The Dish Story

Friday, September 10, 2010

Dear Family,

As most of you know I just returned today from a trip to Honduras to get a satellite system. I took my wife and kids to the airport on Wednesday at 5:00 AM, deposited the new oxygen bottle and all the things (250 lbs of stuff) we have purchased for the last few days into the airplane, and went back into the airport terminal. I changed out of my uniform, and took a taxi to the bus bound for Honduras. The bus ran for 45 minutes before breaking down, but fortunately this time it was a quick fix. I changed buses in Ocotal, and shortly after arrived at the North border of Nicaragua. Crossing was nice and easy, and 15 minutes later I was on a bus on the other side bound for the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. This time I changed buses once before arriving in the big city of over a million people at 3:30 PM. I found a nice little hotel with air conditioning for $35, and then headed off to the hardware store. I noticed that the country had better infrastructure development than Nicaragua, and more modern stores, more like Costa Rica. It seems Central America gets richer both North and South from Nicaragua, which is the 2nd poorest country in Central America (Haiti is in first place). At the hardware store I bought $40 of rope to tie down the dish and a little tape measure to measure the bus doors I needed where I would carry the dish. Then I went to Pizza Hut (lucky there was one there!) for my first meal of the day. I was in the motel shortly after dark. It isn't usually safe to wander around in strange cities (or any cities for that matter) after dark. I feel safer walking the 150 yards in the night to turn off our hydro system at home in Tronquera with only snakes and leopards than in a city with knives and guns. American's don't blend in very well to foreign cultures. I rested well, and I was awake at 5:15, waiting till 8:00 AM when I was suppose to meet the person to buy the satellite dish. Finally at 7:00 AM, I decided I would just go a little early, so I got a taxi and went to the place, arriving 1/2 hour early. I met a nice gentleman named Ramon, who speaks perfect English, and has even authored several books in Spanish and English about the detailed history of Honduras and the islands. Ramon is involved in several companies connected to America, and is retired from special forces in the military. I would have loved to spend more time and hear his interesting stories, but both of us were in a hurry to get back to work. The dish was ready to go, so we packed it on a little pickup and took it to the bus stop, where the buses were heading to the border. This was the first problem, and I probably should have taken my cue from that, but I thought it might be my only problem. The bus there wasn't like the big yellow school buses all over Nicaragua, but the more modern large glass window low slung tourist type buses. They didn't have racks on the top, and just carried these well dressed working people around. These people had no chickens, goats, sheep, and bananas with them like the Nicaragua people do when they travel, but just a newspaper, briefcase, and sometimes an occasional Blackberry. I measured the cargo place in the back the bus, it was quite large. It would fit the antenna dish inside, but it was really close. The bus people refused to take it, but I kept trying to convince them it would fit. Finally they said if it fit, they would charge me US$100 to take it to the town close to the border (only about 100 Km away). The driver of the truck who had previously told me a price of $150 to take it to the border, came down to the same price as the bus. Three buses were sitting there, and all the drivers together said the same price. I decided it wasn't going to be any good to wait for another bus to come, as usually drivers all go in cahoots together anyway. Why they would charge so much to put it in their cargo spot is beyond me, since they could still haul a full load of people. The truck driver visited with them, but didn't seem to help talk them down. I didn't have enough money to pay the driver this extra $100, so we stopped by an ATM and I pulled out the necessary extra money. I had left $100, and planned that the buses after the border would likely charge about $35 to get it all the way to Managua. From my other travels with luggage on Nicaragua buses, this was reasonable. I had already checked with the bus at the border Nicaragua side on my way through, and they were ready to carry the dish. 

So we were off with the little truck to the border. Paying this driver saved one bus change anyway, as the bus would have stopped 1/2 hour from the border. We had a pleasant trip for 3 hours to the border on a beautiful windy road through pine trees and rocky hills with winding little rivers and canyons. A picture from there could have been mistaken for somewhere in Montana or the foothills of the mountains in Wyoming. Nice little ranch houses dotted the landscape, with herds of cows being chased by men in cowboy hats on horses. One guy was riding his horse down the edge of the road, and talking on his cell phone. Still doing the same thing they have done for generations, but now with the addition of technology. Maybe soon their horses will have GPS tracking chips on them to keep track of where they are. Communication towers were on many hills, and cell service was all over. Not quite like the 2 towers we have to cover our whole Atlantic coast.

At the border, it was raining hard. After about 1/2 hour of negotiating with the customs people, the driver was anxious to leave. It looked like this could take awhile, so we unloaded the dish and he left. My limited Spanish was hard to deal with, but I could understand most of the things customs wanted. There are 27 customs agents at that little border station, and they were looking over everything and everyone with a fine tooth comb. I worked my way to the very top one, over all the agents, but still no permission. I told them it was used (it looked used too, it is several years old), and it was for personal use only, I tried to pay them a deposit for security, or whatever they wanted, all to no avail. They insisted a private vehicle must take it to Managua (I didn't happen to have a private vehicle, my truck was over 500 miles away on the Atlantic coast over 4x4 roads). They had no give, just told me that was the way it had to be done. I finally found someone who could take it, but it would cost me another $100 for transport to Managua, plus $30 for paperwork to leave the border. Then after several hours of working on it, it also came out customs needed to accompany me (and would charge me for coming with me $50) to Managua. They had to personally see that the dish got delivered to Managua customs. I think one of them wanted a free trip to Managua. They would not let it go on the bus. I worked on it for 5 hours trying to find someone who would take it to Managua cheaper, and to talk the customs into letting me take it on the bus. I already had $100 into the dish to get it to the border, plus its purchase price. Now I was facing another $180 to $200 to get it to Managua, then the fees for getting permission for it to operate in Nicaragua. After it was in customs hands, it also stacks up storage fees after a very short time. The local equivalent of the FCC had to give permission to use it after I paid for a customs inspection, before they would release it. Then after all that, I would need to pay another $50 to 100 shipping to get it to the Atlantic coast. So I would have at least $500 in the dish, plus motels and food for at least a week in Managua to get the proper permissions, which might or might not ever be granted. So after standing in the hot sun considering all these things for many hours, and looking at my $100 I had with me (no way to access more money at the border, even if I had wanted to get it), I decided to cut my losses while I was ahead, and leave the dish. About dark, I walked away from that beautiful 6 foot fiberglass dish that I had paid for and fought for the whole day. It was with a heavy heart I took the bus to the nearest town. I was hoping I hadn't made a mistake, but if I had the assurance it would have all worked out in Managua, I might have gone ahead. In these countries, once something gets caught in red tape, you better have deep pockets if you want to bail it out. We didn't have the extra money to put into it right now, I just couldn't justify going in debt for Internet. I knew this had a chance of happening, it was a risk I had carefully thought over. I am now looking for a dish in Managua and in Port. I am hoping to find one of comparable size for around $100, but no luck yet. We might just have to wait a bit and save our money a little more before we get that part of the system. Fortunately, I do now have all the electronics necessary, just missing the dish. Life is never easy, that is no problem, but what bothers me the most is the loss of the money. It is hard earned money, and some of it was not mine.

On a brighter note, I got up early from the hotel and was at the bus station at 6 AM. I got a bus for Managua at 6:30. By noon I was in Managua. I got out of the bus on the road near the airport, leaving the chickens and throwing up babies, and carrying my precious electronic cargo. In the airport restroom, I changed into my flight uniform, and went through security. They checked my ID tag, ran all my stuff through the X-ray, wanded me, and a few minutes later I was walking along under the big jets parked at the jetways patiently waiting for their passengers to come on board. I put my stuff in the plane, threw the computer bag over shoulder, got my plane back pack with nice little wheels, and was ready to go. I visited with the businessmen in their suits who had just landed in a fancy pressurized Kingair from Guatemala as we waited for the airport shuttle. As I walked in through the international arrival gate, I wondered who would have guessed that 15 minutes earlier, I had been on a public bus bouncing through the potholes.

I then spent an hour with the people who give my airplane permission to fly in this country. It is a government ministry, and is very helpful. The rest of the day was spent gathering truck parts, special nuts and bolts I couldn't get on my side of the country, and medicine.

Now the weekend is here, and everything is closed for the next 2 days.

Hope your weekend goes well,

Clint

 

 

 

Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
www.wingsovernicaragua.org
info@wingsovernicaragua.org
Reaching the Miskito Indians with Aviation and Medical Work