a young man to remove a large cyst that had developed in his chest. I will spare you the gory photos. Isuhvey (Miskito for Goodbye") for now...

Goodnight          Adios          Isuhvey

Next Up...Day 4 (Tuesday): Taking the medicine to La Esperanza