Before and After...

We recieved some interesting photos from some friends here in Shell this morning. They depict a popular sight just outside of the town of Baños. It is a concrete creation of a parrot and a tucan. It gives good perspective as to how deep the lava flow is at this position. Also, a co-worker of mine named Steve, was driving home from Quito yesterday evening. During his drive across the flows, he said it was raining a little, and the lava flows were steaming from it, indicating that there is still some serious heat just beneath the surface.

Growing up

Sean and Brooklyn went for a drive with the dogs yesterday and Sean snapped this photo of Brooklyn playing on the truck. She just isn't a baby any more, is she?

Shopping trip

Today, we took the 2 hour drive to Ambato to get stocked up on groceries. We had a good time, and really enjoyed the time together as family. One of the most amazing things was driving over the lava flows from last weeks eruption from Tungurahua volcano. I had driven over them earlier this week in the bus on my way to Quito, so I was looking forward to sharing them with Becca. Simply stated, they are HUGE! There are 2 flows which made it down the mountain, and because of the enormous amount of aggregate material, the "highway department" simply filled in the cracks with dirt, and now everyone simply drives over the lava flows, since they cannot be removed from the road with any kind of speed. On our way back from Ambato, the volcano decided to peek it's head out of the clouds just a little bit, and we were able to get a pretty good view of the entire lava flow, and the affacted area. It was a wierd feeling driving over those HUGE lava flows, and imagining that just a week ago the now solid lava was flowing as though it was water.
From one end of the flow to the other is probably 2 miles. This picture does not fully show the scale and magnitude of the amount of "lava" and the affected area.

Little Miss

Brooklyn loves to get these little books from the library at the school. She tends to pick out the same small-sized books every time we go for library hour. She enjoys "reading" to anybody or anything that will sit still long enough...in this case her baby doll was the willing audience within her reach. I love that Brooklyn is so into books but we spend a lot of time looking for these little books when it's time to return them to the library. By the way, has anybody seen Jemima Puddle Duck laying around?

On another note, our "Little Miss Sunshine" is now perfectly well and happy while her parents are battling colds of our own. We don't get sick very often. Sean and I both agreed that the added stresses of culture shock, getting up to speed with our new "jobs," and trying to start up our own home and life here in Ecuador has made us more susceptible to illnesses our immune systems might normally have been able to fight off easily enough. Not that we are seriously ill but a dripping nose or persistent headache can really get to be a drag! --Becca (p.s. Sean is right, downloading pictures with this high-speed internet is really fun!!)

The technology trickle down...

As you see in the news, and perhaps experience first hand, technology is always advancing and reaching parts of the world that never knew such "luxury" before. That said, we just got high-speed internet at our house, in the middle of nowhere, at the foot of the Andes mountains where the Amazon jungle begins. Just to see on my end how much nicer this new technology is, I uploaded this picture of this Spanish Airbus landing in Quito. Let me just say that I will be saving some time uploading pictures with our new DSL instead of dial-up!


For those of you that didn't know it, we also have a hangar at the Quito airport. I was standing on our ramp when I took this picture. You are definetly up close and personal to what is going on in the takeoff/landing realm when you are at our hangar in Quito. This particular flight from Iberia Airlines (Spain) arrives everyday at around 4pm.

Coral Snake?

I found this snake as I was putting our truck inside the gate this evening. I think it is a coral snake "imposter," although I cannot say for sure. I broomed him into a dust pan a snapped a few pictures before I threw him back into the nearby jungle. He was a small one, as they all grow a lot bigger. He sure took me by suprise walking out on the driveway in the dark!

In hand...

The past 2 days I was in Quito finishing up my pilot license requirements. It only took almost 4 months, a LOT of praying (thanks!), a bunch of trips to Quito, lots of studying, and a few tests and finally I have it in hand. Now, if we could just get drivers licenses. That is a whole other blog as to the why nots.

While I finally have my license, that doesn't mean I am free of my intructors just yet. I can now legally fly solo in the country with my license, which is the goal we are now working towards. I am still not sure when that "special" day will come, but maybe in the next few weeks.

Puddle jumpin'

Today has been a good relaxing Saturday. We haven't done much of anything due to the rain and the overall contentment of just being inside relaxing. We did go out in the afternoon to just stretch our legs and let the dogs out. Between all 3 dogs and Brooklyn, I think they were feeling a little cooped up. Brooklyn recently got some shiny new blue rubber boots, so she was having fun jumping in the puddles in the street. Those boots were a good $3.50 well spent!

Electricity...For Now

Well, our electricity is already back on! What we were expecting to be a minimum two-day ordeal turned into just 14 hours. We are very grateful, but still half expecting another power outage at any time. Volcano Tungarahua is the cause of all the problems. It has been more active than it had been in years and causing problems all over Ecuador. The ash plume it sent off earlier this week went 15 km into the air and could be seen in satellite photos. There is ash falling on many towns causing breathing problems, car problems, electricity problems and even closing down runways. We've heard there are at least 12 dead and 60 missing, complete towns/villages destroyed, landslides, flash floods, and lava flows taking out monuments and roads! Of course, we take everything that we hear down here with a grain of salt, knowing that rumors and gossip can really exaggerate the truth! It is certain that the volcano is more active than it has been in a while. Back in 1999, there was a similar scare (though not quite as bad as this time) and the town of Baños (among other small villages in the area) was evacuated. Because nothing serious came of that threat there are many who refuse to evacuate this time because they feel it is all just an overeation. Several of those that did evacuate Baños were said to have turned right back around when they heard that there was looting going on in the empty houses left behind. It is hard to know if this volcano will ever erupt seriously and wipe out the quaint town of Baños and the surrounding area as many fear it will or if it will just continue to taunt everybody with threatening belches of ash, rock, and lava. Time will tell. But for the time being we have electricity...while several families are now without their homes or loved ones. It is hard to grasp what is happening just 30 miles up the road.

Here is a recent article on the volcano's activity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungurahua

By the way, Brooklyn is much better. It must have been a 24-hour bug and we are glad to see her back to normal. She hardly ever gets sick, so we tend to freak out every time she acts just a bit under the weather. We had heard there was a stomach bug going around but thankfully all she had was a fever and general malaise.

Real Missionaries

Last night, at about midnight, the electricity went off. Although it didn't make much difference to us since we were sleeping, it did frighten Brooklyn who has become pretty dependent on her night-light. It was a weird night...very dark and quiet! I finally just left a flashlight on so that Brooklyn would settle down and go back to sleep. This morning the electricity still wasn't on - it's off all over Shell, not just in our neighborhood, and we assume the entire province of Pastaza is without electricty (there is a lot of jungle out there that probably doesn't have electricity anyway, but you get the point).

We've heard a couple of reasons for the power outage. Supposedly, a tower or pole fell. Also, we've heard that there are 2 inches of ash in the city of Ambato (about two hours up the road) from Volcano Tungarahua causing problems with the transformers. Who knows if one or both of these stories are true but it sure has shut down our life in Shell! We've been told it will be a couple of days before they are able to get things up and running again (the original estimation was 8 days but that has been reduced to just 2). The main road to Quito is also shut down.

I'm feeling like a real missionary now - completely cut off from the rest of the world! Right now I'm breathing the gas fumes from the generator that we will keep on for a few hours so that the things in our freezer don't go bad. It is loud and obnoxious but we're grateful to have some power in order to cook, do laundry, run a few fans, and keep our meat fresh! It is also nice to have the computer on - I didn't realize how dependent I am on the computer and internet until I couldn't turn it on! Even our cordless phones are useless when the power goes out. Talk about feeling disconnected from the rest of the world!

Brooklyn is also a little under the weather today. There seems to be something going around, although I'm not too sure what it is or how to describe it. For Brooklyn it has been just a low-grade fever and not feeling quite right. Now that we have the generator up and running, I have her resting on the couch watching videos. She hasn't been her normal energetic self this morning and for the first time ever she hasn't moved from one spot for a very long time.

As I look back at this blog, I realize it could cause some of you (mostly parents) to start to worry. I want to stress that we are all just fine. I must be a true missionary at heart because the whole power outage thing is quite adventurous to me! As far as Brooklyn goes, I know this is nothing serious and that the fever just has to run it's course. She'll get plenty of special attention, liquids, and love as she recuperates, so Grandmas you may now just relax! --Becca

Banana plant buffet

Rebecca and I have been enjoying seeing some beautiful birds lately in our back yard. There is a banana plant nearby with some almost ripe bananas that they have been feeding on. These are a few that we have seen.
Also, on our way home from church this morning, we stopped at the hangar briefely to wash the truck. Chad is "on call" this weekend, and he was just returning from a medivac as we were leaving. He was called out to the jungle to bring out 2 guys that were in pretty bad shape from fighting each other with machetes. Whatever spurned them to fight each other, it was ironic that they ended up riding in the same airplane only inches apart because of the wounds they inflicted upon one another.

Brooklyn and Maya

Brooklyn and our puppy Maya. No, it isn't Scout...I lost that one, but my determination to call the dog by a strange name provoked Sean to come up with and decide on a name himself!

Mommy Reflections

Now that Brooklyn is three, I am just amazed at her little personality. I see a lot of me in her...especially in the dramatic temper tantrums and undying affection for all animals. We struggle to keep Brooklyn inside for a little while just to give the dogs and cats a small break from her sticky little hands. Kittens end up in her baby stroller, dogs are spoon-fed their food one kibble at a time, the puppy gets a bubble bath, and all the dogs have had the pleasure of listening to her "read" a book to them while laying on the porch beneath one of Brooklyn's blankets. We try to keep the dogs and cats outside but they are often invited inside by Brooklyn when we aren't looking. Several times I have found the puppy sitting in one of Brooklyn's little plastic chairs at her child-sized table being served a meal of yellow play-dough.

And she is a complex character, this little girl. While Brooklyn is very outdoorsy and doesn't mind playing in the mud or getting very dirty, she also almost always wants to wear a dress. Her clothes and face can be as dirty as can be but she washes her hands at least three times during a meal. She is the most independent kid I've met (other than maybe myself) but still climbs into our bed to sleep with us for the last few hours of the night. Her high pain tolerance does not mean that she doesn't have a sweet, sensitive heart that can easily be broken whether for herself or for others.

She's learning her ABC's, learning to count, and putting words together to make complex sentences more and more each day. She loves to "help" with whatever Mommy or Daddy are doing. She loves snuggling on a lap to read a book. She kills bugs for Mommy and catches caterpillars for Dad to enjoy. She loves other kids and is never too shy to go make a new friend. She's been in situations that would make her slightly shy mother tremble and doesn't even flinch (she must get that from her Dad). Also like her father, she has selective hearing but for the most part she is an obedient little girl...eventually.

I guess I'm just a proud Mommy that is absolutely amazed by the little person that is my daughter. As Brooklyn gets better at expressing herself, I see her becoming a very complex little person and I just can't get over the miracle. --Becca

Look what Brooklyn caught (part 2)

Actually, this Rhino Beetle is dead. I found it behind some things as I was doing some cleaning outside. This is a better specimen than the previous one I found, although they still can get bigger than this one.

La Cucaracha

I just wanted to post another bug picture. Mostly because we have someone in our beloved extended family who expressed a fear of this type of bug. I won't mention his name but it begins with "J" and ends in "red." The cockroach in the picture below is about as long as the typical index finger. We have seen many species of cockroach here in Ecuador as well as in Costa Rica. There are no cockroaches in our part of Colorado because of the altitude. I did some research on them a few months ago to either verify of debunk some of the myths Rebecca and I had learned about them. Here are a few of the facts...

• Cockroaches can live up to a week with their head cut off
• They can survive a nuclear blast
• There are thousands a species worldwide, ranging in size from about 2mm to the huge Madagascar hissing roaches which reach over 6 inches long
• They usually cannot survive above 6,000ft.
• They like dark, dank places, like under you kitchen sink.
• They are repelled by light, thus you rarely see them in the daytime, or they run when you turn on the light
• One "female" can have over 2 million offspring in one year

Hope you all sleep well tonite!

10 de Agosto

Today los Ecuatorianos celebrate what we would consider independence day. In 1809 Ecuador was the first of several South American countries to declare independence from the Spanish crown. Because the 10th of August falls on a Thursday, tommorow is the official holiday. Therefore I have the day off tommorow as well as every other Ecuadorian. I am looking forward to having a 3 three day weekend since we have been so busy lately. It will be nice to catch up on some things around the house and loaf around with Becca and Brooklyn.

Back in the saddle

Today I was back at it with Chad my instructor pilot. We went to two places to get people out of the jungle. The second place we went is called Toñampade. Some of you may be familiar with it from various books, documentaries, and movies. It is where the "palm beach" incident occured over 50 years ago with Nate Saint and his 4 missionary friends where they were speared to death trying to evangelize the Auca tribe. I will give more detail at a later time as to what the tribe is like now, and what happens now at Toñampade.
Chad took this picture out of the window of the plane. I was loading the belly pod with our passengers cargo. He had a TON of plantanos (like bananas) to bring back to Shell with him. They eat those things all day long with every meal. I like them myself, although I prefer to throw in a little variety from time to time.

Party Picture

Here's a snapshot of Brooklyn enjoying her party with friends.

Whew!

• Whew! Sean passed his checkride!!! We are all very happy. While Sean doesn't have his license in hand just yet, he is basically now a Licensed Commercial Pilot in Ecuador. Praise the Lord and thanks to those of you that were praying. Now the real work begins as he starts doing operational flights with his instructor!
• Double whew! We just finished Brooklyn's birthday party. We invited over 3 other families. There were 8 adults and 6 kids and yet we somehow still felt out-numbered! It was a good, fun, loud time. There was plenty of screaming, laughing, crying, teasing, and yelling. And that was just at the "adult table!" We feel very strange knowing that our little baby girl is 3 years old already...next thing we know she'll be turning 30!

Quito Trip

We have been in the capital city of Quito for the past 5 days. It went very fast, but we are very glad to be back home in Shell. The original purpose of going to Quito was so that I (Sean) could attend an aviation seminar on Thursday. The seminar went like most...boring and long. But I stuck it out and came out none the worse for wear.

Friday we spent playing tourist. We drove about 2 hours north of Quito to a town called Otavalo. This town is known for its handcrafts, specifically its weavings. We had a great time there, and the drive was INCREADIBLE! The sights were just breathtaking. We drove through a few towns where roses are grown commercially. There were so many roses growing, just driving through the town smelled like you were in a florist. It was awesome! Another part that we liked is how similar it seemed to our homestate of Colorado. It was very similar with all the little farms and small towns. We could definetly fit in, in the mountains north of Quito.

(This is Cayambe Volcano. Like all the others I have photographed and written about, it also rises above 19,000ft. This was on the PanAmerican highway towards Otavalo northeast of Quito.)

Saturday we continued the tourist journey. After some morning shopping, we went to what is called the Teleferiqo. The Teleferiqo is basically an overlook of the valley and city of Quito as well as a mini amusement park. This also proved to be worth our time and we loved it. You actually ride a European ski lift to the top of one of the "hills" that overlooks Quito. From this point you are about 12,500 feet high, and you can follow the trail from the top of the ski lift to some nearby peaks towering over 15,000 ft. It was breathtaking as well. Needless to say, we are not acclimated to high altitude anymore like we were when we were living in Colorado. That said, we were all (except Brooklyn) a little short of breath at the top. Afterwards we spent some time at the amusement park. Brooklyn was able to ride a horse carousel, mini rollercoster, and a bit rocking ship. Luckily our $5 ride pass ran out, because Becca and I were about to get sick if we went on any more rides with Brooklyn. Saturday night we went and had a nice Italian dinner in Quito and celebrated 6 years of marriage.

Here Brooklyn and I are at the top of the Teleferiqo looking towards the east. Behind us is about 1/3 of the city of Quito. It's 3 million inhabitants live in a long narrow valley that extends for many miles from north to south. Volcano Cayambe can just be made out off of my right shoulder across the valley up in the cloudtops.

Here is what the other direction looks like from the Teliferiqo looking towards the west. Behind Brooklyn the peaks rise to and above 15,000 ft. It was defintely a wierd change to go from jungle one day, to the high alpine desert of the Andes the next. The topogragraphy and climates of Ecuador are very stunning.

Today we drove home to get ready for another busy week. After a few detours for some more shopping and fixing a flat tire, we made it home. Today is also Brooklyn's 3rd birthday. Tommorow we are having a little party with some of her friends and thier parents. We were able to find a BBQ grill this weekend as well, so tommorow night we will be grilling at our house for Brooklyn's party as well as beating up a piñata.

Also tommorow I have my checkride with "the general." Chad (the instructor pilot) and I will leave Shell at 8am tommorow and fly to Quito. We will pick up the general there and then fly south about 50 miles south to less congested airspace and do my checkride. It should all go well, but I am starting to get a little nervous. Pray for us for all that we have to do tommorow. It should prove to be interesting for sure.

Ms. Potato Head

• We're off to Quito this morning. Since Sean's check ride didn't work out this week, it means we'll have an extra day to shop and explore after his conference ends on Thursday evening. We have several things on our list to get done including buying a birthday gift for Brooklyn, checking out furniture for our future home, buying food items not available in Shell, as well as simply enjoying American eateries, movie theaters, and a little tourism of the Andes mountains to celebrate 6 years of marriage and Brooklyn's 3rd birthday, of course!
• Sean's check ride was canceled yesterday. "The General" couldn't come but it turned out to be a VERY rainy day so they wouldn't have been able to fly anyway. If all goes as planned (we're on Plan F or G by now, I think), the check ride will be Monday...so keep praying!
• Flight hours for MAF in Ecuador have increased quite a bit lately. After a day like yesterday with no flights due to weather, it means that the pilots have a huge workload today. While it is always exciting to see that MAF is busy and making a difference in the jungles of Ecuador, it also increases the stress load of the pilots and could be cause of potential mishaps as the pilots do their best to help as many folks as possible. We appreciate your prayers for continued safe operations in Ecuador! Needless to say, everybody is looking forward to having Sean to help carry the load.
• Last night while Sean was gone teaching English, I was getting after Brooklyn for not putting her toys away as I told her to. I was sitting at the computer and could see from where I was that Brooklyn was obviously playing. I started getting really upset with her since I'd been telling her to put away her toys for several minutes and so I started to holler at her from across the room...but when she turned around to look at me, I just had to bust out laughing! She'd been playing with her Mr. Potato Head accessories, as you can see in the photo below. She probably knew that, at some point, I'd get after her and so she was ready and waiting with a little bit of comic relief for her over-stressed Mom! --Becca

The Simulator

Being very serious around here at the hangar as pilots, we like to take advantage of any "free" time we may have. So in between flights and such, we like to use the simulator. Now, this is no ordinary simulator. You cannot just run to Wal-Mart and buy one of these. It was created by some pilots that served here years ago, and it was done with great precision, and attention to detail. You could almost say that it is of Swiss quality. Anyway, for those of you that come to see us, you will no doubt have some time at the simulator. By the way, all controls are fully articulating and movable. This enables easy regress and digress into and out of the captains chair. ---Sean

Curaray

I went on a flight about 45 minutes into the jungle this morning to pick up some election officials at an airstrip called Curaray. The flight itself was without event, and it was a blast to do. Chad (the instructor pilot) went with me and we stuck some training elements into the flight as well. I was going to have my checkride tommorow with "the General," but upon landing in Shell, we found out that he canceled and cannot come until next Monday. It is always something. You never know what a day may bring, or lack thereof. So, pray with us that somehow next week I can take my checkride and finish my license process.

This is one of the reasons that we fly here in Ecuador. If you don't travel by plane, rivers are the only other option. The man saluting me, and the man behind the girl in the yellow were our passengers from Curaray. We asked one of the guys in the village how many days it takes to make one of those canoes, and he told us about 8 days with a chainsaw. That is impressive! I would hate to know how long it takes with the ol' traditional machete.
These are just some pretty flowers near our hangar. They are actually part of a tree and it blooms like this every few weeks or so. It is very pretty to see.
--Sean