My setup is:
linux + Ruby 1.9 + rails 2.3.8 + mongodb + mongo_mapper
I followed http://railscasts.com/episodes/194-mongodb-and-mongomapper, that everything is OK
You may correct this error writing this
export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
to your ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile or similar. It works like a charm.
~/.profile
~/.bash_profile