Anarriero,muleteer, or more informally amuleskinner[1] (Spanish:arriero;Portuguese:tropeiro;) is a person who transports goods usingpack animals, especiallymules.
In Latin America, muleskinners transportcoffee,maize (corn),cork,wheat, and myriad other items. They used to be common in thePaisa Region (Antioquia and theColombian Coffee-Growers Axis) ofColombia but were replaced in the 1950s by tractor trailers called locally "tractomulas" paying homage to the mules that used to do this hard job. InCalifornia, muleteers work out ofpack stations. In Europe, there are still muleteers in the south ofPortugal and the southwest ofSpain, in the cork producing area. Their role is now limited to transporting the cork with their mules, out of the Mediterranean oak forest to more accessible routes, where modern means of transport are available.
The English wordmuleteer comes from theFrenchmuletier, fromOld French, frommulet, diminutive ofmul,mule. The termmuleskinner means someone who can "skin", or outsmart, a mule.
TheSpanish wordarriero is derived from the verbarrear, which means to urgecattle or other stock to walk. The verb itself is derived fromarre, which is the call used to cry out to animals for this purpose. In English, anarriero is one type of muleteer, awrangler of pack animals.[citation needed]
TheCatalan wordtraginer comes from theLatin wordtragīnare, a variant oftragĕre which means "to transport".
Typical muleteer outfits vary from country to country:
The fictionalJuan Valdez, brand representative of theFederación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, is an archetypal muleteer carrying coffee sacks with his mule.
InCormac McCarthy's secondBorder Trilogy novel,The Crossing, Billy's wolf upsets the muleteers' burros, which wreaks substantial havoc before Billy moves on.[2]
"Mule Skinner Blues" is a country music song first recorded in 1930 byJimmy Rodgers, which has inspired many subsequent variations.
The 1964 Broadway musicalMan of La Mancha features a band of muleteers as one of the primaryantagonists.
