NICARAGUA 1970 TO 1972.
Before I begin there is a story to be told about this posting. During most of my time overseas my General Manager was Frank Morris. We got on very well together and he told me he had put me down on a list for a posting to Nicaragua. I was very happy and looking forward to it and later took the posting However years later when I was in Head Office I asked him how had I become top of the list. He replied. There never was one.
A brief history of this country. Following the American occupation in 1912 came the so called Banana Wars between Spain and the USA who wanted to preserve the commercial interest in the production of fruits, tobacco, sugar and other products. It was during this period the Somoza family came to power for many years. Their government was strongly supported with military aid from the USA and it was during this period I was in Nicaragua. My assignment was to La Luz a very small gold mining town in the middle of the Jungle. The only way in from the Capital Managua was by air on a Curtis Aircraft operated by Larnica Airlines or on a donkey. This was without doubt the worst climate for all my family being tropical with very high humidity and rain around 4pm everyday. Once again the saying wherever Mike Dinnage is posted there are problems. There were. In the north of Managua freedom fighters called Felimo were attempting to overthrow the Government. There were no problems in Tete but I did have to fly up to Managua to the bank and to British Embassy in Managua to keep them up to date because it was part of a British Aid project. My involvement was for the planning, installation and commissioning of a Data Transmission System in La Luz and 2 other towns Rosita a Copper mining town and Bonanza with open pit copper mining. To assist me I had an Engineer and an Aerial rigger.
Previously they had used over head telephone poles in a muddy densely populated jungle which were always falling causing loss of service. On top of this the roads or rather tracks between the towns had to be continuously bulldozed to keep them open. My main project was to replace all the poles and telephone lines with radio transmitters and receivers in all 3 towns. In La Luz they had a manually operated Telephone Exchange with 6 local girl operators. This was to be upgraded to an automatic system which sadly would leave them without jobs. The roads stayed the same during my time there. To install the radio equipment in all 3 towns required masts and an Aerial rigger. The most important factor was to ensure that the aerials in one location say La Luz were exactly in line with Rosita. In normal conditions you could usually see the other place but not in a dense jungle. I came up with a solution by using a search light at night in one place which you see from the other ensuring you had the exact direction. The Mining was carried out by a Canadian Company and there were 8 couples plus a Manager Mr Plecash.
Apart from one young couple all the rest were in their late seventies which showed the climate in no way affected them in fact they appeared to thrive on it. There was also a young Spanish Doctor and his wife who left soon after we arrived leaving us without any medical care. If there were problems we had to fly to Managua. When I arrived I had a fantastic reception, everybody on the compound was there because they had been wrongly told that my wife and 3 children Marcus,Micaela and Leo would be with me and were looking forward to having 3 children on the Compound. However after 2 weeks I flew up to Managua to meet them at the airport. We stayed overnight in the Grand Hotel and it lived up to its name. We visited Lake Managua with was full of fresh water sharks. Sadly just after we left in 1972 a very big earthquake ripped through Managua and flattened most of the city. 10,000 people died and the hotel we stayed at was completely flattened.
On route we had to fly London to Miami and then to Managua. In Miami the customs were very impolite and strict, you had to open up everything. One of the children’s Teddy Bears was cut open with a knife. One had to assume they were looking for drug. On arrival the first thing the residents asked my wife was could she make bread .Luckily she could. We did have a Commissary(shop) but only with basic foods. If you required something they did not sell you had to place an order and it was sent in by air from Managua. They did have on occasions wild Boer which was very tasty. All the bars, the one shop and cinema had hitching rails for horses as in the cowboy films. Most of the local men carried revolvers and shotguns and if there was a Western films with Clint Eastwood they often became over excited as could be seen by the many bullet holes in the screen. We had a town Sheriff and his Deputy and just like the cowboys they wore belted side guns and rifles. The Sheriff told us that Nicaragua had one of the highest death rates through shooting in the world. When Marcus was approaching the age of 5 the Company flew in a girl teacher Miriam from Canada just for him. He didn’t have far to go to the school it was opposite our house. She was a lovely girl and had a romantic affair with my Aerial Rigger which continued after we left but I don’t know the end story..
Our house as with all the others was build of solid wood and on stilts to keep out the rain. All of the house furnishes including beds were made locally there being an endless supply of trees.There was no water supply, the tanks on the roof were top up daily because it rained every day at 4pm.Nicaragua had the most different species and sizes of snakes in the world including the massive Anaconda which would cover both sides of the road. I often came across these when driving up country from La Luz to Rosita and Bonanza . Most of the snakes were deadly including the small beautiful coloured Coral and Ser de Lace of the Mamba family. They were everywhere and the swimming pool had to be cleared out every morning. When I ran over a snake on the road I had to stop. If it was small you would check the tyre tracks were clear and if larger you would inspect the engine compartment. When entering a house you always looked above the door and also when walking under low tree branches. In the morning you would look inside your shoes because this was a favorite hiding places. Our children had to wear Wellington boots at all times when outside the house.Nowadays one tends to forget that in La Luz and other postings you could not phone home and all correspondence had to be by letters which could take days.
When an aircraft landed in La Luz there was no Control Tower or runway it just arrived on a road. When it took off it would taxi back on same road passed a Mill to get the extra distance. After take off you could see wreckage in the trees of those aircraft that didn’t make it but by the time I was there they had changed to a Curtis aircraft which was noted for its short take off and landing. On many days the aircraft did not operate due to poor visibility.
The compound was situated in an area which contained a beautiful 20 hole golf course with orange and grapefruit trees all around. It was surrounded by a fence but on the other side it was dense forest jungle and any ball hit outside was lost forever consequently I was always buying new ones. You also had to be very careful, there were snakes everywhere and often you would have to delay your putting to wait for a snake to pass by the hole. Due to the rain it was ideal for frogs who grew to a large size and there were everywhere. If you were not watchful when you hit a long ball they would take it down their holes. I lost many balls because ot this. It was said they thought they were eggs. I played golf most days. Unfortunately I am ambidextrous and ended up with a mixture of left and right golf clubs. I don’t know why but after playing every day for a year I was just as bad as I was when I first started. I could however hit a ball quite a distance backwards. This is unusual because I played Eton Fives at school and played a fair game of squash and tennis which was a good asset because the majority of countries I went to had courts with league matches. When I first arrived I would look around and find one which I thought would suit me and then play regular league matches. This provided a very good opportunity to meet new friends and their families. I finished playing team Squash at 59 and gave my rackets to my daughter Micaela. Our house was beautifully furnished with mahogany which was readily available and made locally. For obvious reason we had no water piped to the house. Nature provided it all including our big garden were I grew oranges ,lemon ,bananas, pine apples. We would lose the leafs of many of our trees due to Leaf Cutting Ants. It was a wonderful sight one will never forget the leafs bobbing up and down in a perfect continuous line as the ants took them underground.
Danie didn’t want but it was the companies policy to have a maid and she was given one named Conchita. She was wonderful, Danie my wife never told or asked her to do anything. She just got on with it. Our house was immaculate. We also took over 2 local dogs and named them Jango and Highboy. Our children adored them although they belonged at the time to the doctor they spent most of the time with us. When he left we looked after them. In the so called town you could hire local horses which were rather small but very friendly. Micaela adored horses and when she was just 3 we brought one into the compound. She was put on its back without a saddle and we walked her around. The two seemed to fit together and she soon got the idea of using the reins, the rest is history. Later on she rode other horses her favourite being RAS an Arab Gelding.
In 1971 I was flying from Miami to Managua on flight BAA 111 via San Salvador when 4 Nicaraguan youths commandeered the flight shortly after take off. They wanted to fly to Cuba to attend a University after hearing Fidel Castro had abolished tuition fees there so the plane had to divert to San Jose for extra fuel. When it landed they let all the passengers off but kept on board some Nicaraguan Ministers. When I was inside the airport I heard 2 loud bangs. After about 3 hours we were asked if we wanted to continue our journey. Most of us did. I remember on the flight back a few of us played Pontoon at the rear of the plane Later I found out that 2 of the highjackers had been killed and one of the Ministers. The 2 loud bangs I heard were the Security forces blowing up the 2 front wheels of the plane making sure it could not take off.
In August the manager and his wife drove us down to Limbaica where he kept his 24ft launch. We then went on a 6 hour river journey to port Isabel on the Atlantic coast coming across many large snakes Near the end of our trip we were very lucky to see a group of large Dugongs (sea cows) such beautiful creatures. After living in a compound with only a swimming pool with snakes in, it was wonderful to spend the next 3 days just relaxing on the sandy beaches. Marcus ,Micaela and Leo had the time of their lives and we all enjoyed the sea even though we couldn’t go out far because of the sharks.
Later on I was to do this journey again. On 18th September there was a hurricane warning for Puerto Isabel. The inhabitants were evacuated up the river Pinzapolka to Limbaica. No planes were flying at that time and I was asked to go down to assist and install radio communications equipment . I had to wait 2 days until the river was navigable and even then it took a long time due the many tree branches and other debris. However by the time I got there the hurricane was not as bad as expected and the people started returning to the port. After 4 days all was back to normal and I returned up river to La Luz.
On the 14th September celebrations were held all over Nicaragua to commemorate 150 years of independence. In Bonanza a small town near to us they put on a wonderful display. I didn’t realize there were so many children. They were all dressed up in lovely clothes made solely by their parents With a band playing they marched down the main well worn grass street. It was a ceremony one will never forget especially as the town was in the middle of the jungle and must have taken them so much time to organize.
