In the Guardian the other day there was a report by Rory Carroll interviewing six people who went to live in Nicaragua at the time when the Sandinistas took power in 1979. The portraits of the six people give a flavour of how Nicaragua and our perspective has changed over the years. It's a report that gives a glimpse of what it is to live out ideals on a very human level.
"Since 1993 [Louise] Calder has had a new career: key-making. A friend who was leaving Bluefields sold her the machine - which until last year was the only one on Nicaragua's entire Atlantic coast - for $500. "It's very easy to do - I could show you in 10 minutes," she says. "And because I've been the only one doing it, I've become famous. At some point everyone needs a key cut."
From a shed in her garden - a riot of hibiscus, coconut, spinach, oregano and banana - she makes 30 keys daily, charging 80p for a house key, but double if it is for a car on the grounds that the owner is likely to be better off. "I couldn't afford to live back in the UK, but that's OK. I'm happy here, it's a very nice town."
From a shed in her garden - a riot of hibiscus, coconut, spinach, oregano and banana - she makes 30 keys daily, charging 80p for a house key, but double if it is for a car on the grounds that the owner is likely to be better off. "I couldn't afford to live back in the UK, but that's OK. I'm happy here, it's a very nice town."
I thought it was an appropriate moment to append this report with a clip from a documentary produced by CNN in 1998 as part of their series on the Cold War- Episode 18: Backyard. It's a glimpse of sorts of that past lived out in Central America not so long ago. The episode included a recapping of the 1954 coup in Guatemala.
