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I've got some photos

I've got some photos of our trip on Monday and Tuesday. It was about 10 AM by the time we left Shell. Ellyn and I were two of five passengers. The other three people were headed to Paandin and Macas. The one lady had been at the hospital, and I'm not sure about the other two. Paandin was about twenty-five minutes away, not too far from Makuma. Makuma is the GMU mission station that I've been to a couple times because I have a radio e-mail server there. Bruce came in from the north on his first approach, but didn't like the wind, so went around. We landed the other direction, skimming in over the trees and landing on the uphill side of a big hump in the runway. It's not a long --just a touch under 500 meters. We dropped off the lady who had been at the hospital and left after about ten minutes. That wasn't too soon, as I didn't even get out of the plane and was getting bit by the bugs. Taisha was the next stop, where we were to pick up a patient transfer. Soon after we landed an Ecuadorian Air Force Twin Otter took off. A few minutes later the Catholic Mission Helio Courier landed. It was a busy day in Taisha. We picked up our patient and mother. The child had pneumonia, and was being transferred to the hospital in Macas. The mom wasn't too excited about flying, and actually was quite scared. She grabbed Ellyn's knee at the slightest bit of turbulence, and put her head on Ellyn's shoulder much of the way. Ellyn was super, helping calm the mom, wipe up when the child threw up, and just being a shoulder to lean on. In Macas we dropped off the four passengers and then continued on to our final destination, Sucua.

MAF has a base in Sucua, with one plane and two pilots. There is also a teacher there, since there are three MAF kids. We spent the night with Chad and Andi Irwin. It was great to see where they live, and they showed us around Sucua. We often have Chad and Andi over for meals when they are passing through Shell. The real purpose of our trip was to drive the Trooper back to Shell, since it's not needed in Sucua any more. Tuesday morning we were on the road by 9:30 AM. It's not a great road, but it's cut through the heart of the jungle, so it makes for some great views. The highlight was probably the bridge over the Rio Pastaza. Actually, we had to cross two bridges at that point. Both are long suspension bridges. But don't think 'Golden Gate' here. You'll just have to look at the photos. The bridge was quite long, and you just stay if first gear to get across. You can see the bridge ripple in front of you as you're driving. It's not very wide either, so the only thing you'll pass are pedestrians.

The distance from Sucua to Shell is almost exactly 100 miles. We couldn't drive faster than 20 MPH most of the way, so it should have been a five hour drive. We had overheating problems, so it took us an hour longer. Six hours to go one hundred miles! But we made it, and the Trooper didn't suffer any ill effects from the overheating. We were back in Shell by 3:45 PM, in time to pick up the boys from school.