Rio Coco Revisited - Part 1

Part 1 of 3

I just returned from my third venture to the Rio Coco in the remote northern border of Nicaragua. Here are the facts:

·         Goal: Three days, six communities

·         Purpose: Take Christmas gifts and candy to about 800 children and distribute eye glasses to about 90 people those whose eyes warranted them based on a previous trip.

·         Theme: Rain

It was the best of times. It was the wetest of times…

Friday, Day One:  Carmen

     It rained while we loaded the truck, en route, while unloaded the truck, while we ate and while we tried to sleep. The first day was a travel day and we left Jinotega for the four hour drive to Carmen where we would load the boats and depart early the next morning.  We ate dinner and went to bed early so we could get on the water for the initial five-hour leg of the journey.

     Sleep did not come easily as about 20 minutes into the almost quiet I once again parted my hammock like Moses did the Red Sea and crashed to the floor like Pharaoh did with the waves. I lay on the dirt floor for ten or fifteen minutes before realizing that I could not sleep there. My audience was much smaller for this rendition of “Holland v. Hammock II” leaving me and only one other to relish the (literal) gravity of the situation.

     After setting up hammock #2 and nearing the dozing stage I realized that the two humans in the room were not the only creatures sleeping there. I did not know until the next morning that hens were roosting on the luggage. Sleeplessness continued as the rooster who slept under the room crowed continually until the 4:30 alarm went off. All night my only thought was, “Why couldn’t the chicken dinner have been rooster?”

Saturday, Day Two: Tazalayni and Shiminka

     It rained all day in amounts that ranged from slight drizzle to heavy downpours.

Boating in the rain in the Rio Coco

     Tazalayni is a tiny community. In fact, we only found four families living there. We distributed the goodies we hauled in our dug-outs, broke a piñata, and were told of a plot of land that had been donated as a site for a new church building. I, along with my friend and translator, Marwell, began the trek to see and photograph the site with a local community leader as our guide. The walk took us up a small hill, down a steep grade and across a creek. It was fun because we slipped and laughed all the way to the creek. I was excited as the $3.50 mud boots I’d purchased for the trip had already earned their keep. It is at this point that I threw my camera bag to Marwell and asked him to take pictures as I set about other business at hand.

Anxiously awaiting gifts in Tazalayni

     As a by-product of the rain (have I mentioned that it rained?) the muddy creek bank held captive my right boot, leaving me with a mud-soaked sock and foot and the curiosity as to what bovine additives that mud might contain. With nothing on which to balance placing my foot in the mud was the only way to garner enough strength to get the well-grounded boot out of its temporary home. I finally emancipated it in a yank-and-toss motion, throwing it and watching it float away from me downstream. It hung up in a bush and I one-foot-hopped to it, dumped the water from it, and squished my foot back inside.

     I climbed the hill, returned to the community and waited for Marwell. We said our, “Isahveys,” (goodbye) and all slid down the mud to our boats and headed to Shiminka.

     Shiminka was almost less eventful. It sits on the edge of the Rio Coco about an hour from Tazalayni and is where we bedded down (or in the case with hammocks, up) for our first night on the river. The party for the kids went very well and the community was grateful. The kids wanted to play with “the gringo” and those of you who know me know that I am always up for some fun with the kids.

     As we sat on the porch a group of about 8 boys, ages 6-11, would walk by and I would growl at them. They would try to get close enough without my biting them. I never really was going to bite any of them and finally one got close enough for me to squeeze his knee in what turned out to be a massive game of “How a Horse Eats An Apple” (Como un caballo comer una manzana?) They laughed, I laughed, parents laughed – a good time was had by all. Loco Gringo! Loco Gringo!

     I bid good night to my new friends and headed to gather my items for a bath in the river, something that moved up on the list from “pretty good idea” to “imperative” once I slipped on the hill and did the eight foot mud slide on my backside. It was raining – again. The rain started coming down harder and the thought of making a trip down the mud-covered bank and back, safe, clean and ready for bed was growing more unlikely. But wait a minute! Doesn’t the meteorologist in the US sometimes call rain a “shower?” Problem solved. I stepped behind the building where my hammock hung, took off my shirt, dropped my pants, and got all lathered up. All clean! The rain water from the clouds has got to be cleaner that the river water, right?

     I started the rinse process and like the miracle that Noah experienced--the rain stopped. Soapy, shampoo-y, and half naked I looked up at the clearing sky and thought, “God has a sense of humor that only God could have.” I imagine He chuckled at the sight of me, but He sent a down pour to rinse me off. I dried off, half dressed, returned to give my feet an extra dose of Huggies Wet Ones wipe-down and prepared for bed.

      Nicaragua, and the Rio Coco specifically, is a place ripe with mosquito-transmitted Dengue Fever. It is important to use a mosquito net and repellant spray (or both) to protect yourself from something very un-fun. As I started to lay down I realized I had not sprayed. With the moisture in the air humidity is incredible. It’s like being in a place that is the offspring of August in Houston bred with August in New Orleans. It is miserably hot. Here is a quick method for cooling off. Dowse yourself with the Outdoorsman Level of mosquito repellant. The 50% DEET will burn away the top layer of flesh –the hot, sweaty layer- and instantly cool you down like shaving with a rubbing alcohol. It really works!