The trash truck came up from Ceiba one morning in late February 2005 and hauled a bunch El Pital´s trash away! How did the mountain village of El Pital come to have trash collection service, and ten brightly painted industrial strength plastic trash cans lined up along the main drag for folks to use?

Un Mundo onsite facilitator Dan Keane first set up meetings between El Pital officials and the trash collection service. Although service was agreed to, Keane figured it would take the bureaucratic wheels a couple of weeks to spin, but things moved quite a bit quicker, perhaps due to the can-do spirit that abides during an election season. El Pital learned on Tuesday morning that the truck would be coming on Friday, instead of in March as originally reqested!

Over the next 48 hours Un Mundo staff and El Pital workers went through a whirlwind of preparation to get the barrels in place. On Tuesday evening Keane and Ramon Lobo, the colegio teacher Minor, hauled the barrels up from Ceiba in the Esperanza del Futuro (which, pobre bus, stalled on the side of the road no less than three times in Ceiba and required two new tires to get home.)

On Wednesday they sanded and primed the barrels for painting in the morning, and in the afternoon an assembled gang of El Pital men and boys punched rainwater holes in the bottom of the barrels with a little soldering wand and then, using an iron bar heated by an impromptu campfire, punched holes for rope handles and the chain and lock.

On Thursday the girls in the colegio art class chose a slogan and painted it on the barrels in bright letters ("Mantengamos Limpio EL PITAL"), and when the barrels were dry Ramon Andino, Oquely, and the Un Mundo volunteers carried them to their new locations.

In the words of facilitator Keane: "There was nothing left to do but wait and hope. I was prepared to believe the truck is coming only the minute I saw it top the hill and roll into town. But that's exactly what it did this morning, about 7:30 or so. I hopped up in the cab and rode the route with the driver and crew jefe, the friendly, capable and enthusiastic Jose Velasquez. He was happy to take the route all the way up at Alfonso's pulperia at the very far end of town where the road begins to climb towards the pass. Rolling down through town they emptied all ten trash cans and carried away the mountain of papeles de churros (those damn churros!) that the colegio kids had rounded up yesterday under Ramon Andino's direction. Jose honked his horn and in a cheery voice informed everybody that he'd be back next Friday, too, and that anybody could bring their bags down to the street. Some folks already had bags ready today on short notice. It was a beautiful, beautiful morning."