1 Letters from Matagalpa Harry Shier New edition, November 2009 Contents Preface 4 April 2001 Letter from Honduras 5 First – and second – impressions of Honduras 5 Ten things that make Honduras different from Britain and Ireland 5 My life in Honduras 5 St Patrick’s Day in Honduras 6 May 2001 Goodbye to Honduras – Or, Nicaragua here I come 7 Ten more things that make Honduras different from Britain and Ireland: 7 My Top Ten Happy Memories 7 July 2001 Letter from Matagalpa 9 Welcome to Matagalpa 9 Meanwhile, out in the countryside 9 Working at CESESMA 9 At home in Matagalpa 10 The struggle with Spanish 10 Harry versus the volcano 10 Where the streets have no name 10 Top Ten weird things about Managua 10 August 2001 Another letter from Matagalpa 12 My new house – at last! 12 The coffee crisis 12 Harry’s Caribbean Adventure 12 Meanwhile at CESESMA 14 And finally... The CESESMA Spanish Phrase-Book 14 October 2001 Letter from Matagalpa no. 3 16 Sorry you missed my birthday party! 16 My Top Ten Dos and Don’ts for hosting a Nicaraguan fiesta 16 Life in Chateau Harry 16 Meanwhile, out in the forest 16 Top Ten no. 2 17 The ten most important changes that young people want to see in their communities 17 Abandoned by APSO 17 November 2001 Letter from Matagalpa no. 4 18 The Elections 18 My new job 18 New tenant at Chateau Harry 19 Halloween at Chateau Harry and Felicity 19 “Harry’s School of English” 19 The challenge of non-sexist Spanish 19 APSO – An apology 20 And Finally, This Month’s Top Ten 20 Top Ten Fun Things To Do in Matagalpa on a Saturday Night 20 2 January 2002 Letter from Matagalpa no. 5 22 Christmas in Nicaragua Part One: Harry and Felicity’s Christmas Party 22 Christmas in Nicaragua Part Two: Christmas in Paradise 22 “A day in the life” 23 Work Update 24 Top Ten Things I’ve Learnt to Live Without 24 March 2002 Letter from Matagalpa no. 6 26 The Coffee Harvest 26 St Patrick’s Day 26 Dance Class 27 Second-hand Harry 27 Incidentes Críticos (Critical Incidents) 27 May 2002 Irish Night in Matagalpa 29 August 2002 Letter from Matagalpa no. 7 30 All change at Chateau Harry 30 Escape from exploitation 30 Foundation for Musical Piracy 31 Festival of Sexual and Reproductive Health 31 My European Top Ten 31 “I thought I’d never get out of the fields” 33 October 2002 Letter from Matagalpa no. 8 35 Return of the Plantones 35 Coffee under the sun 35 Life at CESESMA 35 The Agricultural Fair 36 This Month’s Top Ten: Matagalpa City of Changes 36 November 2002 Shock news from Matagalpa 38 13 November: Urgent e-mail from Managua 38 25 November: Update from Harry 38 May 2003 Letter from Matagalpa no. 9: Home at last! 39 Aug 2003 Letter from Matagalpa no. 10 41 My new house 41 Becoming a Nicaraguan resident 41 News from CESESMA 41 Visit to El Salvador 42 The Hunger March 42 Nicaragua, 51st State of the Union 42 Return to Matagalpa: Ten things that are different the second time around... 42 December 2003 Letter from Matagalpa no. 11 45 My House 45 Harry’s New School of English 45 Nicaragua hits the headlines 45 And Ireland hits the headlines in Nicaragua 46 Fireworks 46 Is Harry mad? 46 My Christmas Top Ten: Ten Nicaraguan Paradoxes 46 And finally ... 47 Feb 2004 Housewarming 48 March 2004 Letter from Matagalpa no. 12 49 Revolution in the air 49 So, would you go and live there? 49 The strange case of Ernie Lynch (a.k.a. Che Guevara) 50 The Cuban People’s Top Ten Musical Compositions of the Twentieth Century 50 3 May 2004 Letter from Matagalpa no. 13 51 My House 51 Traveller’s Tales: To Río San Juan in a truckload of gravel 51 Politics 52 The Plantones: Fourth time around 52 Work 53 The Jeep 53 This Month’s Top Ten 53 The Top Ten Things It Pays To Avoid When Driving In Nicaragua 53 Surprise Visit 54 October 2004 Letter from Matagalpa no. 14: Reflections on a trip to South Africa 55 November 2004: Wedding Invitation 55 December 2004: Website launch 56 January 2005 Letter from Matagalpa no. 15 57 Honeymoon on the Coconut River 57 My Top Ten Travel Tips for a trip down the Coconut River: 58 CESESMA 58 January 2007 Letter from Matagalpa no. 16 59 María of the Angels 59 Another Day in the Life 60 A new government, a new dawn? 61 Ten notable occurrences since I last wrote one of these letters two years ago 62 Ten-day itinerary for your first visit to Nicaragua 65 Appendices 66 I Empowering young workers in the coffee industry, the example of CESESMA 66 II From their hands to tours, an experience with the child coffee pickers of Nicaragua. 67 III A Volunteer’s Story 68 IV A parenthesis: Convalescence in England 70 V The story of a little girl 71 VI Briefing Pack for visitors to Nicaragua 73 General information 73 Health 75 Check list of things to pack 77 VII Chronology of the history of Nicaragua 78 Part One: From pre-history to the revolution 78 Part Two: From the Revolution to the present day 78 VIII Further reading 80 4 Preface When I moved to Nicaragua in 2001, although I set out with only a two- year assignment, I saw it as a complete and permanent break with my former life in England. Whist I was happy to say goodbye to my worldly possessions (to such an extreme that the BBC sent a news-crew to interview me on the subject), I did not want to let go of my friends and family. The internet was by then well established as a means of international networking, and I discovered that both Honduras, my first stop on the journey, and later Nicaragua had functioning internet cafés in the main towns and cities. But relying on internet cafés with their, in those days, slow, unreliable connections, I couldn’t write to everyone I wanted to keep in touch with. So I adopted the timeworn practice of composing “open letters” or circulars. As time went by, this became an established routine, and I sent out an open letter every two or three months. The first two letters were emailed from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, where I spent March and April of 2001 attending full-time Spanish school. This was my introduction to Latin America. These letters also feature my first “Top Ten” lists, which became an established part of all the subsequent letters. From May 2001 I have lived in Matagalpa. Nicaragua. I continued to write regularly until January 2005. I married María of the Angels in December 2004, and the penultimate letter describes our honeymoon on the Coconut River. I stopped writing regular open letters then, but two years later, in January 2007, I wrote one last letter to give the story a more satisfactory ending. It was my brother Donald’s idea to compile the letters in book form. Although we never found a publisher and eventually dropped the idea of a printed book, his efforts inspired me to complete the compilation that you are now reading. Thanks Donald. And if reading these letters inspires you to come and visit Nicaragua, you’ll find my visitor’s briefing pack in Appendix VI. It even has a list of what to pack. Harry Shier Matagalpa, November 2009 5 April 2001 Letter from Honduras Dear friends, 5. Guns everywhere: The whole place is full of men with guns. There are armed “vigilantes”, or watchmen, on I’ve arrived safely in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. duty outside every major office, shop, bank, even I’ve been here exactly a month and so far all is going fine. I restaurants, and residential blocks. You also see men don’t have access to my own computer but there are plenty walking around with pistols stuck in the waistband of of Internet cafés here, so it is easy enough (though their trousers like in the movies, and goodness knows expensive) to keep in touch by email. I am trying to reply how many more are carrying guns out of sight. Many personally to everyone who writes to me, but I’m sorry I places have signs outside saying “no arms allowed, haven’t been able to send personal letters to everyone. I please leave your guns at the door”. And of course there hope you will accept this open letter as a compromise for are armed police everywhere too. the time being. 6. Local buses: Most of the local buses are old US school First – and second – impressions of Honduras buses (the yellow ones like you see in cartoons) that Tegucigalpa is a city of about 800,000 people. It’s in the have failed their MOT or become unroadworthy beyond mountainous central region ringed by hills, and has a repair. They ship them here, where they have another pleasant warm climate. The sun shines every day and, twenty years or so of active life, both on the urban although it is the dry season, we have had two showers routes and even long-distance. They are noisy and emit since I’ve been here. The city is full of contrasts. There are poisonous gases, and are nearly always packed like some wealthy suburbs that could almost be in the USA – sardine-cans, but there are loads of them and the even shopping malls.