myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Latitudinarian Lobster) (10/29/85)
El Campo de Nicaragua
Fourth of an eight part series.
In order to put the countryside of northern Nicaragua in a proper
perspective, I need to refer back a bit to life in the capital,
Managua. It seems to be eternally hot there, especially at night, but
never overwhelmingly. Parts of the city are crowded, and one is
exposed to a fair bit of nasty exhaust fumes when travelling around by
vehicle or on foot, though the air on the whole is quite clean, off
the roads. The water supply for the city is good and pure, but there
is currently a shortage, which necessitates that the water is turned
off for two weekdays each week (the particular days depending on the
reparto of the city you are in). This was my first experience with
this kind of water situation, and it alone taught me a great deal
about the country (and about the many nations experiencing the same
problem).
We set out to the northeast of Managua on a bright and beautiful
Saturday morning. It took perhaps an hour on the Pan-American Highway
to reach the juncture of the large Managua plain and the mountains.
Here we stopped at San Jacinto, the site of the small battle which
forced William Walker from the country. William Walker was the
Tennessee born ``President'' of Nicaragua who led the first US inva-
sion of the country in his bid to set up a Central American slave
empire. We were able to briefly visit the battle museum, buy some
fruit and Coke for lunch, and chat with some friendly soldiers.
We then started our climb up to a new plateau through increas-
ingly rugged terrain being uplifted through volcanic action stimulated
by the collision of two large plates of the Earth's crust, which
causes incidental large earthquakes in Managua and Mexico City. This
plateau seemed to be fairly dry, like the large plain below, but
things began to change as we moved on towards Matagalpa, rising again.
Now the air was becoming noticeably cooler, the vegetation more
lush, and the mountains yet more rugged before the next valley. Our
first destination was really Matagalpa, but as we had a fair bit of
time on our hands, we pushed on up the highway to a lovely German
built restaurant in the heart of coffee country, where I was able to
pick my very first coffee beans.We then returned down the mountains to
Matagalpa, a beautiful city of 10,000 nestled between the mountains.
As we had arrived late, most of the shops were closed, but we managed
to enjoy ourselves wandering the streets, visiting the park, the
cathedral, and such tourist pursuits.
As darkness creeped down upon our surroundings, we moved on
toward the place we would be spending the night and much of the next
day, the Luis Aguilar School for Agricultural Mechanization, which is
one part of an agricultural cooperative by the same name (named for a
young man who died a few years ago in a contra raid). We were warmly
greeted by the teachers and students of the school, and by the small
cluster of soldiers assigned to guard the school and the cooperative
(which is relatively distant from the Honduran border). After taking
some time to settle in a bit, we moved on to partying with our hosts -
a few cases of beer, a few bottles of Flor de Can~a, music, dancing,
conversation - a good time was had by all, and I for one had abso-
lutely no trouble sleeping in the cooler air of the countryside.
The next day we were able to explore the agricultural school and
the cooperative. The school is set up very much like a technical col-
lege is here, with real work being done at the same time as the learn-
ing process - unfortunately, we weren't able to see people at work, it
being a weekend, but I was impressed with the quality of the equipment
and the seeming expertise of the instructors. After learning a bit
about the school, we moved on to the heart of the cooperative, a small
cluster of buildings, where we met with many of the campesinos and the
elected leaders of the cooperative. There are currently three basic
types of farms in Nicaragua: first are the state-owned farms, largely
the very large farms owned by the Somozas previously, which are
currently declining in size and importance in the country. Second are
the peasant-owned cooperatives, such as the one we were visiting.
Finally come the private farms, which make up the majority of farms,
land possessed, and agricultural production in the country. Here in
Madison we are fortunate to have Professor Joseph Thome in our Law
School, who is very knowledgeable on the Nicaraguan land reform,
changes in government policies since the revolution, etc. - you should
make every effort to see him if you hear he will be giving a talk.
On a short visit to some of the fields we were impressed by the
diversity of things being cultivated, which helps to make the coopera-
tive self-sufficient as a producer of food. While staples such as
corn are grown, we marched through small plots of tomatoes and squash
bordering a grove of plantain trees. A problem being faced this year,
though, is somewhat dryer weather than usual, with consequent water
shortage problems. I should also interject here a note about water in
the countryside - while, as stated above, the water in Managua is per-
fectly safe, when you travel outside the major cities you should take
your own water for drinking (and quaff a few sodas or beers now and
then). Being a bicycler, I reccommend taking a couple of biking water
bottles, which are cheap, efficient, and the right size for carting
around easily - they also make good presents for the people of a farm
for their use in the fields.
(Campan~ola makes it to Nicaragua in a small way.)
After a full day of such activities, we headed back down the
Pan-American highway for Managua, much closer together as a group, and
with a better understanding of Nicaragua outside of the capital.
Next: Two Nicaraguan Occasions.