From the logbook...First landing in Nemonpade

This past Tuesday I made my first landing in a Huarani village called Nemonpade (NEM). I was there to pick up a Compassion International team and move them to the village of Tiwaeno. It was a fun little strip, and the people just the same. I have mentioned before the different atmospheres that each village has in the jungle. Some are very nice, happy, and excited that you are there. Then, you fly 5 miles away and feel like you are getting the cold shoulder. Of all the Huarani villages I have been going into lately, it has been a nice change of atmosphere. In all the villages the people just seem generally happy and excited to live. It is fun to land in their villages and enjoy their sense of humor, and the ability they have to laugh easily.

Here is a group shot of some of the people that were at the airstrip the other day in NEM.

For those of you who have seen "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" you may recognize the guy on my left. That is Mencaye, who played a large role in that documentary. This was my first time meeting him, and he was just as nice in person as he seems in the documentary.

I should be going back into NEM today. Hopefully I can find it. We have been covered in smoke here in Shell. So bad in fact, that they have almost closed the airport because the visibility is too bad. I'm not sure where the smoke/haze is from but I have heard it is from cane fields that are burning in Colombia and Brazil. Regardless of where it has it's beginnings, it sure makes the flying interesting here. We haven't had much rain for 3 weeks now, so instead, something had to come and make the flying a challenge, this time it is dense smoke instead of rain and clouds.