« October 2001 | Main | December 2001 »

We've been cooped up

We've been cooped up in this hospital room all day. If I think I'm stir crazy, it must be worse for Dustin. His knee seems to be healing well. He was a bit down today though. He didn't want his shower, didn't want to do any homework, and spent quite a bit of time sleeping. Around three this afternoon we disconnected him from his IV and put him in a wheelchair for a quick trip around the hospital. It's not a large hospital, with about 70 beds. I wanted to take him out onto the terraza (patio) but it's the rainy season here in Quito, and it was raining. It did him good to get out of bed for a while. Later, in the evening he had a couple visitors. One was a Canadian MK about his age. The other was an MAF MK from the States who is in eighth grade. Both of the boys go to the Alliance Academy, which is adjacent to the HCJB hospital. Dustin really came alive, and they played some chess and a card game with him.

I am ready to get back to work. At least I haven't had to worry about getting a sub and lesson plans. In fact, with the new server I've set up, I can actually access it from the hospital room and make sure everything is fine down there in Shell.

Hospital food. I'm tired of it. Lunch and dinner are always rice, vegetables, and chicken or beef. Also soup for lunch. Meals are about $2, so it's hard to complain about that. Anyway, I miss the American food that Ellyn cooks. The food from the cafeteria is very Ecuadorian, and just not my favorite. Dustin's appetite is coming back little by little, but I think he too would do better with some of his Mom's cooking.

We're going to try and make it on the MAF shuttle in the morning. We saw Dustin's doctor this evening, and he said he'll come in at 8 AM on Friday to take the drain out. That would be great, because neither of us want to spend the weekend up here.

Still in Quito

Still in Quito. Dustin is doing well, but still in the hospital. He needs to stay a bit longer. Tomorrow the doctor will take of the dressing...oh. I missed a day in here yesterday. He had minor surgery yesterday on his knee. The took him to the OR and drained his knee of about 60cc of fluid and put in a drain. The fever is gone today, and now we're waiting for the draining to stop. Also waiting to see if the culture comes back negative. So far so good, and we're praying we can head back to Shell on the regularly scheduled shuttle flight on Friday. Dustin is tired of laying on his back. His positions are limited with an IV in his left hand and a drain in his right knee. We tried to do homework this morning, but were interrupted so many times it was impossible. He ended up watching a movie, then sleeping from noon to 3 PM. This afternoon he worked on math homework and memorized Ephesians 6:12. Right now he's up in his room, while I quickly check e-mail and write this from the net cafe right next to the hospital. More later. Thanks for your prayers.

I'm in Quito tonight

I'm in Quito tonight...along with Ellyn and Dustin. Don't panic, don't call up the local prayer chain, but Dustin is in the hospital here. He has an infection in his right knee and we came up to see a specialist. We admitted him into the hospital in Shell on Sunday at 5 PM so they could start him on an IV with antibiotics. We're doing more of the same here, and need to see what 72 hours of antibiotics will do. Dustin was really hoping to avoid coming to Quito and spending so much time in bed, but it's important. If we don't take care of this properly he could suffer knee damage that will bother him the rest of his live. Some sort of arthritis.

Quick overview. Dustin fell during PE and sat on his leg, bending his knee back. Wednesday he noticed it was sore to bend it all the way back. Thursday he was lethargic and fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon, something he never does. Friday night he spikes a high fever and Ellyn takes him to the ER. They want him to bed rest and take motrin, something we had him doing Friday anyway. Saturday he stays in bed all day. He knows that if he does this he might avoid having the knee tapped. More fever. Sunday he's no better, with high fevers. In the late afternoon we take him to the ER again, where Uncle Roger draws 8cc of yukky looking fluid from his knee. We admit Dustin at 5 PM so he can get some IV antibiotics. Papa spends the night with him in the room. Also the cockroaches were with us. Just after noon on Monday we fly to Quito on an MAF flight. Taylor stays with Uncle Sandy and Aunt Trish. He's ecstatic, because he knows Aunt Trish will spoil him.

We've spent the afternoon and evening giving the history of this four times. The first in english, the other three times in spanglish. I've started taking some spanish lessons, and I really need to spend more time working on that. My lack of spanish is quickly becoming the thing I dislike most about living in Ecuador.

It's great to have

It's great to have e-mail in a place like Shell. Ecuadorians who live in Shell or Puyo don't have the option of e-mail. Just recently the first internat cafe opened up in Puyo. I have no idea what the rates are, but they probably are expensive and require a phone call to Quito.

On the other hand, I just spent forty-five minutes going through my inbox. What did we do with all the extra time we had before e-mail?

It's an eerily quiet

It's an eerily quiet day in Ecuador. Today the country is taking a census. The urban areas are all being counted in a single day. The rest of the people will be counted in the next eight days. From 7 AM until 5 PM today we are not allowed to leave our house. Well, not until we are counted. The school teacher who is doing our censo just arrived on the coupound, so it shouldn't be too much longer. After you're counted, you still aren't supposed to leave your home until after 5 PM. There is no public transportation, and no public shows allowed. Without the noise of traffic on the street, this is a very peaceful place. The only problem is that it's so hot today, and we can't get to the river!

Climbing Ilinza Norte

I'd been wanting to climb Iliniza Norte ever since I returned to Ecuador in August. The day I had hoped to do it originally was an unusually clear day all across the country, but my climbing partner was too sick to leave his bed. Saturday was the first chance I've had since then to attempt the climb.

We left Shell at 4 AM. The others in the group were Sandy, Harrison, Mike and Chris. It didn't take too long to travel over the BaÒos road at night. There was no traffic to worry about on the road wide enough for only one car, and it was too dark to see the sheer drop to the river on the left. Almost four hours later as we started over the 12,000 foot pass on the Pan American Highway, the left rear tire blew out. We managed to put on the spare, but in the process broke the end of the handle for the jack.

At this point I was disappointed, and thought we should probably head back to Shell. It wasn't wise to drive off the main road without a spare, and although we could buy a spare tire, it was going to be too late in the day to start a climb. The others didn't want to give up so easily, so we headed back to Latacunga in search of a spare tire. It didn't take long to find a very used tire in a tiny tire shop. There weren't many tires to choose from. In the US they wouldn't have even sold this tire, but here it cost us $8 and another dollar to mount it on the rim. They also used a hammer and grinding wheel to fix the jack handle. With that little problem taken care of we were on our way again.

Following directions from the guide book, we left the highway and easily found our way to the parking area at the end of the road. A little after 10:30 we started hiking. The mountain was in the clouds, and it seemed too late to start a climb. The trail started through the grass and some scattered shrubby trees. The trail climbed gradually until it reached a steep and sandy slope. After two hours and forty-five minutes we arrived at the climber's refuge.

We dropped a couple extra water bottles for the return, and then Mike, Chris, and I worked our way up the southeast ridge of the north peak. The Ilinizas are known as the twins, and there is south and north peak. The south peak is a little higher than the north, and is a technical climb up snow and ice. The north peak is 16,817 feet, and is a hike with some rock scrambling up the last section.

The clouds made it hard to find our way, but with the help of the guidebook and rock cairns we pressed on towards the top. In two different places we went the wrong way and had to back track. Earlier in the climb I told Mike and Chris that 3:30 should be our turn around time, no matter where we were. It was past that time, and we were so close to the top. At about 4:00 I told Mike we probably should head down. I was sure the summit wasn't that far away, but because of the clouds it was hard to know for sure. The fact that we only had two hours of light left kept pressing on my mind. I agreed to just a few more minutes. It turned out that the top was only another fifty feet above us, and we were soon snapping a few photos of ourselves.

At 4:15 we started our descent. Of course this was easier than climbing up, and we were able to save a lot of time by descending a long sandy slope, and bypassing the rocky ridge. An hour later we were back at the refuge. There was a German climber there who was a big help. Steven was his name, and he was spending two nights at the refuge in preparation for a climb of Cotapaxi. Earlier that afternoon he too had climbed the north peak. He shared cups of tea with us and then at 5:50 we left the refuge. By this time we all realized that we'd be walking for a while in the dark. Thankfully we were off the steep and rocky peak.

To make a long story short, we arrived back at the truck at 7:20, an hour after dark. We were able to follow the trail with the help of a couple flashlights, and later, by the light of the moon. Sandy and Harrison were waiting for us in the truck. They didn't know exactly where we were, but they helped by idling the truck engine and turning the lights on. Near the end, when we were hoping we were on the right trail, it was a huge relief to see those truck lights.

By the time we arrived home, it was midnight, and the end of a very long day.

Happy Thanksgiving from the

Happy Thanksgiving from the jungle!

Sandy brought some vagre

Sandy brought some vagre in from the jungle. It was smoked, and he had a big piece of it. Very tasty. The catfish, called vagre, are huge!

I just came back

I just came back from a trip across the street to the school. As board president, and now that we don't have a principal, I find myself heading over there more often. It is literally across the street, and I can hear the bell ring and kids playing from the hangar.

Saw something rather unusual on my way back over. There was a small fender bender. A small car hit a camioneta. It didn't look like anyone was hurt, but the hood on the car was bent quite a bit. The way people drive around here, I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. People drive very defensively though, and use their horns a lot. One thing that is very different here are left hand turns. This isn't true about the whole country, but in rural areas when making a left hand turn, you pull over to the right side of the road and wait for following traffic to pass before making the turn. Doesn't make sense to an impatient North American, but that's the way it works here!

It's been a rainy

It's been a rainy morning. I was going to get up at 6 AM for a run, but didn't because it was raining so hard. Didn't bother me either, as I just went back to sleep.

The weather is just now clearing up. Actually, from what I understand, the weather out in the jungle is good. It's just here in Shell that we've been closed down. Dan just left and Sandy is lifting off as I write this. They are the only two guys flying today. We have five planes in Shell, and two of them are down for maintenance. One of them has been grounded for quite a while, as we're waiting for parts from the States.

Had a busy and

Had a busy and productive day. It started off with a hiccup, as the power was off from 1:30 until 6:00 AM. The UPS for the server didn't hold out, so I held my breath while I booted the machine, but all was well.

We're coming up on Thanksgiving, and I'd love to go on a mountain bike ride on a crisp cool morning in the Sierra foothills. Right now I'm planning on a climb of a volcano for Friday. More info later.

Ever seen anyone use

Ever seen anyone use a leaf as an umbrella?

Just back from a

Just back from a bike ride. Haven 't done that much at all this time back. I felt very blah today, and knew I needed to get some exercise. It was just hard to get started, and of course now I'm glad I did it.

Funny what you see as you peddle down the road here in Ecuador. A guy taking a shower outside while wearing his underwear. Someone washing their car. On the way up the road I saw him soaping the truck. On the way back, he was rinsing his truck, but without a hose. It must go quite slowly, rinsing one bucketful at a time. Most people don't own a vehicle. A vehicle and a hose would be too much to ask for. I passed by the swimming hole at Alpayacu, and Sunday afternoon is a good afternoon for a bath. I'm sure if I had jumped in today, the water would have smelled like soap.

I guess I left you hanging last Thursday. We did end up getting water again by about 5 PM. The HCJB maintenance guys came over and I'm not sure what they did, but by the time they left, we had water. It didn't take me long to enjoy a hot shower after work. Because we thought we weren't going to have water, we were all set to go over to the Toomer's for dinner, and that's what we did anyway. Ellyn felt lousy, but went along. Sandy gave her some of his great medical advice. When she followed it on Friday, she felt much better. That's funny though, since he's a pilot though, not a doctor.

Friday afternoon I spent some time working with Dan Rogers, one of the pilots with the program here. He didn't have a PC he could use for e-mail. In fact, out of three machines, not one was properly functioning. We worked on one for a while, with no success, and then decided to take a different tack on Monday. After that I went over to watch the boys walk in a parade with the rest of the kids from Nate Saint School.

Before I forget, here's a photo of a couple planes from early last week. These were taken early in the morning, right after our prayer time. The planes are pulled out of the hangar, and then the guys preflight them while they are loaded with whatever cargo they'll carry that first flight. The pilots do a lot of work in the jungle, since they load and unload the planes many times a day. Most flights here are short, and it's not uncommon for one of the guys to make ten or more landings in a day.

I just took a

I just took a 5 gallon jug of water to the house with a faucet so we can wash hands. We'll also have some water to heat for doing a few dishes. The boys and I will go to the Toomer's for dinner and baths. Ellyn isn't feeling well and may stay home.

Not good. I just

Not good. I just found out that there are nine houses without water. Somewhere in the city system between our house and the main line there is a block. Since the rest of the town has water, that means we are a low priority. We have drinking water and can drink and brush our teeth, but what we really need is water to brush our teeth. We're going to have to get a 55-gallon drum full of water so we can do that. In this country it could be days before we have water again. Time to learn to appreciate the little things in life.

We woke up this

We woke up this morning to no water. We have a water tank on our compound, and that is filled with a combination of city water and rain water. We don't use it for drinking, but we use it for washing dishes, laundry, flushing toilets, and bathing. Don't know what the problem is, nor can I do anything about it. Hopefully HCJB maintenance will fix it soon.

The power was off

The power was off for several hours today. Make that the city power. We were able to turn our generator on and use that to remain semi-functional. Last year I went down into the jungle behind the MAF base and took a picture of the hydro plant set up by Nate Saint back in the '50s. That's Loren in the photo. He was an eighth grader in my class last year. Right now he's on a six month furlough in the US. When he returns he'll attend the Alliance Academy in Quito.

Sandy found a big mud hole on a airstrip today. Looks like he was at the 4 x 4 races. The mud was caked about a half inch thick in a couple places.

It's been a rainy

It's been a rainy day in Shell. That's fine with me, as we haven't had much rain lately, and I like the rain. I'll probably end up going for a run in the rain if it doesn't stop soon, and that might actually be a bit too much rain. Oh well, at least it's a warm rain.

Someone asked what I did at work today. Helped a client with who was having some problems getting his e-mail. He works at a Christian camp run by GMU that is six miles from Shell. The phone lines are terrible out there, so he has a very hard time making a connection. Then, one of the MAF staff people brought me a laptop that's not working. That was not solved today. Seems to be some sort of hardware problem. I spent some time on the phone with Brian up in Quito, working on some issues with the mail server there. Also installed some new content filtering software on our server here in Shell.

During the middle of the day I stopped for a half-hour spanish lesson. I'm going to be doing that four days a week. It really is time I put more effort into that, and now that things have settled down on the computer front, and can give language learning a higher priority.

I'm back in Shell

I'm back in Shell this morning, and using an english keyboard. I flew down on the shuttle flight this morning with Henry. He is the ADS Ecuador board president, and the one Ecuadorian pilot flying for the program. The weather was good, but as usual, bumpy in spots as we flew over the 10,000' countryside between Quito and Shell. I had a good view of Cotapaxi, and Tungarahua was putting out clouds of grey ash.

Flowers are a growing export for Ecuador. I stopped at a flower shop just before getting on the plane. It's a place where you walk through and pick out bundles of flowers from the buckets. I picket up three different kinds of flowers, at least three dozen worth, and paid only $2.98. There's no excuse for not buying flowers here!

Things seem to be running well on the computer front. It's always nice to go away and have it all work while I'm gone. E-mail makes a missionaries life so much easier in many ways.

Sitting in a different

Sitting in a different internet cafe. This one has a faster connection to the web, and is close to the apartment I stay in while in Quito. I still can't get used to these spanish keyboards.

Thoughts from today. Running at 9300' isn't easy, but I went out for a 20 minute run at 6:15 AM. The town is very much awake at that time, with busses running and children heading to school, others to work. I ran past a drunk sleeping on the sidewalk, his wallet beside him. I doubt he'll be happy with what he finds (or doesn't find) when he wakes up. Broken bottles all over the place, since many were celebrating the tie with Uruguay yesterday. I guess a tie was a good thing for them in light of their hopes for the Ecuador soccer team to go to the World Cup.

More thoughts. Standing in line here is a pain. If you're not breathing down the neck of the person in front of you, someone will cut in front of you. It happens every time, and it bugs me. It's like your expected to be rude in line. Happened to me at Super Paco when I was buying print cartridges. Thought I was next in line, and before I knew it, some lady is having her stuff rung up. Hard to have a nice attitude. Something else different here. Many cars have their side trim, manufacture logos, anything that could be stolen, riveted in place. Looks ugly, but you know you won't lose anything from your car!

I worked at the Alas de Socorro (MAF) office until after 4 PM, and then headed off on foot and taxi to get some errands done. I think I have everything on my to-do list taken care of. I just couldn'd find Ellyn any instant cappuchino or any wheels for the go-kart I' building. The plane will leave early tomorrow, and I'll have just enough time to get some film that was developed for Ellyn. I suppose I'll need to come back up next week, as I didn't finish all the work at the office with the e-mail server. When you work with computers, it's never all done.

What a day

What a day. I'm in Quito, and typing this from an internet cafe. The operating system is in spanish, and the keyboard is totally different than an english keyboard, so things are moving a bit slow right now. To get here I had to navigate crowded streets, full of exuberant people. Ecuador must have won or tied in the football game this afternoon played against Uruguay (I think). By the way, that is soccer for you North Americans.

The reason for the trip to Quito is to do some work in the MAF office here in Quito. I'm getting an e-mail server set up here. That will be e-mail server number three since we've come back in August. We made a lot of progress today, not just on the e-mail server, but on a couple other computers on the network that needed some work.

I rode up yesterday with Pablo Waris, a missionary who lives in Shell, but who has a ministry in the jungle. He works with church leaders, discipling them and also helping with some community development projects. I was all prepared to take a bus to Quito, but when I walked out the gate of the compound, I saw him across the street at the LeBouef's, packing his car. I figured I'd get a ride with him as far as Ambato, then get a bus there. He was planning to head south from Ambato, to the city of Rio Bamba. In the end he decided to go straight to Quito. Friday I'll return on the MAF shuttle flight.

The plane just landed

The plane just landed with the little girl who was bitten by a snake. She was about nine or ten years old, and had been bitten on the arm. I was surprised to see her walking. Apparently the snake that bit her is deadly, but doesn't always kill quickly. At any rate, I am glad to see that she will be OK.

A little girl out

A little girl out in the jungle is suffering from a snake bite tonight. About 3:30 PM I was at the hangar when the hospital called, wondering if there was someone who could fly out and pick up a girl who was bit by an equis, a very venomous snake. By the time I tracked down Sandy, who was the pilot on call, and got him back to the hangar, time was dwindling. Getting a flight out and back at such a late hour of the day might not be possible. By 4:15 PM we realized the flight wouldn't be happening today. The information on the girl and her exact location was vague. Sandy would need at least two hours for the flight plan, fueling, preflight, the half-hour flight each way, and the necessary time on the ground. That meant he wouldn't get back until after sunset, and planes don't land here in Shell after sunset. The indian kids in the jungle are so stoic, and seem to have a high tolerance for pain. The life they live is so different from ours. I can't imagine havine to wait overnight before I could take my snake bitten child to the emergency room. I pray she's still alive in the morning, and that a pilot can fly out to pick her up. The hospital here in Shell is well staffed with Christian doctors who can take good care of her.

I've finally updated my

I've finally updated my web page on this web site. I've been back three months in my new position, and the page still said I was teaching seventh and eighth grade. Our web site hasn't been a top priority lately, and I don't spend hours each week working on it. Instead, I find I'm enjoying learning more about the Linux operating system, and reading all sorts of books.

Today was a holiday

Today was a holiday here in Ecuador - Dia de Cuenca. We slept in, ate pancakes, and then headed to Puyo for some swimming. The place we went has become popular with the missionaries. There were about five families there and the pool was full of kids enjoying the day off from school.

This evening Dustin is sleeping over at Mark's house. I walked him over after dinner. Walking over in the dark, I told him a story from my days as an MK in Papua New Guinea. Dustin isn't too excited about walking in the dark, and I told him a story about a time Rick scared me in the dark as I walked home alone from Youth Group one Sunday evening. As I walked back home on the dirt road, I thought about how comfortable it is here, and how much it reminds me of my early days in PNG.

It's been a long

It's been a long day, but I want to write a few things before it's all over. I ran Dustin and Tay over to school in the Dell's truck, taking with us the toothpick model of a southern plantation which Dustin had spend hours working on this past week. I then returned the truck before riding my bike to the hangar.

Before 10 AM I was on my way to Makuma. I was flying in a plane with wheels, doors, and a seat, unlike this one. Dave stopped in Makuma long enough to drop me off, then continued on his way. The rest of my day was spent setting up the radio e-mail server, running it through some tests, and completing the documentation. Lunch was with the Hedlunds and included some jungle foods and a soup with mystery meat. No ants this time.

Getting home was another story. By 5 PM I was standing out at the runway, very much alone. Glen, Jeanie, and Norma were praying at the Turner's house, and Jim was trying to salvage his day and get something done. I strained to hear a plane, but it was quiet, and to the northwest, in the direction of Shell, were big black clouds. Then, just before 5:10, I thought I heard a plane. The noise quickly faded out, and I started mentally getting ready for a night in Makuma. It wouldn't be that bad. I had my toothbrush, good company, and a good book. Slowly, the noise I had heard increased, and I realized it was a Cessna 206, skimming over the jungle. Dave quickly landed, loaded a few bags and two passengers, and we were off. The weather in Shell was bad, and I doubted we'd make it without having to spend the night in Makuma. After a 24 minute flight, we arrived in Shell at 5:50 PM. It was quickly getting dark, and the street lights were beginning to flicker on. I grabbed my bike and pedaled home to spend the evening with my family. Just another day in the office.