i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

Telpaneca today is a depressed municipal center with not even a mercado
(market) to speak of. Once a Spanish colonial outpost, Telpaneca was repeatedly sacked
by pirates traveling upstream on the Coco in the seventeenth century. In October 1998,
the Río Coco rose more than 30 ft above its banks during Hurricane Mitch, destroying
much of the town. A newly built ford/bridge crosses the Río Coco at Telpaneca, one of
the most frightening bridges I have ever experienced. Debris from uncontrolled
deforestation and burning of fields along the riverbanks have led to dangerous mudslides
and flashfloods.
The puente-vado, or ford/bridge, is a row of 6-ft-diameter sewage pipes covered
by rocks, rebar, and concrete with roadway on top. Curb blocks line the edge to keep
debris away during high waters. Sudden rains wash debris from the hillsides into the
river. Rushing waters drain the soil, and torrents agitate the earthen river bottom,
damming up the ford/bridge pipes with sticks, logs, and mud. The water rises upstream
and eventually rushes over the top of the bridge and the roadway. Often the water level is
too high for vehicles to pass. Locals take advantage of the situation by piloting rafts
across the river for 20 córdobas (US$1.25) per trip, or several men will gather to push
cars across the ford/bridge amidst the rushing water, often high enough to enter the
vehicle, for 50 córdobas (US$3.00).
East of the river crossing, the road climbs again. Telpaneca’s high school is
located at an intersection that leads to the towns of Mozonte and Ciudad Antigua in the
north and San Juan to the east. El Chorro de la Virgin marks the boundary between
Telpaneca and San Juan del Río Coco. El Chorro is a small cascade or waterfall on the
roadside that has been adorned and named after the Virgin Mary. This point is also an
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