Tuesday, May 18, 2021
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Sincere condolences from me and my family to all the Mutch family.
I got to know Ernest in the fall of 1993 when I read that he would be taking an old school bus to Guatemala; I had just got my bus driving license so I offered to help drive. Ernest soon gave me all the details of the plan to deliver the bus to the CEIPA project for street children in Xela, Guatemala, and he got me involved right away with helping him and Gabino Penalver to fix up the bus.
We left PEI Jan. 6, 1994 along with Sarah Arnold, and Ricky and Gerrit Loo (3 others joined us later on). The wind chill that day was -45' but the bus ran fine and away we went.
Ernest had hurt his back just before we left but he didn't let that slow us down and he never complained. He took one of the seats out of the back of the bus and set it up across the aisle so he could lie down and keep us all entertained from there with his stories, teasing and banter.
We had a wonderful trip; the weather eventually warmed up around Virginia! And we eventually got to hot weather for swimming at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico!
The bus broke down a couple of times before we got to Xela, but guardian angels were watching over us, and Ernest quickly made the mechanical repairs to get us on the road again.
Ernest and others had to do some negotiations to get us across the border into Mexico, and through the military roadblocks in Chiapas. This was right at the time of the Zapatista uprising against the North American Free Trade Agreement in the state of Chiapas in Mexico, so there were some tense situations, but Ernest's good humour and patience always kept trouble from turning into a disaster!
It was such a privilege for me to join Ernest on that mission and journey that was an inspiring experience of a lifetime, one that I'll never forget.
I expect Ernest has joined the guardian angels and will continue to watch over and help us and many others.
