A Blue Creek adventure

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How we came to visit to Blue Creek

John and I were invited to go on a Pass it On “visit” to Blue Creek. Pass it On is a charity that is run on behalf of the cruisers here in Rio Dulce. It aims to try to raise funds in order to purchase items that will help the locals.

A description of the charity from Facebook: “To pass on some of our privileged lifestyle to improve the lives of others. We are starting by putting together partially functioning ships batteries, solar panels and inverters to provide light and where possible a phone in villages with no electricity at all. This will cost us nothing and seriously improve the lives of others if only by giving a lit space for children’s homework and the ability to be able to call for emergency medical help. Also we will pass on clothes, bed linen and household items.”

The charity is run by a fellow cruiser Julia and it was to Julia we had volunteered our services some months earlier.

Julia met with the group of us that were to go to Blue Creek and laid out the plan for the visit. She did emphasis that this particular visit had in the past had some issues, plus it was a darn hard hike, to expect mud, water, and challenging circumstances.

Our group consisted of Dave and Ana – fellow cruisers; Dimitri and Jeremiah, Ellenie, Erick our driver and his son. We were to deliver school supplies: pencils, books, etc, tooth brushes, a medical kit and eye glasses.

The plan that Julia laid out was for us to trek there together. Dave who is a dentist was to teach the children about teeth brushing, Ellenie to dispense the school supplies to the teacher, for John and or Dimitri to check the solar panel and battery that was there to supply the village with some light. And for the rest of us to check out the village, see what the needs were, how they were faring and if we could see how well the school and children were doing.

So we all met at Mar Marina dock for a 6:30am start. Our first stop was the fuel dock where we filled up with fuel. Then we popped over to the public dock where we picked up a few villagers, I guessed they were the porters for all the gear.

We zoomed down the river towards El Golfete and then swept over to the northern side to a river bank where we entered a river mouth the Rio Chocon Machacas.

Rio Chocon Machacas

The river journey took 1 & 1/2 hours, most of it full out, speeding up river. The scenery was absolutely beautiful.

There were flocks and flocks of birds, soaring and calling from the skies and in the trees.

Humming birds could be seen buzzing about, the greens of the foliage with the bright colour of flowers all reflected in the waters of the river were stunning.

Past an occasional farm, cows on the river bank grazing and gazing out at us, the few local homes with their rustic docks and kayucos tied up riverside. I just loved the early morning river journey!

The last few miles we went slowly up a tributary, passing sunken trees and other obstacles until we were signaled to stop.

There we were met by what I assumed was the landowner of a farm and the military standing in the back ground. It was a bit intimidating seeing the militia there, especially with the “siege/seize” ongoing. However, we just unloaded and before I knew it we were underway towards the village of Blue Creek.

The trek to Blue Creek

I do not think anything could have prepared John and I for the hike. We had been hiking the pipeline track every other morning and so felt fairly good about the distance, but the circumstances were very different.

There was mud, deep deep mud from the red clay which is slippery and it sticks to your foot wear. It makes for very challenging walking, especially for cautious old me. Off we trekked, the pathway was for the majority of the time muddy and slippery especially when it was steep downhill.

We were under the cover of tall trees, very much in to typical riverside foliage we had seen traveling up river.

The few male villagers that were with us carried the sacks they filled with the supplies we had brought plus the supplies they had with them. Huge sacks of gear on straps which wound around their foreheads, goodness knows how they do it. They would stop regularly to sit and rest and drink some water.

After about 45 minutes when we were on a path that was on a narrow ridge above the river, upon hearing a yell I glanced up to see John tumbling down through the rocks and roots to land on his head on a large root at the bottom. OMG! What if he was seriously hurt! Being stuck behind in the mud I just couldn’t get to him, the local Mayans with us dropped their packs and slid down to him. Then Dave managed to get down too. They got him up, Dave being a dentist/doctor examined him. He checked him over and then got out his 1st aid kit. Dave cleaned up the gash in John’s forehead and tried to stop the bleeding. Dave was then able to apply some external stitches – sterile strips which held the gash shut. John was determined to go on, and we sort of had to as 2 of our group had disappeared ahead up the trail.

So off we went, me fretting about John and even more worried about the terrain. After the first hour we did start to ascend slopes, but the mud continued, and one had to be extra careful on the slopes as they were quite steep at times. We also had to wade through half a dozen rivers, the water varied in depth, and then clamber up the steep banks on the other side.

I started feeling dreadful, most of my 2 bottles of water was gone and I had sweated and sweated my clothes were just soaking, plus being covered in mud, I had a dull headache, felt dizzy and I sort of felt like just giving up, which is something I never feel.

Anyway, Dave and Ana offered me some Pringles and a few cookies, this little snack did wonders for me, I even felt like talking.

Finally after 3 hours we arrived, (even the entrance to the village was through mud – pigs were wallowing in it).

The villagers were all outside what was the school building, women to one side, men on the other and children lining up for toothbrushes. A few men remained on the hillside opposite just watching what was going on, in fact they stayed there for our entire visit.

Dave being a dentist did his toothbrush demo, showing the children in front of him how to brush and the toothbrushes were given out.

I sat next to Ana while she demonstrated threading a needle to test the women’s eyes for eye glasses. There was a slight problem as most of the women were more interested in the needles.

Meanwhile the men started digging into the eye glass boxes, seemingly looking for a pair they liked, I felt claustrophobic as we were completely engulfed by villagers.

Dimitri was trying to explain the medical kit and sort out the school supplies with the help of the village men.

So I went and sat by John who was recuperating out under a tree by the goal posts. A few of the children came with me and were enchanted by seeing how my camera worked. They held their new toothbrushes and were obviously very proud of their new item.

There under the shade of some trees were a few of the men, they were just observing what was going on and chatting amongst themselves. A few boys started kicking a football around and the children with the toothbrushes wandered back to the women or off to sit at the side of the school.

We were desperately thirsty so we approached the school, made our way through the men and into the single school room. It was in quite a state, and seemed obvious that it was not being used as a room for teaching, however Dimitri was taping a world map to a board.

We found that a few containers of drink had been delivered, one was a corn based drink and the other a fruitas/fruit flavored drink. John and I didn’t care about the source of the water in the drink – river water – no problem – deal with the consequences later – we just drank cup after cup!

Then it seemed it was time to eat…. We sat in front of the school and were given a delicious meal of stewed palm-heart.

The ladies of the village wandered off and the men including those from the hillside, gathered near the goal posts and seemed to be having a meeting.

It had been decided that in order for us to make it back to the lake and marina before dark we needed to make the walk in as close to 2 hours as possible, as we then still had a one and a half hour journey down river. There was no way I could cut an hour off my time, John thought he could, so I was asked to ride a pack horse with the gear back.

I have no problem riding horses so was quite happy with the suggestion. However it took a while to secure the horse as the men were just very involved with the meeting under the tree. Finally one of the men that had led us to the village came over and I followed him up the hill to the homes above the school building.

The homes were very tidy wooden thatched structures with women and children gazing out at me, the stranger.

I think they found the whole production of saddling the lovely gray horse with the pack saddle, then hoisting me into the “saddle” with ropes for my feet very amusing. I know the men that tied the packs to the saddle behind my bum were highly amused, giggling away….

And then we were off walking down the steep hill, passed the “school” to the river, across and up the other side. We stopped at a home for the fellow leading my horse to pick up some plantains from another fellow. His wife burst out laughing when she saw me atop the horse with the packs – I completely understood her amusement! I too was given plantains for the journey, off we went again.

The chap leading my horse was a tiny man, he scurried up hill, my horse trotting behind.

He chose easier crossings for the horse by walking down river and through the river. He urged the horse on around obstacles, rocks and huge roots. We went straight through all the deep mud, the horse sinking way down deep, it’s hooves making a slurping sound in the mud.

My guide would stop every so often to empty his boots and then carry on. I was concerned that the horse would stumble and down we both would go flying down the ledges, but then reassured myself that the animal was a pro at that trail and the simple fact that it was more concerned with grabbing mouthfuls of grass whenever possible showed it was relaxed.

My main challenge was ducking to avoid the branches that hung across the trail. Only once did I miss a branch and paid for it with an abrasion across the face, luckily it was just superficial.

Three times my guide stopped, stood in the shade took off his shirt, then wrung it out, squeezing all the sweat from it, yes sweat just dripped out his shirt. We both laughed at this and he managed to communicate how he needed a sombrero like mine. The 4th time we stopped he immersed himself in the river to cool off. I sat on the horse while it grabbed whatever grass it could.

We reached to starting point and then came the challenge of getting me off the horse….well he put the horse alongside a tree and I grabbed a branch, swung my leg over the saddle back and pack and fell into the poor man. It was quite amusing and we both had a good laugh.

Then it was under the barbed wire, past the military of which some were bathing in the river and then down the path to our launcha and driver. The driver was stressed as the military had been questioning him, checking his ID and such, plus we had been gone for so long and there were just hours till dark time, not only that but he and his son had not had any food all day and he didn’t think there was enough fuel to get back. Oh my, there was nothing we could do but wait and hope the others arrived soon. Meanwhile, I made my way to the river bank where a ramp was and started to wash off all the mud – yes, I had mud all up my legs, on my arms everywhere despite being on the horse.

Finally about 15/20 minutes later the others appeared, they were shattered from their walk. John was too exhausted to even attempt to wash off any mud. He had lost his hiking shoes in the mud. They had been sucked right off. So he was caked in mud! Ellenie had walked bare foot too, she had misplaced her boots somehow. Before they had left the village John had secured some small bottles of coke and cans of soda, they had been drinking them for the energy. They found their way by following the horses hoof steps which had become a bit difficult as the afternoon light faded. However, the good news – they made it!

We all tumbled into the launcha, everyone agreed it was a hike akin to an army training course, a very grueling, difficult, hike with many challenges. Also we all had realized at some point during the day that we were in the middle of nowhere with the only communication with the outside world 1 1/2 hours away down river, we had been in a very vulnerable position where we could have easily ………

Anyway downriver we went, next problem, getting fuel, we hoped to find some. The driver stopped where we had seen a barge and asked, no fuel, off we went hoping to at least get into the lake. We made the lake, the sun was sinking, but we had communication!

So Jeremiah call Julia and explained our need. She apparently set out with Jeremiah’s Mom. They met us just 10 minutes after we ran out of fuel and began drifting.

We were back around 7:00pm and so throughly exhausted! Off to the shower where we each spent ages trying to remove the mud, off our skin, from under nails, in hair, just all over.

John has a nice scar on his forehead, some of his nails on his feet turned black and will probably come off. My facial abrasion was gone in a week, no big deal. We’ve both agreed no more hikes like that, it’s just plain not worth it and actually dangerous. However we don’t regret doing it, it was beautiful, an education and for a worthy cause….