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Rain In Shell

Over the last weekend we had some warm weather. At one point I thought I should go check the water supply, because when it hasn't rained much, the city water system seems to lose pressure. Never mind about that. We've had a wet week. The pilots have been able to get the flying done, and it's rained in the middle of the afternoon, before they need to get back. The other day the rain was pounding on the roof and I was looking out the door at the hanger, checking to see what the sky looked like, and if the storm was coming or going. The rain was bouncing off the road and I thought that looked neat. The camera can't always capture what the eye sees, but it was worth a try. That's the Nate Saint house across the street.

Funny

Ben played a joke the other day on Steve, and hid behind his motorcycle while Steve was trying to start. After stalling the bike, restarting, and still finding it difficult, Steve finally figured out what Ben was up to. Unfortunately for Steve, everyone in the hangar was watching and laughing. Today, Pato got Ben back. Ben wanted me to take a picture of him with a big jungle catfish. As Ben knelt down, Pato rushed up and put a chicken in the photo. Even though we were all roaring, Ben was clueless until I showed him the photo!

Computer Happenings

It's about 3 PM and still no thunderstorm this afternoon. That's fine with me. After our storm late yesterday afternoon, I started my servers up again, and plugged in the modem line at about 4 PM. Only problem was that with the one line, I didn't push the jack in far enough, and then also forgot to test it. I am aware that it's a problematic jack, so I should have checked to see that the modem was working. At 7:40 AM today I received a call from a user asking if there was something wrong with the system, because when they called in, the computer at the hangar wasn't picking up. As soon as I got to the hangar I checked and found the problem. What amazed me was that no one called me at home sooner to let me know there was a problem.

Today I helped Curtis get some old mail transferred from one computer to another in Microsoft Outlook. He and John, the other US mechanic, both share a maintenance e-mail account, so it takes a bit of thinking and extra steps to keep things in line. They check the account and respond to e-mail messages from four different computers.

The project computer that I worked on a couple days ago is set up at the flight scheduler's desk and all is well. It's nice to have that taken care of. I've been messing around with the old computer, trying to figure out a better way to install a power supply. In the end I've decided it's probably not worth it. I put an old 500MB hard disk drive in there and loaded up Windows 98. I'm running the updates on it right now. I hate re-installing Windows 98 because it takes so long to update it all on our slow 36K connection. Well, I shouldn't complain, at least it works.

Something that works better now even with our slow connection is our e-mail server. Even while I'm downloading these updates, the e-mail serve is still connecting with Redlands and exchanging mail. Before July, with our old server, that wouldn't have happened. Large downloads consumed enough bandwidth that mesages waited in the queue until the download ended. Not so with our current server, Communigate Pro. It handles the connection and mail differently, and keeps on chugging away. It's great!

Only In Shell

This morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I realized that the boys have not said anything about Halloween all week. I don't think they even remember that today is Halloween. There is nothing in Shell to remind us that it's Halloween. Very nice! Then, as Dustin was going out the door to school, he almost closed the door on Lucy the Macaw, who was coming in to get some breakfast. Normally she waits outside, but if she sees the door open, she'll climb down and come inside. As I crossed the street to the hangar, once again I could see grey clouds of ash billowing from the volcano Tungurahua. I'd never have a chance to experience all things things unless I lived here in Shell.

The Junk Pile

I had been thinking the past day or so about a project I needed to start. I have a computer on the network that isn't doing too well, and I expect it to die any day. The power supply is on the blink, and on top of that, the design is poor, and the power supply fan blows hot air into the case. So we run it with the cover off, which isn't a good idea in this environment. So this morning I went up to a pile of old computer cases in the attic which I had 'discovered' yesterday. They were placed there by someone else, and either I hadn't noticed them before, or I had forgotten they were there. At any rate, I pulled out a few things to get started on my project. I soon realized the new motherboard I had wouldn't fit in the first case, but another trip up to the attic produced a case that would work. But, the case was minus a power supply. I was able to take a power supply from the case that wouldn't work, and then modify the power switch to fit the new case. Soon everything was in place, including the hard disk drive from the old computer. Later, as I was attempting to install some new drivers, I found that the old 4X speed CD drive was bad. I'll have to replace that later, but for now was able to share the CD from a drive on another computer. Finally, just before 5 PM I put the computer back on Tom·s's desk. I'm glad I had a new BabyAT motherboard, a processor, RAM, and a few other parts that I could use to put together a nice 'new' machine for the Flight Scheduler desk.

You might be interested to know that one of the cases I found up in the attic, and that I used parts from, had some old components in it. I'm not sure I've ever since memory modules that small, but I have seen a hard drive that small before. It was 80MBs!! And, the network card is old enough that I can't use it anymore, as we're using a different type of cabling now.

Before I got started on all that, I had realized that our Internet connection through HCJB wasn't working. Our dial-up connection to the hospital was good, but I couldn't reach anything outside of Shell. A quick call to the HCJB technician in Shell alerted him to the problem, of which he previously wasn't aware. He called me back in a few minutes and told me that a satellite modem in Quito wasn't working. If they could repair it, things would be back to normal today. If they couldn't repair it, then we'd be without the connection for up to a week until they could get a new modem down from the States. In the meanwhile, I connected manually to an ISP account in Quito every couple hours to transfer mail. By 4 PM I received another call letting me know that the repair had been made and the satellite connection was working again.

Thunder and Lightning

The past several afternoons we've had quite a bit of thunder and lightning. Last night, about 7:30 PM, a huge storm hit Shell. The lightning was like nothing I've ever seen before. Once it seemed the storm was not going to pass quickly, I walked over to the hangar to shutdown and unplug the computers and antennas. I was glad I did, as within the half hour a huge strike hit the middle of town and the lights went out at the same time. By the time we had light a few candles, the power came back on again. It wasn't long before lightning hit once more, and the power went out for the rest of the night. We spent quite a long time staring out the window and the show. I've never seen anything like it. The lightning was everywhere, and constant. Lou the Beagle was quite scared, and stayed securly curled up on the quilt which Dustin put on the floor for her. Ellyn worked on a house decorating project for a friend, all by candlelight. The boys and I sat on the floor by five candles and played a board game. At one point the storm seemed to be passing, and then it came back, strong as ever. I think Dustin and Taylor finally went to bed about 10 PM. I know Taylor was a bit nervous, but after giving me a walkie talkie, and keeping one for himself, he felt better. Dustin took the dog with him to his room. The dog, who normally sleeps on the bed, decided that was too close to the window for comfort, and plopped down on the floor on the opposite side of the room. I went to bed close to 11 PM, and the storm was still pounding away. This morning we woke to no power, but also no storm. By 5:45 AM Ron had the base generator running, and at 7:30 AM I walked over and turned on the servers. Finally, by 8 AM the city power was back on. Wow, but that was one big storm. We had another round this afternoon, and I ended up shutting down and unplugging servers for an hour.

Sunday Afternoon

Yes, I'm still here. I haven't felt much like writing anything lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just being lazy. But, I realize there are some of you out there who check this once in a while, and would like to know what's going on here. I want to write so you can stay in touch, and I also want to write so I can look back on this some day when I'm no longer in Shell.

Last night Taylor and I slept in the loft above the carport. I was awake at 5:45 AM, and the sky was blue and the sun was rising. I love looking at the volcanoes on these kinds of mornings, and today was no exception. After going inside to get my camera, I padded down the road in my bare feet to get a shot of Sangay and Altar . Tungurahua was also puffing away, and the wind was blowing the ash towards the northwest. As I crawled back up to the loft, I took another shot of Sangay. This is looking over our roof, with the second story of the Nate Saint house visible on the left. Two hours later, when I checked again, great clouds of ash were still rising from Tungurahua.

We listened to our church service tape after breakfast. The tape was from September 21, and it was the Sunday after the congregation found out our pastor would be leaving. He's going to continue studying at Fuller Seminary, as is his wife. It's going to be really strange to go back to our church next summer when they'll be gone.

It's another hot day today. It's been that way for several days. Dustin wanted me to take him to the river, and I was set to, but then he ended up going with Sylvia and a pickup full of kids. Unlike in the US, we can still ride in the back of pickups. Might not be super safe, but it's great for getting a bunch of kids to the river.

Still Waiting

Dave, the MAF program manager, is still waiting up in Quito for what could be a key meeting. There's a key government official that would like to meet with us. Dave and the lawyer were to meet with him yesterday, but the meeting didn't happen. The official in question had to make an urgent trip to Colombia to work on the relationship with that country. According to the story in the national paper, the Colombian president had accused the Ecuadorian military of supplying missiles to the FARC, a rebel movement in Colombia. The official was supposed to return to Ecuador last night, and hopefully a meeting would take place today. So far that hasn't happened. Dave will wait in Quito until tomorrow, and then meeting or not, he's heading home. Our Quito base manager and the lawyer can handle things. Dave has been away from his family quite a bit lately as he seeks to work towards a resolution to the current situation.

It's Broken

I've spent part of the afternoon trying to get the washing machine working. Seems like the timer switch isn't working properly. I can have Ron help me change it, but he can't do it until the weekend when the work team is gone. My laptop network adapter stopped working for a while this morning. I shut it down and went home for lunch. After lunch, when I started the computer again, all was well. I don't like those kind of mysteries, because I'm left wondering when it will happen again. The mechanics are taking the engine off of HC-BXB, as it as an oil pressure problem. They'll have to send it back to the US to be repaired. Meanwhile, this seems to be a good time to paint the plane, so plans are underway for that.

Meetings

The Ecuador Program is asking for prayer for some key meetings to happen tomorrow, Tuesday, with Ecuador government officials. These meetings could be instrumental in providing a more stable legal base for operations to continue in Ecuador. Pray for wisdom for Dave, Mike, and Dr. Bossano (MAF's lawyer) as they interact with these officials, that they may understand the issues and our hearts.

Long And Short Of It

I thought this a funny photo and since I happened to have my camera in hand during the morning circle time, it became reality. Typically, the people we work with here are much shorter than most Americans. If you have large feet, buying shoes in Ecuador can be quite a challenge, if not impossible! Anyway, the tall gringo in the photo is Steve, our newest pilot in the Ecuador program. The gentleman to his right is Panchito, who has worked for MAF the past twenty-five years.

New Photo Album Page

At the suggestion of a regular reader, who is an MK from Shell, I put together a new page on our web site. If you are fascinated by creepy crawly things, you'll like it.

News From Shell

I'm sure you are wondering about MAF situation here in Ecuador. It's been a few days since I posted anything about that. We currently have a work team in Shell from our church, so that's taken some of our time and attention. We always enjoy seeing familiar faces from home and sharing our life with them while they are here. The team is here to paint the Harcey's house. Actually, the Harcey house is the top part of what used to be a hangar. It was the hangar that Nate Saint started with, and was then expanded on, and which MAF used until about 1980. In this photo, it's the building on the right. The Saint house is on the left.

I think many of you have been praying in regard to our situation with Civil Aviation. Dave, our program manager shared with us all at a staff meeting last week, and brought us up to date on many details. He told us that it has been very encouraging to see the evidence of the Lord's hand through this process! He explained how many doors have opened to usÝat various levels of the government and things are moving forward.

The first issue with the DAC is a law requiring foreign pilots to be replaced by Ecuadorians in a timely manner. This we are attempting to do in a limited way, but it won't happen overnight, and even then the reality is that the local Ecuadorian church isn't able to support the kind of operation that MAF currently has in Ecuador. Of course, that's not an issue that the DAC cares about. The second issue that has come up in the past two weeks is a law suit against the DAC by the commercial companies. The DAC passed the law suitÝon to theÝprivate aviation organizations, of which MAF is one of several here in Shell. The law suit has been filed by commercial operators who are saying that the private operators are making commercial flights.

MAF feels they have addressed the concern regarding the law suit, but there continues to be an intense struggle between the two groups on this issue. Currently, indigenous groups (several of the private operators are run by these groups) have closed their airstrips to the commercial companies which is creating significant tension in the aviation community. The DAC has called a meeting of all operators for Friday afternoon to try and work through this. The main problem is there are no laws to define theÝdifferencesÝbetweenÝthe commercial and non-profit aviation companies. Please pray for peace and wisdom for all present and agreement on how to form new laws to permit both types of operations to continue.

Our program manager writes, "On the license issue, we have received aÝ2-month extension (through mid December) and are optimistic that we will have a legal solution by then. There are many people concerned and working on our behalf. Please pray that we will easily see God's direction through these challenges and that our light will continue to shine."

Quito Tourism

Here's an interesting article on Quito from The Japan Times Online. I've just started to discover Old Quito in the past few months, and have become a bit more of a tourist in that sense.

MAF Ecuador Legal Update

This is the latest on our situation here in Ecuador. This is from Dave, the program manager, and it's what he's telling all our constituents here so they know where things stand:

Civil Aviation has granted us a 60-day extension to comply with requirements to address the law requiring foreign technicians to be replaced with Ecuadorian ones. We are taking various steps to address these requirements and have confidence we can do so within the new time constraints. Therefore, our operations will continue normally until further notice.

There also has been a law suit filed against all private operators which includes Alas. This suit is from DAC but is in response to a law suit against DAC by the commercial aviation companies in Shell stating that private companies are charging for flights in a commercial manner. We do not feel that this law suit will be difficult to refute as we have a direct contract with the Ministry of Government that enables us to operate the way we do but the other private operators do not have this advantage. We are in support and helping with efforts to design a new law which would permit non-profit companies to operate properly. Other private operators are taking more extreme measures, such as closing airstrips to commercial companies, which we do not support. Currently there is a „hole¾ in the law making it difficult for private and commercial companies to operate side by side. We are encouraged by dialogue with DAC officials that recognize this need for defining private and commercial operations and their desire to bring fairness to both types of operators.

In short, we place our hope in the Lord for continued normal service to mission and medical efforts in the Oriente. We also are very encouraged to see His direction and intervention through these problems. MAF will continue to operate in Ecuador exactly as long as the Lord desires.

ChevronTexaco Lawsuit

The company ChevronTexaco will have its first hearing in an Ecuadorian court next week. The company is being sued by indigenous Ecuadorians of the Oriente for the alleged contamination of land and water. The suit was first filed in New York in 1993.

A great read on the subject is the book Savages by Joe Kane. Here's the Amazon.com editorial review:
In this impressive, funny and moving work, Joe Kane tells the story of the Huaorani, a tribe living in the deepest part of the Amazonian rain forest in Ecuador. The Huaorani have only in the last generation been exposed to such items as the wristwatch. But the modern world is reaching them quickly; for better or worse--usually worse--they live astride some of Ecuador's richest oilfields. Oil production in the Amazon has opened the forest to colonization and industrialization, often with alarming results: about 17 million gallons, of raw crude, more than in the Valdez spill in Alaska, were spilled from a Amazon pipeline between 1972 and 1989. Kane, who lived with the Huaorani for months, immaculately reports on the tribes' connections with the old world and its battles with the new one.

Licensing Update

Our program director was at a meeting with officials from the DAC on Monday. True to form, the meeting was to start at 3:00 PM, but didn't start until 4:15 PM because some were so late. The meeting went well, and this time Dave and our lawyer met with the DAC director, and not the sub-director he had been dealing with. Other non-commercial organisations were also present. The director said he would do what he could to help redefine the line between commercial and non-profit operators, possibly with a new law. Dave felt the meeting went well, and afterwards approached the director in regards to our licensing situation. The director agreed verbally to a 60-day extension of our pilots' licenses. We still need to get that in writing, but it's looking promising. The meeting made the national paper, El Comercio today. Here's a link to the article in spanish, and another link to the translated article. The translation is a bit lacking, but it's the best that Google can do.

The indigenous people of the Oriente are quite upset at the DAC because some of these groups operate aircraft as non-profits and are also having trouble with the way the laws are being applied. They also recognize that Alas de Socorro (MAF) provided the air ambulance service through Ministry of Public Health funding, and that if MAF stops flying it will have a huge impact on the people of the Oriente. Some of the indigenous groups have threatened to close their community airstrips to the commercial operators. They have called on the President for the removal of the Director and Assistant Director of the DAC, as well as the airport administrator here in Shell.

In addition, Dave has been talking with an Ecuadorian pilot who is interested in joining MAF. Pray that God's will and his plan will be made clear as we proceed.

Family Photo

There's a new photo of our family on the main page of this site. When boys grow like weeds, a new photo once a year isn't too often!

It's An Amphibian

I found out more about that snake/worm that I wrote about on Tuesday. I asked Dwain Holmes, GMU missionary and the local snake expert. He says:
"It is an Amphisbaena fuliginosa. It is an amphibian, not a snake. They like a place to hide, preferably under leaves. They eat worm-shaped strips of meat if there aren't any real worms handy. They aren't normally vicious, but have incredibly strong jaws if they do get around to biting."

Home-made Cherry Picker

I finished the last details on the network cable across the street to the MAF base. I had put up a wire cable yesterday to support the conduit pipe that I'd already strung. This afternoon I used a cart and some scaffolding to connect the conduit to the cable. Worked well!

Ecuador News Note

Banana Emergency - an emergency was declared today in the banana province of El Oro. A drought is damaging crops. So far, banana exports have not been affected. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas.

It's A Snake? It's A Worm?

Ron and I were moving some things across the street this afternoon when we found this creature on the road. Not sure what it is. It didn't have a head like a snake, and in fact didn't even have any eyes that we could see. It 'scrunched' along like a worm, and seemed to have segments rather than scales. I've sent a photo of it to a local herpetologist and maybe he will shed some light.

Hopeful News

The Program Manager has been in Quito since last Friday. He's been in several meetings with the DAC, and it looks like some progress is being made in our quest to renew pilot licenses and keep flying in the country of Ecuador. I'll write more details later. Please continue to keep the MAF program in Ecuador in your prayers. Pray that God would soften the hearts of those in the DAC who have control over our operations here.

Ecuador News Notes

Illegal shark fins seized in the Galapagos - Ecuador has made two seizures of shark fins in the past month. Shark fins are used to make a costly soup in Asia.

Colombia Drug Spraying - Colombia and Ecuador will meet over the spraying of drug crops along the border area. Ecuador is complaining that the spraying is hurting legal crops on the Ecuador side of the border.

Ecuador Public Foreign Debt - Ecuador is working to lower it's debt burden. Public foreign debt in August was $11.191 billion.

Rainbow

Wow! Here's an amazing rainbow photo. It covered the whole hangar, and none of us could get far enough away to take a picture of the whole thing!

Lance Armstrong

I enjoy following the career and life of Lance Armstrong. Here's an interview in CyclingNews and an article from seatlepi.com.

Ecuador Time

ECUADOR: WITH PUNCTUALITY FOR ALL - Ecuador synchronized its clocks and watches as a national punctuality campaign meant to wipe out the socially acceptable practice of running late began. "We have to be on time for the sake of God, the country, our people and our consciences," the notoriously unpunctual president, Lucio GutiÈrrez, above right, told a crowd gathered in Quito, the capital, for a midday ceremony that kicked off the drive. The campaign is being led by a civic group that estimates the nation may lose more than $700 million a year because of lateness. People running on what is called "Ecuadorean time" habitually arrive 15 to 30 minutes late to parties, social events and even business meetings. No one showed up late to the Quito ceremony, but the local news media reported that a group of businessmen arrived at a similar event in the city of Guayaquil after it had started. ÝÝ (Reuters - October 2, 2003)

Also, check out this story.

Walk The Trail

The Waorani indians in the jungles of Ecuador walk on trails through the jungle. Some of them also walk on God's trail. That's how they describe being a Christian. The Waorani believers think of themselves as 'God Followers'. I use Instant Messageing to correspond occassionally with another God Follower who lives in Tennessee. Scott was surfing the web one day and came across my web log. He dropped me a line, and now we chat with each other once in a while. Scott is working on his pilot and mechanic license and plans to work as a missionary pilot. In the meanwhile, he's taking on another challenge--a walk on a trail. He's planning to hike the Appalachian Trail next spring. Hiking the 2,168-mile trail would be challenge enough for just about anyone, but for Scott, who walks with the help of a C-Leg prosthetic, it might seem impossible. He doesn't think so, and he's planning on hiking the whole thing. Take a look at his updates page and follow along with me. Thanks for the inspiration, Scott!

Fuzzy Bug

I was opening the big car gate for Ben to drive through and saw this caterpillar on the fence. Caterpillars are poisonous here--touch one and you'll be in a lot of pain. They say that the larger caterpillars (four or five inches long) are one of the few things that can make a grown Waorani or Shuar man show that he's in a lot of pain.

Flying Again

Dinner is done and the boys have just about finished their homework. I was thinking back on the day, and how the weather actually did clear up. By 11 AM the guys were able to start flying, and they moved the patients, and some other people as well. I was able to work on the old lawn mower a bit, and then mowed the lawn. It's always nice to get that done, even if it's not a very large lawn.

I finally remembered to give some photos to Curtis that we had taken the other week. They looked like a decent set of photos. That is, until we noticed Darryl clowning in the airplane window.

Chewin' On Wood

Every once in a while I pick up my mouse pad and clean up the pile that the termites leave behind. They are all through the plywood desktop. It seems they really like plywood. Thanfully, they don't like the top layer of the mouse pad. The top of the pad is fine, but the bottom is riddled with holes.

If you want something that will last a long time in Ecuador, don't build it with wood.

Waiting For Good Weather

I woke up to rain this morning. That wasn't good news, because I know the guys have quite a bit of flying they need to do. Yesterday they didn't get to fly out all, with the weather bad either here in Shell or out in the jungle. There were a couple patients they needed to pick up, one a four year old boy. I hate to see people have to go another day being sick and injured without treatment because the weather is bad. So when I got to work, I was excited to see that Dan was pulling out, and was off the ground at 8 AM. But the bad news is that just as I was writing this good news, he landed again. The weather is bad out there and he had to return.