(Here is one of the places I have been the past few days. It is called Liquino -Lee Kee No-)Wednesday night we were all out late because of an MAF meeting. Two of our "big" bosses flew down here to have this meeting with us. The purpose was to talk about the future of the Ecuador program. With out going into specifics, let's just say it is a much more complicated world we live in, than 50 years ago when Nate Saint was flying here. Westerners aren't the only ones anymore with technical skills, and the equipment to use those skills with.
Yesterday was busy as well. Afterwork, we had some powerfull thunderstorms for several hours. The power was off and on, and finally just off. Becca was at a bible study, so Brooklyn and I just read a book in my bedroom by candle light. It was a good time. But she lasted longer than I did, as I woke up a little while later, and she was still reading her book.
Today I am not expecting much. We are VERY low on avgas, which means we are denying all flight requests at this time, except extreme emergencies. Getting avgas here is always a problem. The gas company has been telling us for the past month that "mañana" we will send you gas. Well, mañana hopefully will arrive today. The other operators on the field are also out of gas. We have about 6-7000 gallons of storage capacity, which keeps us flying for quite a while. The other operators at the airport might be lucky if their tanks hold 1000 gallons. So what usually happens is they run out long ahead of us, and come knocking at our door wanting to "borrow" gas.
Just another slithery guys found crawling across our hangar floor a few days ago. The following morning there was another one doing the same thing, which led me to think that maybe there was a nest nearby. Either way, they both got thrown into the nearby ditch and eaten by the fish.
1 comment:
Be careful around those snakes. Here's an excerpt on coral snakes from wikipedia, and this includes the various species of coral snake native to Ecuador.
"Due to the small size of coral snakes, along with their having much smaller fangs than pit vipers, bites are frequently ineffective and have some difficulty penetrating shoes or even thick clothing. This along with the fact that coral snakes are quite shy and reclusive makes bites quite rare. However, coral snakes are highly venomous, being the only relative of the cobra found in the New World. Despite their relatively small size, their venom is a powerful neurotoxin, quite capable of killing an adult human. Any bite from a coral snake should be considered life threatening and immediate treatment should be sought. Often there is very little reaction around the bite area, as opposed to the pain and swelling usually associated with a viper bite, and systemic effects can delay manifestation for 8-24 hours. This potential delay in symptoms makes treating coral snake bites particularly tricky, and often results in preventative treatment whether one is displaying symptoms or not. Once the neurotoxin takes effect, it causes the neurotransmitters between the brain and muscles to malfunction. Initially symptoms are slurred speech, double vision, difficulty swallowing, but can quickly progress to muscular paralysis, and even respiratory or cardiac failure if not treated.
Wyeth manufactures a North American coral snake antivenom, also Instituto Bioclon manufactures an antivenin for coral snake species found in Mexico. A third type of antivenin is manufactured in Brazil to treat bites from some coral snake species found there. Unfortunately, no one antivenin is effective against all coral snake envenomations, and due to the relative rarity of bites from coral snakes and high cost of the antivenom, few hospitals stock it.
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