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Firewall Finally

Finally I've got this firewall on my new server working! Now I can go home with a bit of a load off my mind, and enjoy the weekend. I won't try to explain it to you, but I'd done a good job of cluttering up a configuration file. Once I cleaned it out and re-saved everything, it works! I'm not smart, I'm just stubborn. Sooner or later I'll figure it out.

What You Gotta' Do

Termites are a way of life around here. They bore holes in everything, from wood to books. And they leave a pile of droppings as they go. The droppings are like sand, and they can get to be annoying. It's like finding sand on your desk, in your bed, in your drawers, and on the floor. The other week a termite starting eating the cupboard right above the hook where Bruce hangs his motorcycle helmet. Instead of finding a different place to hang his helmet, Bruce put a piece of packing tape under the hole to catch the droppings. Reminds me of a saying we have here. "Nothing works, but everything works out."

Emergency Flights

The guys continue to fly a lot of medical patients this week. Bruce flew a little boy home today. He had fallen out of a tree and cracked his head open. The surgeon over at the HCJB hospital was able to stitch him up.

Then on the way home Bruce picked up a lady who'd been bitten by a snake. It was just at dusk, and she heard her chickens fussing outside the hut. She went outside to see what was going on, and a snake bit her. No wonder the chickens were upset. The weather was bad this morning, and we didn't get her until this afternoon. Mike, a doctor who came to dinner at our home tonight, said she's not going to make it. She's in a coma, and not responsive at all. She's in her late forties and has five children. One of her sons came in to Shell with her. It's really sad when something like this happens. I really feel for the pilots when they have to fly the body back to the village again. Not an easy thing to do.

Mal Noticias

The following is an article from El Comercio, Ecuador's national newspaper, dated Thursday, May 29. We need to pray urgently that what has happened will not trigger a series of revenge killings in this part of Amazonia.

Armando Boya, president of the Waorani organization ONHAE, based in Puyo, made the announcement. Since the original article is in Spanish, this is a translated paraphrase:

"This week, around 30 people--men, women, and children--of the Tagaeri clan, belonging to the Waorani tribe, were assassinated in their community. He said that the assassins were seven warriors of the community of Tiguino, whose chief is Omene Ima. They had entered the intangible zone of the Tagaeri, Omene supposedly taking the head of an old Tagaeri warrior who had been expelled from the Tiguino community. This could have been the cause of the confrontation between the two groups. However, Boya also mentioned that the Tagaeri clan would not allow anyone into their territory, not even other Waorani groups, and that the actions of the assassins follows the interests of the wood cutters who are seeking to harvest wood from the Tagaeri area."

I'm told that on the radio this morning it was mentioned "a missionary" had given weapons to the assassins. There will be lots of rumors, as you can imagine, and it will be difficult to figure out what is truth and what is not.

I've been talking with Miriam Gebb, a community health worker with HCJB. Of all the missionaries still in Ecuador, she has probably spent the most time with the Waorani people. She knows many of them and has an understanding of their culture. The Waorani had their first peaceful contact with outsiders in 1956. The Tagaeri, a splinter group of the Waorani tribe, prefer their ancestral way of life, and have opposed the advance of modern civilization.

About six years ago there was a German who wanted to meet the Tagaeri group of Waorani. The Tagaeri are small clan who have not been reached peacefully by anyone, whether it be missionaries, oil company workers, other Waorani, or the government. The last outsiders who tried to reach the Tagaeri were a Catholic priest and nun. They were both speared to death. That was in 1987. This German fellow offered to pay the community of Tiguino the sum of $10,000 if they would help him contact the Tagaeri. In one of their attempts to contact the Tagaeri, the Waorani from Tiguino went to the Tagaeri settlement and found it empty, as well as the surrounding gardens. They did however, find a young teenage girl hiding in a tree trunk, and they took her back to Tiguino. The older Waorani at Tiguino were upset that this had been done, saying that was the old way, and that they should take the girl back. Taking a young woman of marrying age was the equivalent of declaring war. Two or three weeks later, they decided to take her back to her clan.

It was a Sunday, after three days of traveling on the river, when the group arrived at the Tagaeri settlement. Once again it was empty. Leaving the girl, the Tiguino group returned to their canoes. As they neared the river, they were ambushed by the Tagaeri, and one of the Tiguino men was speared. The group managed to get in their canoes and flee. They broke the barbs off the spear so the spear could be pulled out, but the barbs remained in the torso of the wounded man. For three more days they travelled by canoe back to Tiguino. The trip was grueling, as they couldn't take time to hunt for food or eat. On Wednesday they arrived in Tiguino and promptly got on the radio to call for medical help. A helicopter arrived and flew the injured man to Coca, where he received blood and was operated on. By Thursday morning he was dead.

Miriam heard about this, and decided to see what she could do. Going to Coca, she found that the Tiguino man was in fact dead. She couldn't be sure until she got there, because the Waorani say someone is dead even when they are only unconscious. At that point she flew by MAF plane to a closer airstrip and travelled by oil company truck to the village of Tiguino. She was getting ready to spend the night in the community health building when a group of men came around the corner of the building with guns. When they saw her they seemed surprised, and stopped to talk among themselves. Finally they came over to her to talk. They asked if she would come back to take care of the health needs of the community. She said that yes, she would. Presumably, the men had been ready to go and take revenge on the Tagaeri, when another Waorani told them that Miriam would be mad and not give them medical help if they did that. In the end, they didn't go do any confronting or killing.

Recently woodcutters have been illegally taking wood from the area near the Tagaeri group of Waorani. Miriam was told that the Tagaeri have been stealing food from the woodcutters' camps. The woodcutters have complained about this to the Waorani at Tiguino. This may be among the reasons that the Tagaeri were killed this week. I'm sure the motives are complicated to understand, and there will be much blaming.

Rick LeBouef, a local missionary with Christians in Action, has been making plans to try and reach the Tagaeri in September 2003. He's been making two fiberglass canoes with some molds that Steve Saint and the I-Tec group have built. Steve's first attempt was to use an Waorani-carved canoe as a mold. Now he has a set of aluminum molds here in Shell. Currently Rick is finishing the second 17-foot canoe. With a 25 HP outboard motor on it, he was planning to travel up and down the river, broadcasting the Gospel through loudspeakers. Now, it may be too late. No one is certain exactly the size of the Tagaeri group, but Miriam feels it is small, and that they may have been completely wiped out this week.

Everest Anniversary

On May 29, 1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit. That was fifty years ago. Back in the early '80s I had a list of things I wanted to do during my lifetime. Climbing Mount Everest was on that list. I don't have any such ambition at this time in my life.

Cloudy In Shell

It's a cloudy and rainy day here in Shell. Not looking good for me to get a ride in this afternoon unless I want to get wet. We're keeping the water out of the fuel though. Dan's out flying, and I hope he makes it back in. He should, as other planes are coming and going. He and his family are coming over for dinner tonight. There's a couple studying Spanish up in Quito for a few weeks and they're coming to Shell for a short visit. He's a pilot and is interested to know more about MAF. They'll come over for dinner also. They're coming from Quito by bus and should be here any time.

Bruce has been out on a flight, and is back. Chad flew up from Sucua in HC-BLP and dropped the plane off. He's on his way back to Sucua on the bus. It's a 100-mile trip, and it includes a part where you have to get off the bus, walk across two suspension bridges, and then get back on the bus. Takes five hours for the whole trip. Anyway, he needed to bring the plane up because it's time for some routine maintenance.

Mike came down from Quito again today. We've had three emergency flights to Quito since Monday. That's a lot more than usual. The guy who went up today had perotinitis and was in quite a bit of pain. We also brought in some patients from the jungle who went to the HCJB and Puyo hospitals. By the way, the Ministry of Health just paid up on all the money they owe, so that means we can keep flying patients. They are normally quite behind with their payments.

John Burk and family leave Quito today for a two month furlough. Their oldest son, Jason, graduated from the Alliance Academy last night, and they'll be getting him settled in the States. Curtis arrived a couple months ago, and like John, he's a maintenance specialist. That means he just is involved in maintenance. The pilots are also mechanics, and most of them will turn a wrench once in a while when needed. So with John gone, Curtis has jumped in with both feet.

World Bank Loan

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador secured a $1 billion, four-year loan package from the World Bank intended to help the Andean country reduce poverty, close a budget deficit and make $2.1 billion in debt payments this year, the bank said.

Ecuador's two leading exports are petroleum and bananas. Prices for both have been volatile, creating an economic risk, the bank said.

Adventure By Bus

I remembered tonight that I was going to write a bit about coming home from Quito on the bus last Thursday. It seems that everyone has a story about the bus, so I'll share mine.

I left the MAF office at 10:30 AM and flagged down a taxi on the street called Prensa. I hate it when my pack is full of expensive toys and I'm on the streets of Quito. My backpack doesn't look like a computer bag at all, so that helps. But, when it's carrying my notebook computer, Palm electronic organizer, cell phone, and digital camera, I get a bit nervous. Anyway, I was dropped off in front of the bus station, and I walked past it and to the bus exit. I don't like to go into the station if I can help it, and it's just as fast to grab the first safe-looking bus as it leaves the station. I ride to Ambato and then change there.

So by 11 AM I was on a bus headed to Ambato. The driver was a maniac. By far the fastest driver I had ridden with. The bus leaned as we sped around corners, and the driver leaned on the horn as he willed other cars and trucks to get out of his way. I'm quite sure the guy spent more time driving the bus in the middle of the yellow line, or passing on the left, than he did driving on the right side of the road. Not very comforting in light of the fact that there was a bus accident on the previous Monday with multiple fatalities and injuries.

The ride is always interesting. A standard occurance is the 'show and tell' sales pitch. The salesman stands in the front of the bus and in a loud voice tells the captive audience about the product. It might be ginseng, a world almanac, gum, candy bars, or a special health cream. Then the guy walks down the aisle passing out the product to everyone. Then he goes back to the front and tells everyone a few more reasons why they should buy it, especially since he's going to give you such a great price. Then he walks down the aisle one more time, and you either give the product back, or you pay him for it. I guess they figure if they get you to hold it for a few minutes you're more likely to buy it.

But, the salesman is taking a risk too. On this particular ride a couple got on. The woman started going into her speech, but you could tell she wasn't very good at it, and people started making jokes. So she sat down and her boy friend got up. He launched into a speech he'd given hundreds of times, and then performed some very convincing magic tricks with playing cards. He then walked down the aisle passing out candy. After a few more words about his candy, he collected money and candy. When he got to the guy behind me, something was wrong. I realized after a minute that the guy wasn't giving the candy back, and he wasn't paying either. I hoped there wasn't going to be a fight right on top of me, and thankfully it didn't come to that. But the salesman didn't get his money or candy from the guy. A few miles later the salesman and his girl friend got off the bus, not looking too happy.

Along the way, the latin music continues to blare, and at every town vendors get on to sell their wares--mandarins, shishkabobs, soft drinks, potato chips, banana chips, pork rinds, apples, and more. They walk up and down the aisle, then get off in a few minutes, ready to get on the next bus. I have no idea how many miles a day these bus vendors travel as they peddle their wares.

The roof of the bus is used to carry anything from furniture, baskets, produce, bicycles, and chickens. I've even seen a dog and a sheep on the roof of a bus. Not the same bus, that is, but at different times. Each bus has a driver and an attendant. The attendant does things like collect the money, let the driver know when people are on or off so the bus can go again, put luggage on the roof or under the bus, and help the driver back up when necessary. Often the buses are in a big hurry and the driver won't wait while the attendant ties something up on the roof. So while the guy is on the roof, the bus speeds down the road. When the attendant is done, he climbs part way down the ladder, then bangs on the roof with his hand so the driver will stop for him.

Along the way, we have great views of the Andean volcanoes. The 12,000' high road passes by Volcan Cotopaxi about an hour and a half south of Quito. I usually try to get a seat by a window. Not just so I can see out, but so I can control how much air I get. It's important too, to find a seat that let's me be the one who opens or closes it. Ecuadorians don't like to have a breeze blowing on them--they think it will make them sick. So buses often become warm and stuffy.

The bus lines have names like Reina del Camino, El Dorado, San Francisco, 22 de Julio, Amazonas, Flota Pelileo, and Riobamba. On the road from Ambato to Puyo, I prefer to ride an Amazonas or San Francisco bus. I trust those drivers more than the others, and that is important when you're on the BaÒos road, where the buses cling to the side of a cliff, hundreds of feet above the river. I refuse to get on a Riobamba bus. I've seen a couple of their buses in accidents, and don't think they are very safe drivers. Come to think of it, the accident last Monday happened near Riobamba. Must be something about the name.

At 4:30 I'm back in Shell, thirsty as can be. With only one stop in Ambato, half-way through the trip, I can't drink very much. A 160-mile trip on the bus has been a five and a half hour adventure and cost me only $5. How can you beat that?!

Summer Vacation

I was sorting through photos and thought I'd post this one. This was the entire student body at the Nate Saint Memorial School at the end of this school year. By the way, we still need two more teachers. Check out this page if you're interested.

Rio Pastaza

Today was a bit different. Ron was in Quito, so I thought maybe I'd do the water run. I also thought I had enough to do that I might put it off until tomorrow. But then I saw people had put their water containers out, and that we needed some also, so I figured I 'd go today. I was supposed to meet with the Ecuador program manager and the regional director to go over the Information Technology budget this morning, so that meant I'd do it this afternoon. Right before lunch I hitched up the trailer and then loaded all the water containers. We had Dave Fyock, the regional director, over for lunch. By the time we were done with lunch, I needed to wait at the hanger for an appointment I had with someone to work on their computer. They never showed up, so at 3:30 I decided I'd better go get water, or it wouldn't happen. Dan said he'd go along and keep me company since he wasn't flying. The weather had been bad throughout most of the day. On the way back I stopped to take this photo. This is the Rio Pastaza, looking east towards Shell. I had brought a couple umbrellas with us, since it often is raining out a Camp Mangayacu where we get the water. This time it was dry at the camp, and raining back at Shell.

Shell-Mera

Years ago people referred to this area as Shell-Mera. I'm still not sure if that was a missionary term or if that's what the local people called the place. Anyway, the Shell part comes from the fact that the Shell oil company was here in the '40s. Mera is actually five miles down the road from Shell, and quite a bit smaller. In this photo you can see the main road through Mera, and it's the street closest to the river. To the right is Shell, and to the left is BaÒos. At the top middle of the picture is a dam built on the Rio Tigre, and it's know as the Dique, which is a great place for a swim.

Keep 'em Open!

When my parents were here we laughed because my dad couldn't seem to keep his eyes open when we were taking photos. We had some otherwise great shots of the boys with their grandparents, but Dad's eyes were closed. I guess I shouldn't have laughed--now I seem to be suffering from the same problem. To a lesser degree, I am finding my eyes almost closed in photos.

Is It Monday?

I'm really frustrated. There are things that I'd like to change, but I can't seem to be able to. One is the situation my kids find themselves in for summer vacation. A long vacation, three months long. And not many other kids around to play with. In fact, very few other kids. I hope we all make it, because Ellyn and I can't entertain them ourselves for the whole summer. They're going to have to find some things they enjoy doing, alone and with others. They're going to have to learn how to play with other kids they might not normally play with, and who have different interests. Of course, they have chores during the summer, and some school work that they'll need to do. They don't like that, but that's too bad. That's one thing I won't change.

Then, there's this firewall/gateway I'm trying to set up. I'm frustrated with that because it's not working the way it's supposed to, and I'm having a difficult time understanding things. Anyone a Linux firewall expert?

I think the best thing I can do is go to bed early tonight and get a good night's rest. Things will probably look a bit different after that.

Accident-Free Flying

We start off each day at the hangar in Shell with a briefing and prayer. Invariably, the person praying asks the Lord for wisdom and safety for the pilots. On May 20th MAF pilots around the world achieved 21 months, or 630 days, of accident-free flying.

On May 22 the president of MAF sent out an e-mail asking us to celebrate this milestone as an organization.

Today, May 23, at 6:45 AM Papua (country of Indonesia) time, an MAF Cessna 206 landing at Magoda, an interior airstrip in the Nabire area, encountered a landing bounce that resulted in a hard landing. As a result the cargo pod was damaged and the landing gear may be sprung. The left elevator contacted the ground with enough force to bend the rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer. The pilot was able to complete the landing without any further damage. No injuries were sustained by the crew or any of the passengers on board. This officially ends the current record setting run of 640 days of accident free operations.

MAF airplanes landed over 40,000 times on rough, unimproved airstrips, in tropical jungles and sandstorm-plagued deserts last year alone. Nearly 90,000 passengers rode in our red and white airplanes going on safely with the task of sharing God's love in difficult locations.

As the pilots know, safety is not an accident, it is the intersection of God's grace and our abilities. Please continue to pray for the safe flight operations of MAF aircraft around the world.

Fueling System

Yesterday Ron and his guys finished digging up the fuel line that is under the grass between the fuel bodega and the ramp. Then Ron took down one of the fuel pumps--we have one at either end of the hangar, and temporarily mounted it on a small drum. We'll fuel the planes that way while we replace the old pipe. This afternoon, once he was back in Quito, Brian was able to locate a cement cutter, and we'll try to get that down to Shell in the next few day

NSMS Graduation

Last night was the kindergarten and eighth grade graduation at Nate Saint Memorial School. Three kindergarten students are moving on to first grade, and two eighth graders are going on to high school. One of the eighth grade students is returning to the States for a year before coming back to Ecuador. The other will be starting ninth grade at the Alliance Academy in August. We had a program of music along with the graduation. It was good to sing praise songs together as a Christian community. The seventh and eighth graders, as well as three high school students led us in that. As usual, the ceremony wouldn't be complete without the school singing the Shell Song. I'll have to post the words to that sometime soon. It's always worth a few smiles, as it talks a bit about life in Shell. Taylor and the others in second and third grade sang a song. Dustin and the other students in fourth through eighth grade played a couple songs on the recorders. As the school board president I presented gifts to each of our teachers. But, big mistake, Ellyn and I forgot to present the gift we had bought for the principal! How embarassing! We only realized it after the program was over. After the speeches and certificates for the two eighth grade boys--both named Nathan--we ended with prayer and then cake and drinks. And that program was my last responsibility as school board president. Whew! Next year I'm on the board again, this time as vice-president.

IT Work In Quito

I'm up in Quito, having caught a ride up here with Brian just after noon today. The BaÒos pass was clobbered with clouds and rain, so we turned back towards Shell, climbing to 15,000' to get on the IFR route. Same as two weeks ago. After the pass it cleared, and was a bumpy ride. I had skipped lunch so I could squeeze an hour bike ride in first, so as we bounced along I started to feel just a twinge of nausea. I think having some food in my stomach would have helped. Along for the ride was Brian Writebol, and his friend, Russel. Brian is a second year Moody Aviation student and he has spent a couple months working with us in Shell. He's working on his A & P and hopes to someday be a missionary aircraft mechanic. Brian and Russel had come down from Quito with Brian so they could spend a couple hours in Shell. Russel is just visiting Ecuador for a couple weeks. Last weekend they tried to climb Cotopaxi but were not able to summit due to bad weather.

At any rate, right after we landed I began working on finishing up some of the things that I was up here to do a couple weeks ago. There were a few loose ends and I'm getting them taken care of. I applying a bunch of Windows 98 updates and patches as I sit here and write this. There's lots of time as I sit here and wait through re-boot after re-boot. If all goes well I'll get done around 7 or 8 tonight and then head home on the bus in the morning.

Bus Crash In The Andes

A bus crash like this, with lots of deaths, is why riding the bus here in Ecuador can be hazardous. But, it is a cheap way to get around, especially for the country's poor, who don't have their own vehicle.

Tarantula Tuesday

I just got back from getting water at Camp Mangayacu. Ron normally does it, but he needed extra time today. He's putting in a temporary line and fuel pump so that we can replace the old pipe running to the pumps at the hangar.

I'm about to head over to the school and help them set up for the kindergarten and 8th grade graduation tonight. First I thought you'd like to see what is in our mailbox. I'll leave it there as a present for Ellyn.

Down The Drain

I arrived at the hangar a bit late this morning, as I had been over at the school for an end-of-year awards assembly. When I took a look out the hangar doors, I noticed Panchito fueling the plane using a gas can. I actually wasn't too surprised, even this isn't our normal method of fueling the planes. Ron was out digging up the fuel line, so the pumps were out of commission. All this because recently it was discovered that over the past couple months we've lost thousands and thousands of dollars of av gas. At first we suspected it was being stolen out of the fuel bodgea, but some simple checking of fuel levels several nights and then several days showed that we were still losing fuel even though we weren't pumping any during the day. So it wasn't being stolen at night, but must be leaking underground. Ron had excavated probably forty feet worth of the pipe this morning and had already found three leaks. And that was just on the top half of the pipe. Who knows how many more on the underside where he wasn't able to look? It's going to be a big job to replace all that pipe. Especially the more than 100' that is under the cement around the hanger. The trick is going to be finding a cement cutter here in this part of the country. I'll let you know more as the story unfolds.

Arajuno Map

I forgot to include the map showing the location of Arajuno. Might not mean too much to you if you haven't lived in Shell. Arajuno is about 20 minutes from Shell by air. Much longer by bicycle.

Descending To Arajuno

Back in the '50s Nate Saint flew to the jungle airstrips near Shell. A couple of those places were Makuma and Arajuno. I've been to Makuma a few times. The only way to get to Makuma is by airplane. About four years ago the road to Arajuno was completed. A year and a half ago I decided I'd like to ride out there. But, it wouldn't be an easy ride--a long distance on dirt road, descending down to the hot, muggy jungle. And then, climbing back up again.

Today I did it. Heading out of Shell, it's six miles to the Arajuno turnoff, where the pavement ends and the dirt begins. The first thirteen miles of dirt are in great shape--thanks to the oil company. At mile twenty the road splits. Left to the oil company, and right to Arajuno. Oh, I should also say down to Arajuno. As I descended the rocky road, I wondered more than once if I was going to make it back up again. The sky was cloudy, and it looked like it might rain, but there was never more than a slight drizzle at times.

After a little over 42 miles of riding, I was in Arajuno. I bought a couple liters of water, a Coke, and ate my sandwich and banana. It's amazing the places you can buy a Coke! I talked for a minute to Hugo, the store owner. I asked him if he knows Mateo Chimbo, a mechanic with MAF. He did. I work with Mateo at the MAF hangar. He's a Quechua indian from Arajuno, and as a young boy, he watched the MAF planes flying over the jungle. He decided the that someday he'd become a mechanic and help to keep those planes flying. Hugo also told me of several other MAF pilots that he knows. Now that there is a road to Arajuno, MAF doesn't fly there very often. It is still used for training new pilots, more than fifty years after Nate Saint first flew there.

It took me more than two hours to climb back up from Arajuno, back to the good oil company road. Along the way I had the dogs try to chase me as usual, but I didn't lose any flesh. I'd just stop for a second, and they'd lose interest. It slowed me down, but it was better than wasting energy trying to outrun them. Back on the smooth road again, I was able to pick up some speed, and also eat a couple Power Bars. The last few miles seemed long, and after almost eight hours I was back home again.

I told Ellyn the day couldn't have been more perfect. I didn't get rained on, and I didn't get a sunburn. To ride eight hours in the Oriente and not get drenched didn't seem possible. The equatorial sun can bring on a sunburn in a matter of minutes. Today the sun was hidden behind rainless clouds. The only thing that could have made it better would be to have someone to ride with me. If anyone cares to join me, I'd love to do it again.

It's Muddy!

Well, it's not muddy here at the hangar, but it was muddy at the 4x4 races on Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning we had a large community garage sale at the HCJB guest house. One family is leaving for good, and several others are leaving for summer furlough. And then there are those who needed to just get rid of some junk. So we held a garage sale. The boys miss going to garage sales on Saturday mornings with their mom, so they love it when one happens here, which isn't very often. They went through their rooms and put together a pile of things they wanted to sell. But I digress! The sale went well, and I went to help. Not exactly what I call fun. But, I knew the fun was coming. About noon Dustin and I finally made it down to Puyo, where they were having 4x4 races as part of the Puyo Days celebrations. It was muddy, but this year I had my boots. Last year I had forgot to wear boots and it was hard to get around in the mud. Dustin and I enjoyed walking around to different parts of the course to watch the racing. We had just eaten lunch, so we decided not to have any of the pig. Actually, I would have passed anyway. After about an hour Dustin decided that was enough, so we headed home. We'll do it again next year.

Thursday Morning

Dan has been out and back already. He was to one of the closer strips that we fly to. Fred and Steve are out on a flight. They are combining training with work. Steve is still working on his Ecuadorian license and becoming familiar with jungle flying. Bruce is getting ready for a flight to Quito. He'll be transferring a patient from the hospital in Puyo who needs to go to Quito. She's pregant and needs more help than they can provide here. The weather is not great here, but flying instruments he should be able to get out of here. The weather in Quito is fine right now.

In The Dark

The power is back on again. It went off sometime around 8 PM. When it was obvious it would be a while before it came back on, I walked over to the hangar and shutdown my three servers. I have a UPS that will run things, probably for 8 hours, but I figured if the power was off all night, I'd be pushing it if I left them running. Back at the house again, I read to Taylor by flashlight and then tucked him in. At 9:40 PM I was in bed. Very early for me, but that's OK. I'd been in bed a few minutes when the power came on. So I walked back over to the hangar and turned on the servers. Earlier Dave had called and asked if we wanted the generator started. I said no, and then told him I'd turned off the servers. He seemed disappointed, and I'm sure he was hoping to get some work done on the computer. So I called him when the servers were on so he'd know we're back in business again. Not a big deal, but just a little insight as to how it all works around here when the power goes out.

Today I worked on a variety of things. I'm continuing to learn about Red Hat 8 from the MAF IT guys in Haiti. I'm learning how to set up a server as a gateway with firewall, NAT, and content filtering. I was hoping to go 'live' with the new server this month, but that will be delayed. I've decided to go with Red Hat 9, which came out a month and a half ago. I had the IT deptartment in Redlands burn the CDs for me, and send them to someone who's coming down this weekend. I should have my CDs this coming Monday. The other thing I spent some time on is learning a bit about Outlook. I don't use Outlook, so am not a lot of help when people have problems or questions. Right now I'm working on setting up profiles on a machine so that more than one person can use Outlook on that machine.

Teacher Strike

Teachers don't only go on strike in the US. They do it here in Ecuador too--throughout the whole country. Right now the teachers of public schools in Ecuador are on strike because they aren't being paid. The government doesn't have enough money to pay them. A teacher in Ecuador makes $150 a month!

Turbo Tales

Dan took off right at 9 AM this morning and then came back immediately. There was a problem with the turbo and he lost some power. As soon as he landed they looked out it and could see the problem. There is a lot of wobble in the shaft and the turbine blades were rubbing on the housing. We normally have the turbos overhauled when they fail, so now this one will be overhauled. It has just under a thousand hours on it. The guys are now talking about inspecting them around 800 hours and replacing them before they fail. At any rate, the weather was good for flying this morning, and we have a maintenance problem. If it's not one thing, it's six others!

False Start

The weather looked like things were clearing up nicely. We were getting radio reports of improving weather in the jungle. Dan and Bruce preflighted their planes and filled out flight plans. And then, it closed down again, with the clouds and rain settling back over Shell.

More Bad Weather

We're not flying here in Shell today. Nor are we flying anywhere in Ecuador. The weather is bad all over the jungle. It was yesterday also. There are a couple emergencies that we need to pick up, but haven't been able to. We need some good weather.

Rad Rattlers!

Last week the students at NSMS participated in their annual Olympics Day. Normally they compete on an individual basis. They did that again this year, but they also were divided into five teams. As they competed, they earned points for their teams. Taylor's team, the Rad Ratters, won the team competition. Yippee for the Rad Rattlers!

Chicken For Lunch

John is feeding the three hangar boas today. He's going to be going to the US for a couple months and he leaves in a week. John is the one who takes care of the snakes. If you visit the hangar, and want to have your picture taken with a snake, he is the one you talk to. Ron is the only other person I know who will handle the snakes. Not me--I hate 'em! Anyway, John is feeding them each about five small chickens. Dwain, an amateur herpetologist, says that out in the jungle a boa can go for up to six months after a big meal. John figures these hangar boas can go for a couple month after their big meal today. By then, John will be back.

Shell From The Air

I still don't have a really good photo of Shell from the air. I got this one Tuesday afternoon. It would be OK if it wasn't for the strut. In the foreground, on the southwest side of the runway, is the military base. The plane is right over the Rio Pastaza river. On the right edge, at the end of the runway, is the MAF hangar and the Nate Saint house and old hangar. The MAF base is at the end of town on the road towards Puyo. The civilian part of Shell is at the top of the photo, to the northeast.

Tiny Truck

It's amazing how many people can fit in vehicles around here. And they ride on or in just about anything. I'm surprised more people don't fall off. The only person I know who's fallen off is an MK here a couple years ago who had a life-long ambition to ride on the bumper of a pickup taxi (camioneta). It was almost the end of his life--he got a good knock to the head as he tried to get off while it was still moving. Now that I think about it, I did see another guy loose his footing on the bumper once while the camionet was just starting off. He held on and got dragged a bit, but was OK. Anyway, here's a photo of a small pickup with a load of produce and then about ten people sitting on top of that. They had just come through a police checkpoint, and they were fine. Can you imagine!? No way you could do that in many other countries around the world. Here it's done out of necessity.

Quilted Fields

I said the other day I enjoy the beauty of Ecuador from the air. The fields are expecially fascinating to watch. Many of them are on the sides of steep hills. Almost all of them are worked by hand--no tractors. Something else you see a lot of from the air are the greenhouses. Ecuador has a huge cut-flower industry.

Friday Computers

I've got the old Quito secretary computer down here in Shell now. I worked on it yesterday afternoon and evening, and it's up and running this morning. What a difference for the flight scheduler, Tomas! It's twice as fast, and will really be a help to him. He was using an old Pentium 1 processor running at 150 MHz. Running Win98 was a chore for that machine, needless to say. So now he's using a 333 MHz Celeron with Windows 98. That's really yesterday's technology, but for our situation here, it's just great.

Friday Flying

The weather was bad on Tuesday and Wednesday. The guys flew some yesterday. They still have a lot of flying to do today. Let's pray the weather stays nice all day so they can get a lot of it done. Brian is down from Quito--came down yesterday--so he can do a check ride with Darryl, who is a CFI. Later this afternoon Brian will head over to Nueva Roca Fuerte to pick up a medical emergency that has been waiting since Tuesday. What a long time to wait! The weather around here really plays havoc with people's health when it comes to emergencies. Apparently Dan got stuck down in Sucua last night. I also heard that he took the day off yesterday. We'll see which is true. I got in from Quito yesterday by car at 1 PM, so I'm not sure what he really did. Lots of maintenance work being done. HC-BXB is getting a major inspection. Now's a great time to do all that work because we're waiting for a new engine for it. HC-BZE, the Quito base plane, is down in Shell for a week now, undergoing an inspection. Also, Bruce is adding a weather radar. He's also fixing some other things that need to be re-done as far as the avionics go.

Thin Air

I did make it up to Quito yesterday with Mike. We headed out of Shell and started up the pass. Mike wasn't sure he could make through the pass, but based on the fact that he could see some ridges and some light through the clouds, he gave it a try. It wouldn't be a waste, because even if we couldn't get through, we would be able to use the altitude we'd gain trying. Sure enough, we couldn't go through the pass, so we turned back towards Shell, still climbing. We needed to be at 15,000' to get on the instrument route. Soon we were back over Shell and started flying on instruments towards Banos. As we neared Ambato we broke through the clouds. I was able to glimpse part of Cotopaxi and we flew past the city of Latacunga, and then we were climbing again. We needed to climb to 18,000' feet to get over the final pass into Quito. This time I pulled out an oxygen mask and used it. Figured I'd be OK without it, but it couldn't hurt either. After coming out of the clouds again, we descended very quickly to land at Quito, elevation 9,300'. It's never a boring flight, as I love the bird's eye view of the beautiful country of Ecuador. And, it sure beats sitting on a bus for over five hours!

I went to work right away on the computer. I had a new motherboard and processor to put in a new computer case. The plan was to use the hard drive, CD drive, floppy drive, network card, and modem from the old computer. I soon had the processor and motherboard in the computer and connected to the power supply, but there things halted. I couldn't get it to turn on. I headed of to the food court at the mall to get some chinese food and then went to the MAF guest apartment to read Grisham's latest, King of Torts. This morning I took the computer over to the store and their technician showed me a second cable from the power supply that I needed to connect to the motherboard. That was new to me. Problems like that are never a waste if you can learn something new from it. I've spent the rest of the day getting things going. Well, most of the day. I went over to an MAF family's house to pray and have lunch with the rest of the MAF staff here in Quito. Then back to work this afternoon. I finally have everything going except the modem. I'm downloading a driver now from another computer, and hope it's the right one.

I thought I might be going back to Shell today, but that's not happening. For one thing, the work took longer than I thought it would. It usually does. Another reason is that the plane didn't go to Shell. The weather has been bad in Shell again today. As of 1 PM they still hadn't done any flying. That makes two days in a row, and I'm sure things are getting backed up. Emergency patients who need to get out of the jungle. And patients who are ready to go back to the jungle who are waiting in Shell. When I realized the plane wasn't going down today, I figured I'd take the bus. But, it's too late for that now. The plane will likely leave first thing in the morning on Thursday. But, it turns out there probably isn't room for me. Well, room for me, but the plane will be too heavy. So I think I'll be getting a ride with Pablo. He's a missionary who lives here in Quito, and does some flying out of Shell with his friend Rick. Actually, Pablo used to be an MAF pilot about four years ago. Now he's doing a lot of church leadership work. It'll be good to spend a few hours in the car with him. He's from Finland, and speaks Finnish, spanish, and english. Wow, and I'm struggling with just spanish!

So, I spend another night in Quito. I'm stuck in a rut, and I think I'll go have chinese food again. And then go read my book again. Maybe I'll even exercise again in the morning tomorrow. I did today, and I probably should again, since I'm not able to ride. This morning I did nine laps up and down the stairs of the 11-story building where I'm staying. The challenge is doing that at 9,300'!

Flying In The Soup

I'm heading up to Quito in a few minutes. I've got a flight up, and maybe one back tomorrow. I've got some IT work to do in the office up there. More on that later. I've been having a low-key couple of days, helping folks out with small problems here and there. That's also given me some time to play with Red Hat 8 and learn something about iptables. I'm working on setting up my machine as a firewall and gateway with NAT. If you know what that is, great. If not, don't sweat it. It's been a rainy and very cloudy day. I didn't think I'd be getting to Quito on a plane today, but we're outa' here. Probably do some instrument flying along the way.

MKs From Shell

I wrote the other day about MKs, and posted a picture. I should have mentioned who those guys are. Two of the boys are Butchers, and two are Hieberts. They were here in Shell during the '80s.

Monday Happenings

Bruce and Dan were both out flying this morning. One of them brought back an emergency patient who was taken to the hospital in Puyo. The level of care isn't quite as good there as it is at Hospital Voz Andes here in Shell, but it's free. The biggest con to going there is that they often are understaffed and out of supplies.

We're working on some improvements at the hangar, one being an old chain-link fence. They've replace part of it with cement block. Here Ron and the guys are trying to get water to the work site. They are joining two hoses without all the necessary fittings, and instead are trying to shrink a tube down with a heat gun and join the hoses that way. Around here you do what you have to with what you've got!

Dave (Ecuador Program Manager) went to Quito. He took a full load to a jungle location first and then headed to Quito. He's got a meeting this afternoon with the MAF lawyer. We're trying to work with and around a law that says all foreign operators need to be employing Ecuadorian pilots. We had one Ecuadorian pilot, but he recently left. Currently there is another guy training in Brazil, but it will be another couple years before he's back here and ready to fly for us. The petroleum companies are also trying to figure out how to work with this law. Hopefully they'll realize we are different than the commercial operators and grant us some sort of waiver.

Bus Tickets

I went down to Puyo this afternoon to buy bus tickets for Ellyn and Dustin. They are going to Quito early Sunday morning. The bus starts in Puyo and comes through Shell. If you buy a ticket, you're guaranteed a seat, and we can get on right in front of our house. So I go back out to the car with the ticket, and note that it is for bus #35. I had a few more errands to run, and was heading down the old cobblestone street into 'downtown' Puyo. I saw a San Francisco bus out of the corner of my eye, and quickly checked for the number. It was #35, and it was a pile. A pile of junk. There was no way I was going to let Ellyn and Dustin ride up the BaÒos pass on that bus. After I finished my errands, I went back to the bus station and changed Ellyn's ticket for an earlier bus. This time it was #33.

Just as I was leaving town, the truck sputtered and came to a stop. I had run out of gas! I rolled the truck backwards and turned it into a nearby driveway. There was a gas station about a half mile back, so I headed off that way. As I walked, I saw San Francisco bus #33 coming into town. A much better looking bus than #35! After explaining my situation, the attendant got a couple empty 2-liter bathroom detergent jugs and after rinsing them out, we filled them with gas. One had a hole in it about a quarter of the way up, so he put some tape over the hole. Of course, that didn't hold the gas in. So we filled it three-quarters full, and then I carried it tipped over so the gas couldn't spill out the hole. He also gave me an empty half-liter water bottle for a funnel. Cut the bottom of and it works really well. I made it back to the truck, put the gas in, and got it started. I headed back to the gas station to get just a bit more in the tank, and then drove home. I love the resourcefulness of the people here.

BaÒos Road

Yesterday Brian asked if he could join me on the ride to BaÒos. I was glad to have the company, so he borrowed a bike and came along. Brian is going to Moody to become an aircraft mechanic and he's here in Shell to work a few months while he takes a semester off. We left at 7 AM, and had great weather--cloudy all day and only a little rain. The distance was 64 miles, and it's been a while since I've ridden that far. I feel good now, and I think I'm ready for my next challenge. I want to ride out to Arajuno, and I think I'll do it this coming weekend. That's going to be an even farther ride than going to BaÒos.

Up To BaÒos

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to ride from Shell to BaÒos. That is, if it's not pouring rain. The past two mornings it's been raining hard in the early morning. If it's clear enough by 8 AM, I'll go. I would like to go earlier if possible.

Finally Friday

It's been a busy week for the pilots. Fred just came through the Pilots' Office, and he said he's so tired he keeps forgetting what he walked into the room for. That happens to me a lot, even when I'm not tired! He was flying today, I think with Steve. Bruce is out right now, having got back from Quito about mid-day. Right now he's taking someone from the US Embassy and his family on a flight out to Palm Beach. Darryl was passing through, but he's now on his way back down to our base in Sucua.

Missionary Kids

Andrew, Michael, David. These are some of the Shell and Quito MKs who have found our web site and have written to me. There may be more who have found the site, but I'm not aware of them. Being an MK (also know as TCK) myself, it's always so fun for me to hear from other MKs, especially those who were in Shell. This place is full of so much missionary history, and I wish I knew more. I feel like such an outsider sometimes. The longer I'm here, the better it gets. But, it's still not the same as being a kid here from birth, or from kindergarten, and spending your growing up years in such a great place, forming life-long bonds with other MKs. I know what it's like, because I went to PNG at two years old, and left when I was sixteen. I think one of my life regrets is that I've never been back to Ukarumpa, my first home.

Emergency Flight

Bruce left for Quito about forty-five minutes ago. He had a patient and doctor with him. The patient had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and the surgeon in Shell had been unable to stop the bleeding. They needed to get him to Quito quickly. It was Bruce's first solo flight to Quito, as he had just recently been checked out on the route.