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Licenses In Hand

Dale and Kevin both passed their checkrides yesterday, and were given their licenses. Both have been in the country about seven months now, and it's been a long haul for them to get to this point. I was in Quito this morning, so don't know if it happened, but Dale was to make his first solo flight in Ecuador this morning.

Bus Time

I came back from Quito this afternoon on the bus. I've decided to keep track of bus hours this time back, since I like statics. Since August 11 I've spent twenty-nine and a half hours on buses. I'm looking at another five this weekend, as Dustin and I are headed over to Tena for some kayaking. That many hours in our own vehicle in the States wouldn't be that bad. Cup of Dr. Pepper, some sunflower seeds, great Christian radio station, smooth roads, stop for a break when you want to, comfortable seats--that's easy. Here in Ecuador on the bus--wild bus drivers passing on blind corners, can't take a break when you need to, uncomfortable seats, people won't open windows which makes for stuffy bus, sometimes stand because there isn't a seat, have to hang on to your things carefully so they don't get stolen. You should know, I don't mind the bus that much, but it's not my favorite way to travel.

Jasper The Macaw

At the end of the afternoonon Thursday, Dave came to me asking if I had an extra bird cage. I told him we had a small one at the house, but it turned out he needed one for a macaw. He had come from Tichirota that afternoon with a Blue and Gold macaw that had been given to him as a gift. When he landed in Tichirota, he was asked by someone there for help with a notebook computer. This notebook was powered with a solar panel and an inverter. Dave has no idea how or why the guy has something like that, so far out in the jungle. He wanted to play a music CD, so Dave showed him how to do that. Next, the guy said he wanted to write a letter, and Dave showed him how to do that. As Dave was leaving, the guy gave him the macaw in thanks for the tech support! It's a young bird, and very mellow. Dave wasn't sure if his wife would go for the idea of a pet macaw, but it looks like they'll give it a try. They've named it Jasper. Compared to our Scarlet Macaw, Lucy, this Blue and Gold is very easy going and gentle.

Jungle Graffiti

HC-BXK (Alas de Socorro 12) is in for a major inspection, including landing gear. I noticed some graffiti on one of the struts yesterday. Amazing that kids out in the jungle, who have never seen graffiti on a building in the city, think to take something sharp and scratch their initials on somebody else's property.

Program Update

An update here from our program manager...

• Dale Shaylor passed his commercial pilot written exam last week. Now a flight test is scheduled for this coming Wednesday with a Civil Aviation examiner. Kevin Borror took his written yesterday (Wednesday) and will have results late today. It appears that DAC officials still don't know quite what to do with us. The first test they gave Kevin was much longer than the one Dale took. After some chat, the official told him to just do a certain number of each section. This was still longer than Dale's and included many calculation questions so it took Kevin double the time. We will definitely be looking for the gal that gave Dale his when the rest of us go in to take the test in the next weeks!

• Things are rather unstable at Civil Aviation at the present. The Director has been suspended and there is fear and trembling in the ranks. Pray that this will not effect our license process now that we finally have a solution.

• Fred Schmidt is in Guatemala, this week and next, helping with PFRs and such. Lots of flying for the rest of us with jungle schools starting classes again this week after summer vacation.
  

Mini Cooper Travel

Yesterday Dave McCleery and I drove into Puyo together. We went in the Mini Cooper that Dave is restoring with his two boys. Compared to the new Minis driving around in the US these days, this car really is mini! Our trip was to the home of one of the Alas de Socorro board members so we could set him up with an MAF e-mail account. Dave is wanting all the board members to use e-mail, so that coordinating meetings will be more efficient.

Wireless Progress-less

Having a frustrating time getting the wireless connection to the Kelley's to work for us. Despite our early testing success, we're finding that an attempted connection with a wireless access point at each end won't work. I'm not going to go into the details, but I think we can get it to work. Caleb took the radio out of a non-functioning wireless access point, and that radio is actually a PCMCIA card. He was able to find some software on the internet to operate the card in his Windows 2000 notebook. That setup works, and with that he can connect to the wireless access point on the tower at the MAF base. We're going to attempt to set Rachel up that way for now, putting that PCMCIA card in the Kelley notebook, and connecting the cantenna on the roof to that card. It's not what I wanted, but given the financial resources I have, it will have to do for now. At this point, Caleb isn't very impressed with D-Link products. That's my polite paraphrase of his comments. You will find that there are others who share his opinion!

Tower Top

Spent two hours this afternoon on the tower. That was after we were over at Kelley's house mounting a cantenna on their roof. The access point on this side took longer, as it was fifty feet off the ground. Tomorrow we hope to finish the job. Maybe you can see our hi-tech waterproof container in the picture--it's a 10-liter water jug with an opening cut into the bottom!

Anzu River Run

I'll try to come back to this and add more later. Briefly though, I went kayaking yesterday with Dustin. We took the bus to Arosemena Tola, put in on the Anzu, and went to Puerto Napo. It was a class II run, with quite a few long smooth sections between rapids. The river was low and it took us just over four hours. Back again on the bus. Weather was great, and Dustin was excited to get out on a big river on. We went on our own, as the guide we wanted to go with wasn't available. We did this river with him back in May, so I felt OK going without him this time.

Test Results

Dale called the DAC this afternoon at 3 PM and found out that he DID PASS the written test he took earlier this week. He has the go ahead to take the flight checkride and get his license. He will call on Monday to set up a time for a checkride. This is great news! I don't think any of us thought it would be so easy to pass the test. Well, maybe it wasn't easy, as Dale spent many hours studying. But after all the setbacks they've had, none of us would have been surprised if something out of the ordinary had happened. Dan and Kevin have been busy studying the past couple weeks. Now Dale is their in-house 'expert' tutor! Dan has been flying in Ecuador since 1999, and Kevin has yet to get his license.

Hazy Hardware Bicycle

All of this week the sky has been very hazy. The story goes that it's because the sugar cane fields are being burned in Colombia. Apparently, the way they harvest sugar cane is different there, and it involves burning. Not sure 'bout that, but either way, it sure is hazy, and the guys have had to do more than the usual amount of instrument flying. Fred and Steve came back from a flight to Quito on Tuesday, and said that the layer of hazy skies extended all the way up to 12,500 feet. At any rate, yesterday a huge storm came through in the afternoon, and left some clear skies. We're having another storm this afternoon, almost at the same time, but not quite as intense.

Fred and Steve went to Quito on a check ride, and now Steve has completed his instrument check ride. That's a real plus for him, to be able to fly instruments. They brought back to Shell with them, Dan Smith, a UPS mechanic who has made some trips down here before. He was able to bring with him three hundred pounds of aircraft parts, tools, and other supplies, which is quite a bit for one person. You could never bring that much alone on an airline, but working for UPS means he can do that. UPS flies in and out of Ecuador daily. I'm going to include a photo of Dan and me. He's a reader of this web log, and I think it's about time to start putting up photos of readers who come to Shell! He's not the first, but he's the first with his picture here, I think.

I'm still working on the project to get a wireless connection from the hangar to a home a half mile across town. Getting a wireless access point and power up to the top of a fifty foot tower has proved a bit of a challenge. But, slowly it's coming together. Yesterday I made a trip to the hardware store to get twenty-eight meters of electrical wire. In the States, you'd see a bunch of pickup trucks in front of the hardwares store. Here, you see a bunch of bicycles.

Can You Believe It?

I was thinking today that I should update you on Dale's efforts to get his license. I had heard a progress report at the morning circle on Tuesday, but didn't quite understand all of it. I thought he was heading back down to Shell on Tuesday. Not so, and today I have some more concrete news to pass on. In the end he took the test on on Wednesday and headed back down to Shell on Thursday. Here's a note from Dale:

I am in Quito to take my written commercial test again. I tried yesterday but the paperwork had not been filed properly so I had to wait while they contacted the FAA to confirm that my US FAA licenses are indeed valid. I was able to make good use of my time at the Civil Aviation offices by studying the only copy of the "performance" part of the written test. It covers large air transport aircraft which I've never had to study before in my life. I am learning, however, to calculate things like fuel dump rates for Boeing 747 aircraft, mach numbers to TAS, and rates of descent or climb for the cabin pressure on your Boeing 737. Their aviation laws have changed and all of us are now required to take this test. However, our licenses will be permanent and not expire every 6 to 12 months. I am scheduled to take my test tomorrow morning and continue to study today. There are 9 subject areas and 631 total questions. Please pray with me as I take this test. I am the first MAF pilot required to do so.

As unbelievable as this sounds, it is even worse! The pilots are studying material from the DAC to prepare for the test, which includes questions and answers. They are finding quite a few answers which are flat out wrong! So do they memorize the wrong answers, or just put down the correct answer and try to argue their case after they take the test?! As Dale says, please pray for these guys!

The Good And The Bad

I'm working on several things right now. Yesterday was simply an awful day. I spent way too many hours trying to create a boot Win98 CD so I could install Windows 98 on Darryl's old Compaq notebook. It had Windows ME on it, and things were slowly falling apart. We decided to re-install the OS just to try and make sure that it wasn't a hardware problem. Normally I would boot from a floppy disk, then install Windows. The problem here was that the floppy drive in the notebook wasn't working. I spent several hours trying to create a boot CD using a method that had worked a year ago. Frustratingly, things weren't working, and later I realized I was using combinations of bad floppy disks and CDs and as a result, I was getting more and more frustrated at the lack of results. Finally, at the end of the afternoon, I still had no boot CD, but Darryl had fixed the floppy disk drive--he found a small piece of floppy label was stuck in the drive! So today I was able to boot from a floppy, and installed Windows 98. Tonight I'm finishing up with installing the updates and other software he needs. Wednesday (oh! that's today!) he can have it back so he can put his data back on it.

Tuesday Caleb and I worked on a wireless connection to the Kelley's house, using standard 802.11b wireless networking equipment. The distance is about a half mile, and we were successful with our tests. I had to climb the fifty foot antenna on the base three times before I was done, but it was worth it. It was exciting to make a connection across town! Now we are fighting another aspect of the project, which is setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) so that the connection between the Kelley's and the hangar is secure. That part is proving to be difficult for Caleb, who is helping with the project. Without his help I wouldn't be tackling this project. Don't know that we'll solve the issue soon, but we'll continue to work on it this week.

My Hero

I should have said in my last post that Caleb has been a huge help to me. Although he's primarily here helping Ron, his expert knowledge of Linux has been very useful to me, and he's helped with solve a few problems that were not show-stoppers, but certainly nagging things that needed to be fixed.

Boys Night Out

Ellyn had planned a movie night for all the MAF ladies at our house last night. She called it 'Girls Night Out'. But, since she sent the boys in the family out for dinner so we'd be gone, we joked that really it was Boys Night Out. I invited Caleb to come along, and we headed down to Buon Jornos down in Puyo for some pizza. Caleb, eighteen years old, is here for a couple months, and he's from Washington state. He used to live in North Fork years ago, and his family knows Ron and Margie, and that's how he got down here. I didn't know him from California, but it turns out that we have quite a few friends in common. He's very knowledgable about many things, and quite a jack-of-all-trades for someone his age. Volunteer firefighter, auto mechanic, Linux expert, VHF, ham radio operator--he has a lot of interests. He was going to help me with the go-kart Saturday afternoon at 4 PM, but I got there first and started tinkering. It had been running before we left the country in May, but upon our return it wouldn't start. Turns out that after I cleaned the spark plug, it started right up. When the runway was closed to planes at official sunset (6:13 PM) we took the kart out on to the runway with the boys, and then after that headed off for pizza. All was well, until near the end of dinner and I started feeling some cramps in my stomach and beyond. They came and went, and I figured that I'd be OK 'til I got home. Back in the car and the boys reminded me about some ice cream. Stopped by one store to get a Magnum (like a Dove bar) for Dustin, and then at the Zanzibar shop for something for Taylor. By then I knew I had to find a bathroom fast, or I'd be in big trouble. We headed down the road toward Shell, me driving with a sense of desparation. Well, I didn't make it, and ended up pulling onto a dark side road to take care of business, while the other boys were laughing at me! I was glad to get home to a real bathroom. I'm feeling much better today, but still not quite right. I can't think of anything I ate that was questionable, and nobody else in the family is sick, so it's a mystery.

Thank You

Here's a really neat note from Dale:

It is sure good to be home. All it takes is one night in the Machachi prison to make you really appreciate home in a new way. Nine days and nights and you have plenty of time to think about all of the incredible ways God has blessed us each and every day. Spending time with my fellow prisoners and getting to know their current life stories brought home to me again how very blessed I am. God allowed me to begin some new friendships with some folks I would have never met any other way. I am committed to praying for them. I had opportunity to share my faith and the truth of the Gospel with them over the days as well as share my Spanish Bible as they asked to borrow it to read. My prayer is that I was indeed His light to those men whom God loves so very much and desires to bring to a saving knowledge of Himself. Please pray with me for Carlos, René, Jorge, Wilson, and Wilson #2.

Dale

What's Normal?

A varied day on the IT front, but for the most part, a normal day. Let me digress for a moment, and say that there are two kinds of normal days. The first kind of normal day is where there are a variety of IT tasks to accomplish, which range from maintenance, user support, research, troubleshooting, documentation, and future planning. The other kind of normal day involves trying to solve a computer hardware or software problem of some sort. The solution is not obvious, and the problem can take hours to solve. A worst case scenario is to have two or more of these type of problems to solve on the same day. What can really get me down, and make me obsessed, is to have a couple of these problems remain solved for two or more days.

Today I was able to re-do the cables for the UPS batteries. We have a bank of 12 volt batteries that run the two servers when the power is out. The batteries are in their second life, having first been used at a radio repeater site. We were down to five batteries, and then last week one went bad. Even with the five batteries, I wasn't able to be sure that the system would keep the servers running even for a couple hours. Today's task was to take out the oldest battery, add five new ones, and bring the total to eight batteries. Along the way I re-did the cables, since the battery terminals of the newer batteries are different. The next step will be to figure out a way to know just how long the batteries will power the computers in a long power outage.

This whole episode hightlights the way the roles of MAF staff work here. Normally the avionics tech takes care of the UPS. I don't know much about the system, and rely on him in that area. Currently he's on a six-month furlough, so it's all up to me. I was able to get some information and coaching by e-mail, and then completed the job on my own. The end result is that now I know more about the system, and have a much better idea as to what's going on with it. When someone is gone on furlough, it's up to the rest to take on the extra load.

After school was out today I walked across the street to the Nate Saint School. The teacher of grades 1-3 needed some help with the computer in the classroom, so she could use one of the instructional CDs. When that was done, we worked to install software for a new printer/scanner/fax. Finally, I showed her how to connect her digital camera to her computer to download the photos. The computer and digital camera are important tools for writing news letters which keep ministry partners informed about what is going happening on the mission field.

Who Won The TdF?

I brought back about eleven VHS tapes with the 2004 Tour de France on them. Ron was wanting to watch the tour, so I made sure to bring them back for him, even though I was tight on space. You see, he still doesn't know who won! So he's really enjoyed them, and I've had to be very careful not to spill the beans! On a side note, I was in Ambato the other day, at the Supermaxi, and saw there was a floor covering store in the mall that sells Berry Floor products. Berry Floor is one of the sponsors of the USPS Pro Cycling team. They had a great poster of Lance after his five TdF wins. Next year the team will have a different sponsor, The Discovery Channel.

Back From Quito

Bruce and I had a good trip up to Quito today. I met him at 6 AM, loaded the van, and then we stoppped by to see Curtis and Rachel. Actually, Bruce ran in, and I waited outside. Oh, they were at the HCJB hospital as Rachel was in labor with their first child. They had been at the hospital since about 3 AM, but no baby yet, so we headed on. (The baby was born about 9 AM, a boy, so Bruce missed it.) We stopped in Baños for breakfast, and then later on we stopped to see Dale, and take him some lunch. I found out once I was back in Shell tonight, that Dale was released today. He's got to be sooooo happy! Anyway, by the time we left Dale, got to Quito, and I was ready to leave the office, it was 2:15 PM. Later than I had hoped, but that was OK. It had been a good time with Bruce and with Dale. They actually let Dale outside when we got there, and we visited for about half an hour. Nine nights in the slammer because a bus broke down in his lane. Amazing! I was back in Shell shortly after 7 PM, and went straight to the MAF staff meeting. It's been a long day. Not much activity when it comes to sitting in a car or a bus, but I get dehydrated. I can't drink much when I ride the bus, so it's easy to get that way.

Spur Of The Moment

I found out tonight that Bruce is planning to take the bus to Quito tomorrow. He's leaving the country, on Wednesday I think. He has the option to take two different cars, but is reluctant to do so on his own. If the car breaks down (one is an old clunker, and the other has a bit of a transmission leak that needs to be repaired in Quito), then he could be stuck, as he wouldn't want to leave the car. Or, heaven forbid, if he were driving on his own, and was in an accident, he could be jailed for a long time, like Dale, who is still in jail more than a week after an accident that wasn't his fault. So about 9 PM tonight I told him that I thought it was crazy for him to take the bus to Quito with his suitcases and carry-on luggage, and that I would drive him. He was happy to accept. We will depart Shell at 6 AM Tuesday, planning to arrive in Quito before noon. I'll come back to Shell on a early afternoon bus, arriving back home for dinner. At least, that's the plan. We'll see how it turns out.

Machachi Calabozo

Got a call last night from the program manager asking if I'd be willing to help out. Katie wanted to get up to Machachi today to visit her husband, who has been in jail since last Sunday. Basically it boils down to this: the accident wasn't his fault, but he's being held because the person who drove into Dale's car when it went out of control and into the other lane, doesn't trust that the repairs on his vehicle will be paid for by Dale's insurance. So Dale stays in jail until this guy has the assurances he wants that the work is going to be paid for. Seems crazy. We had really hoped he would get out on Friday, but by 6 PM, when the courts closed, the papers were still being shuffled, passed from office to office, and that meant Dale wouldn't get out until at least Monday.

So, he's spending his seventh night in a small cell, about ten foot by ten foot square, with a sink and toilet in an adjoining room, which has no door, just a curtain. No beds, so you sleep on the cement floor with blankets. You don't get out for excercise, and with six or seven guys in the cell, it's rather crowded. They don't serve food, so when it's meal time, family members come by with a bag of food. Of course, Dale's family is far away, so some money was given to the police to buy food and bring it to Dale. Katie brought him some food today, and I gave him three magazines and three Power Bars. He seems to be doing fine, but he's going to be so happy to get out of that hole, take a hot shower, and sleep in a real bed! It took Katie and me about three hours and fifteen minutes each way to make the drive, and she got to visit with him for forty-five minutes. They actually let him out of the cell for a few minutes with her, which he said was very unusual. She brought some clean clothes, and we took the dirty ones with us. We were back home at 5:15 PM, in time for dinner with Ellyn and all the kids. Katie's three kids stayed with Ellyn all day.

My camera was almost taken away today. I was taking a couple photos of Katie waiting at the door of the cell, and the guard stopped me. He asked what I was taking photos for, to which I responded, "Just for memories." He said that the other policement could take the camera away if they were there, but that he was a good policeman. I quickly put the camera away. I thought about showing him that I could delete the photos, but decided I'd be better off just putting it away. I did take a spy photo (those are the windows of Dale's cell) later with the camera in my backpack. I was getting ready to sneak one more photo of Katie talking to Dale through the iron door, as there was nobody in the hallway at the time but us, but then they called time on us, as visiting hours were well over. I really wanted the photo, but at least I got out of there with my camera.

It's Always Late

Here I am again, dinking away on the computer while the hour gets later and later. I'll just catch up on a few things before I call it a day. It's been a long day, with miles and miles covered. But, let me back up first.

Friday I subbed in Taylor's classroom from 11:30 AM until the end of the school day. There are eight kids in the class, and they are a great group. I can't imagine how many teachers would love to have a class of eight children and no behavior problems. Quite a few, I'd guess. The one thing difficult about teaching the class is that it's a combination class, having grades 4-6.

Yesterday was my birthday, and we went out for dinner at our favorite restaurant, El Jardine. When we first arrived in Ecuador, El Jardine was the first restaurant we went to in Puyo, and it's remained our favorite. I'm forty-one, by the way.

I rode my bike with John on Wednesday and Thursday after work. We were to ride on Tuesday, but I wasn't feeling well. Had felt that way a couple days--not bad enough to say I was sick, but something just wasn't ride. Funny tummy, weird headache. I decided to take the ameba/parasite medicine on Tuesday night and Wednesday after lunch (they are two different meds) and by Wednesday afternoon was feeling much better. Who knows if I really had something, but I usually takes those meds a couple times a year. You never can tell what's getting into your gut around here. Anyway, back to bike riding. I'm still thinking about riding my bicycle to Quito, and am starting to think that January might be a good month to do that.

As for work this week, I spent a good amount of time trying to get a wireless adapter to work with a Win98 computer. Finally gave up and just ran cable to the computer. Also spent some time working on the doctora's personal computer. She's the one who works with us as part of our contract with the Ministry of Health. She works with patients, takes emergency medical requests by radio, consults over the radio, sends meds to patients who can be treated without flying out of the jungle, and uses a computer in her office to work on Air Ambulance flying billing. She's on vacation this month, but is still working on the billing from home. Problem is, she was having trouble printing. And then, right before she brought the computer in, she was getting errors on startup. To make a long story short, the RAM chip in the computer was bad, and the printing problem was 'user error'. I didn't catch the user error part very early on in the process, because I got the job second hand from Dale, who had talked to her in the first place, and becuase my spanish communication skills are weak. In the end though, we got it taken care of.

Ecuadorian Justice

This regarding Dale, the MAF pilot in jail. Remember, he was in
a accident last Sunday about 8 PM. These are two different
updates from the MAF program manager:

"Here's and end of the day update on where the situation is with
Dale Shaylor. I visited him last night (Wednesday night) at the
Police Station in Machaci. He's in good spirits, all things
considered, but the living conditions there aren't good.
Basically it's a 10x12 cement room with no furniture of any
kind. He's got multiple blankets, a coat, a pillow and a few
other things but that's about it.

There are now several lawyers working to get him released.
Unfortunately, the owner of the other vehicle involved is being
a pain and won't sign off on an agreement saying that SMASH (the
missionary insurance group that we operate our vehicles under,
for out-of-country readers) will be responsible for fixing his
car. Apparently he has been dealt with unfairly by other
parties in two previous accidents. Therefore, the lawyers are
working with the Toyota Dealer where he wants his car fixed to
prove to the judge that the bill will be paid.

From our perspective this is so totally unfair but seems there's
no way around the ugly system. Please pray for a breakthrough
to speed things up and for Sr. Andino (other car owner) to
believe us, for stamina and patience for Dale and for Katie and
the kids."

"Please pray diligently for Dale and the legal process now
through tomorrow (Friday) especially. Things will need to work
like clockwork for him to be released tomorrow afternoon. The
main lawyer, Dr. Almagro, is optimistic but, again, some things
do need to happen without snags. Complicating this is the
distance between Machaci and where the judge is in Calderon.
Dale will have to appear in Calderon tomorrow and then return
and await the release order from the judge. Dr. Almagro, is
very aware that we need him out tomorrow otherwise it will be
next week. He made significant progress today and was able to
grease a binding wheel to at least help speed up one piece of
this slothful process.

Brian (Quito office manager) contacted the U.S. Embassy this
afternoon. They agreed with all that had been done so far and
offered to help if there are any snags. Unbelievable that this
is the normal process!"

Where's The Saw?

My friend Nate wrote the other day asking if I'd help some Waorani get their chainsaw from the repair shop, and help them with the bill. I was happy to help, but wasn't sure if my spanish was up to it. Moises didn't show up on Tuesday like I thought he would. He did show up on Wednesday. I had a couple other errands to combine with the trip, one of them returning eighteen bags of cement to Comercial Castro down in Puyo. That is unheard of, because generally you can't return anything in this country. So anyway, we got down the the Stihl place only to find out that Reynaldo, a Colombian missionary working the the Waorani had already paid for it and picked it up. I talked with Reynaldo later, and found out that he was happy to do that. I showed Moises and his friends a couple of photos of Nate and me that I had from a visit this summer. Then I had a photo taken of the four of us to send to Nate. Moises is on the left. I know Nate and Rachelle really miss their Waorani friends. Rachelle wrote back:

"It is always sooo good to see a picture of the waorani. Moises is turning into quite the young man. He was married two days before we left tribe the last time. It was really fun to be a part of that. I think he has a baby by now. I remember when he was quite the rascal and was ALWAYS getting into trouble when he was little."

Rachelle's health has been so poor for the past three years that they have been unable to return to Ecuador, and their ministry to the Waorani.

Bachelors

Taylor and I were bachelors for the day. Ellyn and Dustin went to Quito to see the dentist and orthodontist. Ellyn is getting a cap on a tooth, and the temporary one fell off earlier this week. Good thing she had to take Dusitn up anyway. Taylor enjoyed the lunch I made for him, a rarity. I fried some potatoes and put some ham lunch meat in with them. He said that was better than salchi papas, his favorite Ecuadorian food! Not bad, and I didn't even have to open a box of macaroni and cheese. Then, for dinner, we
rode over into town to eat at our equivalent of McDonalds. Dinner was typical Ecuadorian, and we both enjoyed the meal. Taylor was convinced the meat was fish, when it was really a thin breaded piece of beef. The juice was mora, made with a raspberry-like fruit. Of course, I am always happy drinking G¸itig with my meals--just like Perrier, but without the fancy price. The two of us ate for $2.70! Ellyn and Dustin were home by 8:30 PM, and their trip went well. Dustin had a bit of a fever last night, and he came home with a fever, but he wanted to go anyway. He did say that this trip seemed longer than usual. Wonder why!? I think the reason he wanted to go so badly that he went even being sick, was that he wanted to buy some parakeets. They came back with two; one for Dustin and one for Taylor. We've had them before, and already had a cage, and some food.

Severe Clear

Beautiful clear morning skies today. Here's a satellite photo showing just how clear it was. Starting with Sangay in the south, there are six snow-capped volcanos in the photo, ending with Cayambe in the north, on the equator. Quite an awesome photo. Normally the satellite is pointed farther to the south, but because of activity by the volcano Galeras in Colombia, they've got it pointed farther to the north. That's not so good for the pilots here, as they can't see as much of the Oriente in the photo as they could in the past. It might be a few days or weeks, but eventually the NOAA will put it back where it was.