With great pleasure and gratitude I continue to post from the Mining Camp Memories by Michael John Ashe II (Mike). These arise from his and family’s sojourn in El Pao from 1953 to 1961.

I think General Lew Wallace had an understanding of the pull that childhood has on the rest of one’s life:

… some there will be to divine [such] feelings without prompting. They are such as had happy homes in their youth, no matter how far that may have been back in time — homes which are now the starting points of all recollection; paradises from which they went forth in tears, and which they would now return to, if they could, as little children; places of laughter and singing, and associations dearer than any of all the triumphs of after-life.”  Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Book Sixth, Chapter 6, by General Lew Wallace (1827-1905)

Thank you again, Mike!

Mike Ashe:

Organized Entertainment:

Below is a picture of the Castillo de San Francisco de Asis on the Orinoco which is located about 15 or 17 miles downstream from where Dick and I would fish. The company would organize a day trip for the whole camp (once a year) we would all travel by rail to Palua board the YaYa Tug Boat travel down river to the Castillo and have fun exploring the fort. The company would arrange lunch for us.  Built by the Spaniards in 1685 to tax travelers on the river by raising a chain until tolls were paid. Children and Adults would have a great time.

Another camp outing would be to travel down to the Caroni River during the dry season, when the water level was low exposing a sandy beach from the tree line to the water’s edge in some places 100 feet. The Caiman would leave their tracks in the sand from the tree line to the water’s edge, which was kind of neat.  The families would go swimming in the river and I would go fishing downstream from them.  Never told the swimmers that piranhas (AKA Caribes) were all that I was catching, and a lot of them.  

The communal restaurant at the Club served good food (big night was Sunday for families) and the swimming pool was also very nice and all of us kids would spend a great deal of time there, mostly swimming. We would also get our haircuts there.  The barber had a nude woman tattooed on his forearm and Dad would get a kick out of how I would be eyeballing the barber’s forearm-he never said anything to me about it.  

We had movies twice a week. Everyone would bring lawn chairs and watch/wait until the projector malfunctioned! 

My favorite person in Venezuela was “Juan the Bartender” Juan like many folks in the camp and in Venezuela, were there to escape the economic collapse in Europe after the War. Actually, I was godfather to his son one of the highlights of my life in the little Church in the labor camp.  I did speak with Richard Barnes about Juan who had left before the mine closed. While working in El Pao he had made enough money to buy a bar in Soledad (across the Orinoco from Ciudad Bolivar) which he later sold for a nice profit that enabled him to return to Portugal with his family.  Juan’s importance to the community was never recognized and in that he was special.

Encounter with wild beasts and diversity of wildlife:

On one occasion I ran into a rather large Tapir while on a fishing trip on the Caroni River bank circa 1957-58 during the dry season.   On the way back from my position on the river bank to the pickup (the rest of the fishing party was waiting to head home) I entered the tree line and I froze, the Tapir was about 15-20 feet away from me.  I wasn’t afraid of it but knew that it was a big wild animal and I really didn’t know how dangerous it was. If I had known, I would have started running. When we made eye contact, it turned and moved away, I remained calm but as soon as it was out of sight, I picked up the pace and got out of there.  I told everyone what I saw but didn’t get much of a response.  No big deal.  This actually was a very big deal and I was blessed to be able to experience a contact with an endangered animal.  A Tapir (shown below) typically spends a great deal of time around rivers.  I would also expect them to be around more in the dry season (calmer waters provided easier access).  Their primary predators in addition to man would be the Jaguar.  

The diversity of wildlife was amazing.  We had pet parakeets, toucans and a remarkable parrot called Big Parrot.  I am convinced that a lot of the birds in Venezuela have not yet been cataloged.  Big Parrot was an amazing bird; had long feathers surrounding the back of its neck and when excited the feathers would raise up creating a crown around its head.  

The Herons lived next to us; a sloth meandered into camp one day and ended up in one of their trees- stayed there a couple of weeks and died.  

There was also a large Burro that wandered into camp when I was 10.  I took care of it and would ride around camp.  One day the Burro disappeared (did not know how or why) but I was devastated.  Somehow the Burro reappeared only to die in the Wrights (Dad’s Boss) front yard.

Silke Gerbrecht had a pet Ocelot in camp a beautiful animal but not too friendly.  I never did see a Jaguar but hunters would sell their skins in the worker’s camp so they were not too far from camp.  

Each year the camps were invaded by a relative of a cane toad, that littered the roads as road kill.  I understand if they are kept in captivity, they will live for 35 years.  

We made several trips to Cerro Bolivar (US Steel mine) to visit Art Ruff and his family. Art was a snake expert he had horses so we would go out in the bush looking for snakes. When he spotted one he’d jump off the horse and capture it with his bare hands.  Dad and Art went off on one trip and caught a 10-foot red tailed boa.  Art skinned it and sent it over to Dad. I don’t know what ever happened to the skin but someone could have made a lot of boots with it!

We ran into a lot of anteaters and porcupines.  Our dogs would invariably have run ins with porcupines and come home with white spines all over their noses. Both are dangerous; the Giant Anteater has large front claws and are hunted in Venezuela primarily for the claws.  

Birds by the Thousands:

William Phelps a North American from New York City, and Harvard Educated was an ornithological explorer and businessman who arrived in Venezuela Circa 1900, in the states of Sucre and Monagas. He became like myself, fascinated by the country and its birds. In San Antonio de Maturin he met British settlers, the Tuckers and fell in love with one of their daughters Alicia Elvira. He continued his studies at Harvard and returned to Maturin to sell coffee and pursue ornithology.  His son William Jr founded the Phelps ornithological Collection considered the largest in Latin America.  There are over 80,000 birds in feathers and thousands preserved in alcohol and over 1000 skeletons.   William also founded Radio Caracas Radio (RCR) which was only shut down when the communist dictator Hugo Chavez came to power.  The collection I believe is still in Caracas and continues to grow.

We ate a lot of bananas in Venezuela.  Dad would buy a whole stock of bananas and hang it outside on the porch.  The birds would feast on the top of the stock and we would eat the rest as it ripened.

The bird population in Venezuela is simply spectacular in terms of diversity, quantity and habitats.  One of my favorites is the Crested Oropendolas that weave sock like nests that hang high up in the jungle canopy.  There would be thousands flying into and out of their nests as we drove down the dirt road to Palua.

Insects by the Millions:

Ants were my favorite insects.  Army ants are actually scavengers that can swarm and consume a dead carcass in minutes. They provide a great service in keeping the jungle floor clean. When they are in the march they number in the millions and leave a bare trail about 8 inches wide for miles.  

The leaf cutter ant is an amazingly strong creature able to carry leaves to the nest in great numbers.   They all can and do bite which is always painful.

Beetles came in all types and sizes, we would play with them for hours, we’d get two large Hercules and/or Rhinoceros beetles and arrange gladiator fights just like in the Roman Colosseum. Blood thirsty jerks that we were! 

Termites were everywhere, they would magically appear overnight on the walls of our company cinder block home. They would scale the walls inside a mud tube from the floor to the ceiling; don’t know what they were in search of maybe roof rafters (maybe wooden).  Anyway, it would always freak out my mother. 

Butterflies:

There were over a 1000 species of butterflies in Venezuela.  The ones in the rainforest where we lived were amazingly colorful and evolved to blend in, some with wings that looked like eyes. 

(I’ll briefly interject here to note that Andrew Neild from England published The Butterflies of Venezuela some years ago. Many of his specimens were from the area surrounding El Pao. If the reader is interested in this, he or she can search for Andrew and find him — RMB)

To be continued….