Some recent shots

Yesterday, I put a bunch more photos in the gallery. Here are a couple that were included as well.
This waterfall was encountered on my short afternoon hike that I went on during our little vacation last week. The scenery of that area of Ecuador could leave a photographer busy and satisfied for a long time.

On a related note, I was looking at a map last night and noticed the mountain pass that we drove over to get to Papallacta. After converting the elevation from meters to feet, I was astonished. No wonder we could sense the lack of oxygen, we were only at 13,100 feet! This is a difference of about 10,000 feet, or almost 2 vertical miles from what we are acclimated to in Shell, living at the foot of the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Jungle.

As I looked out my bedroom window a few mornings ago, I saw this grasshopper crawling around on a palm plant. I have seen this type before, and even posted their picture on the blog, but their design still fascinates me. This picture is only slightly larger than the real life size version of the grasshopper.

More paperwork

Today, I didn't go to the hangar again. Instead, I continued our quest to obtain all the legal papers we need for various things here in Ecuador. My goal today was getting my car registered for this year. I was back at the police HQ again, and I arrived right at 8 am. I went through all the hoops and was soon back on my way home, only 4 short hours later, just in time for lunch. Needless to say, I am pretty pooped from all the logistical paperwork processes I have engaged in this week. I think Becca and I are going to watch a movie tonite. Hopefully I can stay awake. Friday nights aren't what they used to be for me. Usually between 8-9 pm I am done in, and have to go to bed. I know, it's pretty pathetic.

After lunch I helped our base maintenance man named Ron with some things here at our house. We are putting in a small roof on the back portion of our house that connects to our bodega. Going from our house to the bodega can be a slick process when it is raining, so this should definitely help things dry out, since it only rains 22 feet annually in Shell.

Finally!!!

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of our arrival to Ecuador. Without a dought it has been the fastest year of our life. Since getting here, we have had to engage in many a logistical process. One that has given us the most trouble and taken the longest was obtaining a driver's license. I am pleased to say that finally today Rebecca and I walked out of the police HQ with official licenses. We had pre-prepared all of our documentation in advance of going to the HQ today. This pre-preparation in and of itself took a long time. We needed documents from the Secretary of State in Colorado, various documents and tests done within Ecuador, and then we needed all the right people to be in their offices at the same time. This morning we left the house at 8 to try and get an early start on presenting our papers. They were accepted (this was the third try) and we were finally in the process.

There are many interesting cultural things to be noticed while getting a driver's license in any country of the world. We were not disappointed today. Promptly at 12 pm everybody closed up shop and told us to come back at 3pm. Our paperwork was about halfway done at this point, and there wasn't any complaining or excuses that we could have done to keep on with the process. So, we came home and had a bite to eat, and rested a bit before going back to hopefully finish the process.

To make a long story short, we arrived in the afternoon and patiently waited as we jumped through the various hoops. Around 4 this afternoon we walked out of the police HQ with newly minted licenses in hand. It was awesome! It has been a huge stress driving this past year without a license.

In Ecuador they always have spontaneous police checkpoints. The usually ask for two things, a driver's license and vehicle registration. We have always had the later, but the official Ecuadorian driver's license had always eluded us. I had used my Colorado driver's license many times. At most checkpoints we were simply waved through, but there were a few times where the police officer wanted to give me a hard time because of my lack of an official license, and that can sure make your heart pound. Now, I can just show him my real documentation and have no worries. I'm actually looking forward to driving around the next corner and seeing a police checkpoint.

Thanks to all of you that helped in getting us paperwork from the States, and those of you who also prayed for this process. It was definitely obvious how we could have been shooed out of the door today just like on all our previous attempts, but somehow grace prevailed, and now we are legal driver's here in Ecuador.

--(on a side note, I don't want to ever hear how bad the various DMV's are in the States. I have heard some bad stories, but never anybody that worked for a year to get a license.)

Papallacta trip...in pictures

Our trip to the town of Papallacta was great! Rather than describe everything, I thought I would put some of my favorite photos and tell you about them. Granted, there isn't a lot of pictures of family. You will have to check Becca's blog for that...For those of you who like pictures like me, I will be putting more on the web album.

"You steer and I'll pedal." I wonder if this conversation really ever took place. It's not uncommon to see 4 people on a bike.

In the Quechua communities that we drive through in the mountains, this is a very common sight. A man or a woman carrying a huge load of something on their backs. Needless to say, you also see many people without a load on their back still in this same bent over position. It makes my back hurt just looking at it. This is just a look at the country side as we climbed high into the Andes on our way to Papallacta. The scenery was stunning!

This is the only shot of Antisana volcano that I got. She only came out one night, the rest of our time at Papallacta it was covered in clouds. Pretty impressive sight even at night.

One afternoon, I went on a hike while my girls took naps. This little blackbird gave me a good time trying to get a good picture. The hike was awesome as well. I even fell asleep in a grassy meadow, and there weren't any chiggers to eat me alive like in Shell. Granted, not many insects live at over 11,000 feet.
I know it may seem common to most of my readers, but I haven't seen a good ol' bunny rabbit in years. I was about as giddy as Brooklyn for seeing this one.

This is main street Papallacta. Very simple, and very small.
This is the whole town of Papallacta as seen from the road as it descends into the little village.




We did some exploring one morning, and this is one of the lakes we found. Can't say how long it has been since I saw a mountain lake either. It was a very refreshing experience to just sit enjoy the quiet nothingness at the lake.
This is a shot of the páramo as we drove to the lake. Again, another great experience of vast nothingness. Quite a significant difference from the dense jungle we live in. We felt like we were in a different world, or at least a different country. It was a little surreal.

Mommy took a fun shot of me and Brooklyn goofing off on this big rock. Brooklyn had a blast just running through the grass and throwing rocks into the lake.
Here is another shot from the lake. We found a road that went around it, and then stopped for a while and threw some rocks in the water and just relaxed. Madison just stayed contently in the car.
On the way to Papallacta, Becca took this photo of one of the many uses of a trunk, or maybe one of the many uses of children, to hold your trunk door open. We still can't get used to some of the things we see.

Various

• I changed some things in the sidebar of my blog again. I liked the tracking widgets I was using, but they were only on a trial basis of two weeks. In order to keep the full service I had to buy them. I guess I am too cheap to fork out the money. It was interesting though to see where people were reading from. Most were not very surprising, but others were.
  
• I added another widget to reflect my larger web album and deleted my link to my Flicker site. For me, Picasa is easier for what I do.
• This past week at the hangar was probably the hardest week I have ever had in our time here in Ecuador. I was flight coordinator and therefore didn't fly much myself. The stress of this week was due to many factors which would be too long (and boring) to divulge here in the blog, but let's just say I'm glad it's the weekend. I was about ready to pop!
• After coming off the hardest week ever in my missionary career, it is nice to know that I am now basically on vacation. I have next Monday through Wednesday off for a few days away. Tomorrow we are heading to the high country (The Andes Mountains) to enjoy a few days at a hot springs resort. We are all looking forward to it. Becca is pretty wiped out with normal life as a full time mom/housewife as well. At least she will be able to leave the housewife part behind for a few days. That said, I probably will not be blogging for the next 4-6 days.
• When we get back from our short vacation, I still don't think I will be going to the hangar. We still don't have driver's licenses after being here for a year (again, another boring, frustrating, and long story) and we are going to try and take a few days to get that taken care of. Man, I thought having to wait in line for 5 hours in Costa Rica was bad, but at least I walked out with a license.
  
• Our air ambulance contract still did not get signed. A few small changes were made after the meetings, which negated another trip up to the Ivory tower for approval. That said, it still might be a few weeks before it is approved. But, even if it is signed as it is written now, we will not have enough money in it to continue flying for air ambulance. The budget allocated is basically already used up in our first 4 months of emergency flying, which leaves the rest of the year pretty lean.
  
• I mentioned last week that this past Sunday were elections here in Ecuador to decide if the Ecuadorian people wanted a new constitution/government. It was unanimously approved to draft a new constitution and government model. I can't say what this means for us as North American missionaries at this point, but we might begin to get an idea in the next 6-8 months.
  

I took a picture of the mushroom in our front yard a few days ago. Then a funny thing happened afterward; my dog Maya come right up to it and ate it.

My favorite sister

For reasons unknown to me, April is a huge month of birthdays in my family. My sister is no exception. Although April 20th is sometimes known in history for some weird world events, it is also my sister's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!!!

She is attending Colorado State University, works in her non school hours to support herself, and is still excelling with her schoolwork as her work load increases as she approaches graduation.

I am proud of you like no other brother can be Rachael. I am honoured to call you my sister and look forward to the stories we will always be able to tell our children around the table someday. I admire your stubborn dedication to stick with things even when they are hard. I admire how you stick true to your convictions and don't always follow the crowd, although it has meant heartache. Keep working hard knowing that no drop of sweat is ever in vain. I love you more than you know. You are a great aunt, sister-in-law, and sister. I would have it no other way. We all love you aunt Racher, have a great day...
Here is my family with a Quechua woman that sold them some things on their visit to Ecuador. My sister on the left, the tall guy on her left is my dad with Brooklyn in his grasp, the vendor lady and her daughter, and my mom on the right.

Coming up for air

We have been very busy lately. At the hangar we have more flight request than we can even come close to meeting right now. I am coordinating which can make things crazy. Trying to sort all the flight combinations, cargoes, and available payloads has me doing a lot of math everyday. Luckily it is not trig or physics. It is just your everyday addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. And then doing it over again because somebody brought more cargo after everything was weighed, and then realizing you are 41 pounds overweight and having to figure out what stays and what goes. Needless to say when I am coordinating my Spanish improves a lot, but by the end of the day my tongue is pretty twisted. Here is a shot of Kevin landing in Shell yesterday afternoon. Nothing spectacular about the shot, I just had good lighting so I got the camera out before I went home.

This is another shot of the mountains trying to come out from under the clouds yesterday afternoon. The Andes are impressive mountains, and are always fun to see in new perspectives and lighting conditions.

Sean D. Tucker Aerobatics to Steve Morse

I saw this video and was amazed as I usually am with aerobatic pilots. Knowing just a bit of what it takes to make a plane do the things that you see makes it all the more incredible. I had the chance to do some aerobatics with an instructor in this same model of aircraft. It was one of the most unforgettable flights I have ever had. I would love to get into this type of flying some day, but not to this level. Learning how to perform simple loops, rolls, spins, etc. with precision would be good enough. We'll see...

Various

• Did you read Becca's blog about how a local Internet newspaper in Colorado used one of my photos for it's Thursday edition? As Becca said, I thought it was pretty cool, even though it is a very small scale newspaper. If you stare at the little circle of the sun going down, watch what happens to the picture. It begins to dance. I am pretty sure it is due to the refresh rate of a computer monitor, or maybe I am just off my rocker.

• Speaking of that Internet newspaper, SLV Dweller, they also have a neat YouTube video about straw bale houses on Wednesday's edition. In all honesty it really appeals to Becca and I. I know it sounds a little earthy and hippy-like, but I guess my parents continue to rub off on me. The video is a promo and doesn't give many if any downsides of that type of construction. It obviously wouldn't work here in the Ecuadorian jungle where it rains 22 feet a year. Can you say mud pie?
  
• If you look on the sidebar of the blog, you will see yet another addition. I have another web album at Flicker. Maintaining two web albums is a lot of work. I don't know if I will keep it, but I'll sit on the idea for a while and see what happens.
• We still don't have a contract signed with the Ministry of Health for air ambulance flights. My boss Dan has a meeting with all the big wigs in Quito on Tuesday. Join us in prayer about that.
  
• We have been doing a ton of flying for Compassion International. Right now they are hosting church camps in various parts of the jungle. It is our job to be the logistical support. This means hauling hundreds of children, thousands of pounds of cargo, and whatever else comes up. Tomorrow, I have the lightest flight schedule of anyone, and I am slated to have 12 landings and over 3hours of flying. I'm already tired.
  
• My Becca has sure worked hard lately. She described very briefly in her blog about having and feeding 20 people in our home Thursday night. She describes it like it is no big deal. My hat's off to you babe, I have trouble feeding myself, let alone 20 other people. You did a great job!!!
  
• Ecuadorians are back at the voting booth today. They are voting on keeping their current constitution with some updates, or allowing the new administration to make a totally new constitution/government model for Ecuador. Might be interesting to see what happens.
  

Threatening

Yesterday afternoon the sun came out with some really stormy clouds nearby at the hangar. I took this shot and converted it to black and white...reminds me of The Wizard of Oz.

Jungle pets

Today one of my stops was in Tiweano. I took some people from New Zealand there to visit the Waorani. I have been to that village a lot, but I always have my camera because I never know what new thing I will see. Today I saw a fun assortment of pets...


You can see the end of the leash on this monkey dangling from his neck. He was pretty friendly with his owner, but he didn't warm up to many other people. Monkeys seem very possessive with there masters, and are very cold towards outsiders. I don't see myself ever wanting a monkey for a pet.


This scarlet macaw seemed friendly. He was perched a little to high in a house for me to get at, but beautiful nonetheless.

La gloria de la creación

Here are a few photos I snapped this afternoon...

Sangay Volcano was really beautiful as the sun went beyond the horizon tonight. Some big lenticular clouds are forming at the top, indicating some strong winds. So strong are the winds that the ash cloud is barely noticeable going from left to right.

Tungurahua Volcano didn't disappoint either as the sun went down.

El Altar is always inspiring when it comes out from its cloud blanket. Every time I look at it close up through my camera I am just in awe of the power I see, and the contrast with the snow and glaciers, as I take the photo from the middle of the tropical rain forest.

This rainbow I caught just as I was getting on my bike again this afternoon to come home. I altered it some to show the rainbow better. Isn't it neat how God continues to show his promise through the rainbow that he will never destroy the earth with a flood again? He could have chosen to only show it once to Noah and his family, but we are blessed to continue to see them worldwide, and remember the promise of God.


I found a neat scarab beetle this afternoon in the hangar. They are neat beetles because of all the different iridescent colors they can be. This one was small, about the size of a half dollar coin.

Another picture of Shell, Ecuador

I took some more pictures yesterday in my maintenance flight and decided to label some things for my readers. It is mostly self-explanatory. Shell is a town of about 2500-3000 people. As noted by the picture, everything on the south side of the runway is military, which probably doubles the population at times. The Chinese restaurant is very good. Just ask my dad. He went there about everyday when he was here. When he left Ecuador he spoke more Chinese than Spanish, and had to start taking cholesterol medicine. Our church is a block from our house, which is incredibly convenient. Our MAF hangar didn't quite make the photo, but it lies just a little more east . Click here to see a previous post of the town plaza. The footbridges are fun to cross as well. They are pretty high, just ask my mother in law, Bunny, how fun they are. I heard a few funny whimpers out of her when she was crossing.

Overall, the small town community feel of Shell is just what God designed us for. Although we like some of the amenities that a city offers, we hate everything else. We are very content to live in Shell, and live within walking distance to everything, or in some cases, nothing.

Busy weekend

After our fun day off on Friday, I had to get back to the real world and go to work this weekend. It is my turn to be on call this Easter weekend. It was a pretty laid back day at the hangar yesterday. I was able to catch up on a lot of little projects that I couldn't seem to get done previously. Becca and the girls came by and we gave it our best trying to get a family picture. Let's just say we will be having retakes.

I did have one flight in the afternoon. It was only a post-maintenance flight, which kept me close to Shell. For those of you who have never seen my pictures of Shell, below is what the big city looked like yesterday afternoon. Basically, the town runs the length of the 5,000ft long runway. This picture is looking out to the east towards Brazil and the Amazon Basin. If you were to look out my right side window, your eyes would be filled with the Andes Mountains going right up to 20,000ft. with snow caps. Pretty distinct contrasts.


Today I am still on call, but I won't go into the hangar unless there is a life and death emergency. I have to help lead worship at church, and then leave early to go help cook brunch. The MAF'ers are having an Easter brunch, and I got elected to cook pancakes and waffles. Not a bad election, I enjoy cooking breakfast, or in this case brunch. Afterwards, if there are still no flights to do, maybe I will get a nap in the afternoon...probably wishful thinking.

Additions

After seeing some cool things on another blog I wanted to put them on my blog as well. They are visitor tracking tools to help everyone see where they are reading from. I still might make changes here and there to personalize it better, but it is pretty neat at this point.

A few recent snapshots

Last night as I was getting on my bike to come home after work the sun was setting behind the ash plume of Tungurahua Volcano. It was a pretty sight.

Yesterday I was in Nemonpade again, and got a neat shot of Mincaye. He is one of the greatest examples of the transformational power of Christ that I have ever met. Although we don't understand each other very well, there is nothing more disarming than a smile as big as his. He has invited me to go hunting with him the past few times I have been in NEM. I don't know if it would ever work out, but I think it might be fun. (hunting meaning 4-6 days in the jungle chasing whatever we see through the wild)

While walking through Nemonpade a few days ago, I noticed these fungi on a fallen tree. The jungle is a haven for weird types of fungi, and I thought these were no exception.

From the logbook...Nemonpade

I had only one scheduled flight today. Before I could get around to doing it, we got word of a snake bite, a complicated pregnancy, and a serious ear infection. So, I set out on a medical flight first thing this morning. I was back just before lunch after making the rounds picking up these people.

Finally, I was able to make my original flight into the village of Nemonpade (NEM). This is a Waorani community. I had a fun time in there and the people are so nice. Two men of the spearing party that killed Nate Saint and his friends live there. They are a lot of fun, and 100% proof of the changing power of Christ.This little girl just lit up when I pointed the camera her way. Her people are full of smiles, and they are easy to make laugh. I always enjoy when I get to go into their area.

Here is a close up of the parrot. We would like to have one like this as a pet. Some day I am going to figure out what I can trade for one. Of course it would live outside. Birds are filthy animals, but he won't have to worry about freezing in his cage outside like he would if we still lived in Colorado.


I saw this centipede belly up as I walked through NEM. He had just died. I had never seen one like this, so I picked him up and put him on the wood planking of a house and took some pictures. His design is awesome. I'm glad he was dead, because I wouldn't have messed with him. They are to creepy and have to many legs going at the same time.

Happy April Fool's Day

I have had two funny things happen recently with two of my favorite people. While I won't go as far as to call them fools, you can be the judge on that one.

Story #1

When my parents were here the first part of the year, my dad was enjoying one of the Spanish Guitar Cd's that I had. I made a mental note and thought maybe I would buy it online and have it sent to him. My dad and I both share a love for all types of music, and I could imagine him at home just like when I lived with him, with the speakers pounding and the floor vibrating in their house. Finally a few weeks ago, I went to Amazon.com and ordered the CD and had it sent to my dad. Some time later he and I were talking over Skype and he didn't mention anything about the CD. Whenever my dad receives something he is ALWAYS quick to say thanks and express his gratitude. In this conversation he didn't mention a thing. I didn't get my feelings hurt, but it did make me wonder if he could forget something like that. So finally I asked him..."Dad, did you get a CD in the mail this past week?" He said, "Yeah, how did you know about that? Wait a minute, did you order it for me? I thought I had ordered it."

Having similar musical tastes, my dad had actually went to Amazon.com as well, just days earlier and looked at the same CD but he didn't order it. When it showed up on his doorstep, he was really confused because he thought he had just looked at it, not ordered it. To make matters worse, Amazon messed up my name as the buyer and put my dad's name. So even the bill said that Ben Cannon had bought the CD. So, my dad just went on with life, happy that he had ordered himself a CD, but a little baffled that he had forgotten about it. My mom and I gave him a hard time for becoming such a crazy old man.

Story #2

This story I am particularly proud of. I have done my fare share of pranks, and I don't see any end to them coming soon. Here's how it went...

My father-in-law Ron is a die hard KU Jayhawks basketball fan. I must admit that it has rubbed off on me a bit, and I even enjoy watching and keeping up with their season's progress. Last Saturday, the Jayhawks were playing UCLA in the Great 8 match up as part of the annual NCAA spring basketball tourney. They were part of the last 8 teams playing towards the championship game from an original pool of 64.

Knowing Ron would be watching the game, I thought of a great idea right as we were walking out the door to go watch the game ourselves at a friends house. The game had been on for about 5 minutes when I called Ron on our cell phone. Here's how it went...

(Vicki) answering the phone always "Hello"
(Sean) "Good afternoon, this is Ben Cunningham with Great Lakes (airlines). Is a Ron Ekert available?"
(Vicki) "Yes, just a minute"
As Vicki hands Ron the phone, he asks her "who is it?" In a tone of annoyance Vicki says "some guy from Great Lakes."
(Ron) "hello"
(Sean) "Hi Ron. Sorry to bother you. This is Ben Cunningham from Great Lakes. We landed a little while ago here in Alamosa and we were needing to get some fuel. We can't find anybody to help us. The doors are all closed and locked, and the hangar door is down, and the ramp is just deserted. I have flown this Alamosa route before on the weekends and have never had a problem getting fuel, but this afternoon I can't find anyone. I did find one gentleman named Joe (airport manager) and he gave me your number. Could you come and give us some fuel perhaps?"
(Ron) "I have 2 guys working today. They should be there. They are there until 6."
(Sean) "I'm sorry. I looked and looked. Everything is shut down and locked up. There is no body here. If you could just swing by real quick and fuel us up, we would be on our way"
(Ron) with a little heat in his voice this time. "But I have two guys working!....
(Sean) I interrupt him "Hi Ron, this is Sean calling" ...very long pause... "Ron, this is Sean in Ecuador calling. I knew you would be watching the game, and wanted to call and give you a hard time" ...still paused...
(Ron) in loving anger "You meat head...you idiot...you meat head...you idiot..."
(Sean) dying from laughter "Hey Ron, just wanted to bother you, I'll talk to you later, maybe you can sell me some fuel some other time"
(Ron) still in loving anger "Yeah, I love you to, but you're on my list now. You're lucky you are down there in Ecuador. You meat head...you idiot!

I found out later that Ron's two employees that were working the weekend together had asked Ron if they could leave early. When "Ben Cunningham" called and said there was no body there, Ron's blood began to boil, and I'm sure he was wondering who he was going to fire on Monday morning. Ron still says I am on his "list." Whatever that means. For as hard as he had me laughing, being on his list is definitely worth it.

A matter of prayer

I wanted to inform everyone of some happenings lately with our flying and ask that you join us in prayer about it...

Around the world, MAF has dozens of flight programs like the one in Ecuador. Generally speaking we all fly the same things. These include missionaries/church staff, cargo, medivacs, etc. One of the things that makes the Ecuador program unique is our medical flying. Often you read of the patients that I fly to and from their villages. Often times without the airplane they would have died in their jungle community. We fly so many medivacs in fact, that it accounts for about %50 of all our flights. The interesting thing about our medical flying is that the Ecuadorian Department of Health has had a contract with us for as far back as anyone can remember. In other words, the Ecuadorian government pays us to do the medivac flights.

Our most recent contract with the Dep. of Health expired last November. When we tried to renew it, they wouldn't (I don't know why) but we did get a "gentleman's" agreement verbally that we could still keep on flying and getting paid for these flights. We did get paid through December, but January, February, and March are all unpaid, totalling thousands of dollars. There has been a changing of staff in the Ivory Tower in Quito, and our verbal agreement went with it. Basically, those in power now say that they don't have a contract with us and therefore don't have to pay us. My boss Dan on the other hand said it can work both ways. If we don't have a contract, then we don't have to fly medivacs. This was, and still is, a very hard decision to make.

There has been a lot of pressure put on the government now by us, jungle communities, and even the national media to do something about the contract renewal. It has been almost 3 weeks now since we stopped flying medivacs. We are still flying those patients that will surely die without a flight. Snake bites and broken bones and things that someone will obviously die quickly from we are still doing. This has totalled to about 3 flights per week.

With a decision like the one we have made to halt all medivac flights until we have a new contract, and are paid on outstanding flights, it has been difficult flying these past few days. Many people in the jungle communities don't understand the way of "our" world, the one in which money rules everything. They don't understand that it takes money to put gas in the tanks, and without money there is no gas in the tanks, and therefore no flight. There has been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in the minds of those living in the jungle. As pilots it is getting harder and harder to fly. EVERY place we go now there is someone needing a medical flight. But, the reality of it is, they won't die from what they have. So, we have to diplomatically tell them that we can't fly them out, because they aren't close enough to dying, or their problem isn't serious enough. This is really pulling on the emotions and heartstrings of the pilots, myself included.

Join us in prayer that:

• We have a contract signed this week with the Ecuadorian Department of Health, and all outstanding debts are paid.
  
• For understanding within the jungle communities as to the decision we have made.
• The pilots can be diplomatic and loving to the communities that they enter.
  
• Ultimately, God's will be done. Perhaps we shouldn't have a renewed contract. Either way, to have a definite yes or no with the medivac flight ops would be nice.
  

From the logbook...Where's the runway!?

The other day en route to my destination, I snapped a quick shot as I was passing an airstrip. Can you find it? If not, follow the river from left to right and you will see it just under my wing and in the middle of the photo. The miles and miles of "broccoli" that we fly over everyday is impressive. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but you won't find large and widespread rain forest destruction/depletion in Ecuador like you hear in the news. (Click on the picture for an enlarged view and you will see the airstrip easier)