The Monster Hash

Last week, we went for a mud bath. What we thought we were going to do was a hash, but it ended up being a mud bath. It’s good for the skin, right?

Hash House Harriers (H3) – “drinkers with a running problem” – has over 2000 chapters (or “kennels”) world-wide. The local chapter here on Grenada (www.grenadahash.com)  meets weekly at different places around the island for a run (or shorter path for walkers), and we’d heard about it from a lot of different people as a way to see the island up close and personal.

One of the few pictures I took before my hands got too muddy to use my phone.

The beginning was deceptively calm…

We didn’t think about the fact that it had rained pretty hard overnight, and it was raining even as we showed up to the start point. We’d heard enough to know that we didn’t want to admit to being newbies (lots of teasing and getting sprayed by beer afterward), and that we didn’t want to wear new shoes (you have to drink a beer out of said new shoe…).

But we didn’t think about the rain. And the mud. Friends who had done this before said that this hash was a lot harder than others, and the girls were amazing troopers for the 3.5 mile hike up and down jungle ‘trails’, through streams, over and under branches, and in my case, lots and lots (and lots) of falls onto my backside down mudslides.

I don’t think I would have made it without “Girl Guide” – a regular hasher whose Hash Name is Girl Guide, because he frequently rescues people like me who bit off more than they expected (and didn’t have the traction they thought they did on their sneakers!). My hands were so caked in mud that I couldn’t take many pictures during the hash – thanks to our friend and fellow cruiser Laura Gray for sharing her pictures with us. Even though I fell a lot more than they did, the girls were covered with their fair share of mud…

When we finished with the hash, we decided that we had done the “Monster Hash” and have had the song “Monster Mash” going through our head since then. Inspired by that, the girls made this video:

(Music adapted from “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers)

And along with the physical challenges, we had to learn a whole new language:

Hash Glossary:

• Are You ? – Question yelled by Hashers to determine if you are on the right trail. You respond with “Checking”, “On-On”, “On-Back”, “Looking” or “Lost”.
• Checking – A Hasher who has reached a check point and is looking for the correct trail.
• On On – Shouted to encourage other hashers by indicating that you are on a true trail. The usual response to “Are You?”.
• On Back – A response to “Are You” shouted to tell other hashers that you are on a false trail and to turn around and head back to the check point.
• Check Point – A circle indicating more than one possible trail. Only one will be correct.
• False Trail – A mark usually an X , that tells the pack the trail is false and to back check on the trail they’ve been running. The correct trail is marked a little way ahead by an O, and small pieces of confetti-sized paper randomly mark the correct trail as you go.
• Hare: the hasher who lays the trail. With the Grenada House Hash Harriers, this person changes weekly.

Although frankly, we didn’t have to actually use these terms much – we were the last ones along the trail, and two regular hashers were with us the whole way, helping us along. Thank you!!!