The New Blog!

First, thanks to those of you who have made it fun to record a little bit of our lives these past few years. Becca and I started this blog while still living in Costa Rica, and it quickly expanded from there, even justifying Rebecca making another blog to tell more of her side of the story. Being that things will be so different in Oaxaca, I decided to start another blog to chronicle what will occur there. It can be accessed by clicking here. I will no longer be posting on this blog, as our chapter in the jungles of Ecuador has now come to a close. Thanks for joining us, see you in Oaxaca!

The Time Has Come

We just made it through all the hoops that make up modern day travel at airports. We are now just waiting to board our airplane, which will be bound for Panama City, Panama. Luckily, here in the boarding area of the Quito airport, they have free internet, which is helping us to get caught up on some things. From Panama City we will fly to Mexico City; from Mexico City to Oaxaca. We should arrive in Oaxaca around 430pm if all things go well. Our girls are tired (so are we) since we had to wake up at 3am, but otherwise things are going well. Can't say what our internet accessibility will be when we get to Oaxaca, so be patient and we will get back online as quick as we can. Thanks for joining us in this journey and for your prayers as well!

We're getting closer

After a wonderful last few days in Shell, we left yesterday morning and are now in Quito. We have a few last minute appointments and meals here with friends before we board the airplane on Thursday morning to make our way north to Oaxaca. Please continue to pray as we gear up for the upcoming changes. We are excited to just get there and stop living out of suitcases. There is something healthy about living in one place and having a place to "hang your hat." By this time next week, I think we will have "moved" around 6 times in one and a half weeks. It's getting old!

AvWeb again...

One of my pictures was selected again by the aviation internet magazine AvWeb. I am going to keep submitting until they make me "photo of the week" so I can get my free hat! Click here to view this weeks winners.

Pollenators

Can you tell I have had some extra time to "stop and smell the roses?" These black bees were captured in our lemon tree in the front yard doing what God made them to do.

Old Crossing

Although there seems to always be something new being built around Shell, you don't have to look hard to notice a lot of the older buildings, bridges, roads, etc. These bridges we have always liked crossing because if reminds you so powerfully that we really do live in the jungle. Sometimes it is easy to forget because the surrounding jungle is so remarkable cut down and "tamed."

Fresh

With our slower pace of life lately (i.e.-no car, thus a lot more walking) I have had no choice but to "re-notice" the various options of fresh meats around Shell. As I have stated before, there are other ways to buy meat...I just though everyone needs a reminder of the old way to buy meat.

Being that Ecuador has a coastline, seafood and fish are very popular. We have never bought this type of meat. Neither of us are very fond of fish. We are very picky to the way it is cooked and what kind it is. If only pictures had smells...

There is always a pig hanging around somewhere. While it may not look very apetizing just hanging on a big hook...the stuff they are cooking in the background actually makes some awesome shreaded pork BBQ sandwiches.

My Favorite Ladies

While on our little "lunch trip" yesterday, my favorite girls were captured in a sweet hug. Man they are cute!

Last Bike Ride

Knowing my bike is going to be crated up today, this past weekend I took one last and long bike ride. By the time I got back to the house, I had racked up around 18 miles. This isn't very long compared to my old riding days, but it was a lot longer than the ride to and from the hangar that I am used to. Overall, it was a blast to be able to take one last ride through the Ecuadorian Jungle and the foothills of the Andes Mountains.

Lunch Outing

Due to the fact that most of our packing is done, we had some extra time yesterday to take a little drive and visit one of our favorite places to eat lunch. Shortly after Brooklyn was out of pre-school we took the MAF van and headed up the road and had one last and very enjoyable meal at Mirame Lindo.

On previous trips there, they didn't have a parrot. So, we were surprised to see this one as we walked in.

Morning Cough

While walking to the corner store this morning I saw something that hasn't been seen in Shell for a long time...the volcanoes. Due to constant cloud cover, and their high altitiudes, the volcanoes of Sangay and El Altar have rarely been seen most of this year. As I walked back from the store, I looked at Sangay again and it had erupted, or coughed as it were. By the time I walked home and dug out my camera, the plume was already being dispersed by the winds above.

Little guys at work

While passing a palm plant in our back yard this morning I noticed these spiders and their intricate webs. What caught my attention most was the double re-reinforcement around the center of the web. This spider was also enjoying his breakfast of what looked like a fly....yummy!

From the logbook...The Last One (Part Two)

I thought I was done flying, but I had been asked a few times to be willing to fly with the volcanologists again. I had been saying "yes" since it would be early in the morning and pretty easy. This morning when I woke up, I received the call asking me to take them up so they could take their "special" pictures and get a birds eye view of what the volcanoes are doing. We flew for almost 2.5 hours, up to 20,000 feet taking pics of Tungurahua and Sangay...both of which were erupting on a small scale.

This is Tungurahua as we were climbing to 19,000 feet. Below is the tourist town of Baños. You can easily see that if Tungurahua were to erupt on this northern flank, the residents of Baños would be in trouble. At the moment all ash and lahars are going to the southwest. Mostly water vapor is being emitted at the moment. A small ash cloud can be seen blowing away from the volcano.

While circling Tungurahua, El Altar was trying to peek out of the clouds. This is the only shot I got of it, although it still looks pretty fearsome.

This is most surely my last flight here in Ecuador, as I have to pack up my flight gear now. It was sure a good one to go out with. We only have two more weeks here in Shell.

Help from the Neighbors

While loading up a van to take some stuff to our future yard sale, Madison kept trying to escape and take off walking down the sidewalk. Upon seeing this, our neighbor lady, Francisca, walked over and took Maddie walking with her. It was a nice reprieve for a minute while Becca and I loaded the van.

Quote of the day...

Mom: "Brooklyn, what did you learn in school today?"

Brooklyn: "The letter "R.""

Mom: "Oh, what starts with "R" Brooklyn?"

Brooklyn: "Bunny."

Happenins'

Well, lots of packing and organizing and giving and throwing away going on around here. We are making a lot of progress. Almost everything is sold or boxed up. Not a lot of exciting news, really.

I submitted another photo to AvWeb, the aviation web magazine. They published it in their weekly contest, but I still did not get photo of the week. Maybe some other time. Click here to see the photos.

From the logbook...the Last One

Wouldn't you know it...my last day to fly an MAF plane in Ecuador and the weather is too bad to fly. Shell was shut down in rain and so was ALL of the jungle. We weren't going anywhere to fast. Thankfully, the crew at the hangar took me and my girls out to lunch at the Chinese Restaurant. That was a nice treat. We closed and locked all the doors at the hangar for an hour while we all went out to eat.

The weather did improve enough in the late afternoon for two flights, both of which I was fortunate enough to do. My first was just a post-maintenance flight around the local area of Shell. After things checked out okay, I went to a village called Liquino, about 20 minutes away, and picked up a group working for Compassion International. After loading them up, we were soon landing in Shell for what was presumably my last landing in Ecuador. VERY bittersweet!

Now, we are just going to be trying to get our things packed, sorted, and thrown away in the next 2 weeks or so. No doubt our lives are going to be filled with chaos for the foreseeable future, but it will all be worth it.

From the logbook...La Penúltima

My second to last day...wow it has come fast! Tomorrow is my last day of "work" in the hangar. From there we will be getting things sorted and packed to make our move to Mexico on March 20th. Yesterday, we were shut down with rain all day long, so it was good to get a good long day of flying in today. Nothing out of the ordinary to report, a very ordinary day, which is good when you spend copious amounts of time over the Amazon Jungle.

While in Acado the other day I saw this pet macaw prancing around. It had just finished raining pretty hard, and he wasn't much to look at since he was drenched. When he opened his wings though, I could see the dry part of his plumage which caught my camera's eye.

From the logbook...450 meters of Hog Trough

I only had 5 landings today, although it took me 4 hours to get it done, one of which was in the clouds. My first landing took me to one of the farthest destinations we fly to near the Peruvian Border. At almost an hour and 20 minutes away from Shell, the military base of Loracachi sure made me feel deserted being so far away from civilization. From there I worked my way back to Acado to bring out a work team. The weather was pretty bad, and once I was on the ground in Acado, I decided to wait until things substantially improved until I left.

The airstrip in Acado was awful! It was mud from one end to the other, just like landing on ice, but it flies all over the place when you land on it and taxi through it. After enjoying a nice lunch with the Acado community, and waiting about 3 hours on the ground, I was finally able to take off for the first of three flights back to Shell. After I got to Shell, I put on gas, and went back to Acado to get another load of people, which thankfully are now going to make their flight back to the USA tomorrow.

As I approached Acado for my second landing, a coworker of mine was already there and about ready to take off. As I circled waiting for him to takeoff, I got some pictures from a different perspective.

Here he has just lifted out of the Hog Trough. Look closely just before the river and see the little airplane go!

In keeping with the bug theme...

This morning as I walked out the door to ride to work, I almost stepped upon 8 inches of crunchy exoskeleton. I've done that before and it feels creepy. Instead, I put the multi-legged critter into a tupperware (see background) and waited until I had more time to get a picture.

Egg Transporter

While shooting pics of the cobweb this morning, I also noticed this caterpillar on a leaf in the lemon tree. After looking a little closer, I noticed that the caterpillar was dead, and most of the eggs were hatched. I am only speculating, but I think these are eggs are from another insect. They were laid on this caterpillar to feed the larvae when they hatched thus killing the host.

Rainy Canvas

While waiting outside on the porch this morning before church, I noticed this cobweb and the hundreds of droplets it had collected from all the recent rain. Trying my hand at a photo, it turned out pretty neat.

From the logbook...Flying Ambulance

I thought my on call was going to be a spoof, that is...nothing to do. I didn't have to wait long to learn I was wrong. I few days ago I brought out a mom with her sick baby. Tragically, the baby didn't make it. Because they don't embalm people here, burials happen quickly. Therefore, taking this mom and her now dead baby back to the jungle was a high priority. Also, the woman I brought out this past Thursday after a bad miscarriage was ready to go home as well. As I was ready to leave and take these patients back home, we received a call about a 4 year old boy that had burned himself with some boiling water.

Soon I was off making my rounds. The flight was a non event. I dropped off my patients, and then picked up the poor little boy who definetly needed some medical attention. On the way home, the weather had built up pretty big, which forced me into the clouds for the majority of my 45 minute flight to Shell. Thankfully, I broke out of the clouds about 20 miles from Shell, which meant I didn't have to do the approach. Also, there was an awaiting ambulance for the little boy and his mom, which is untypical for the weekends. I was expecting to have to send the boy to the hospital in a taxi.

As I flew over the vast brocolli that is the Amazon Jungle today, I saw this halo rainbow as we came out of the clouds. Rainbows are such a sweet reminder of God's promises in our lives. Even with all the rain we have here, they aren't a common ocurance. It just made be reflect on all the uncertainty that is our future right now. When I was in the clouds, I couldn't see a thing, and had to rely on my instruments and training. Then, for a brief instant we broke out just to see God's promise reminding me that He is worthy to be trusted, and then just that quick we were back into the clouds, by faith, once again, navigating towards Shell.

From the logbook...Slip and Slide

With all the rain we have had lately it made a precarious situation even worse...landing and taking off. I had almost 4 hours of flight time today, and 10 landings, all of which were made to short, slippery, and muddy airstrips. There is skill and technique involved in bringing an airplane into these places, but after you hit your landing spot, it is basically just a battle to keep the brakes on and keep the airplane straight. I guess you could think of it as jungle ice.


Here in Acado I sent mud flying everywhere upon touchdown. This is one of our worse airstrips that we serve on a dry day, and it was made very sporty with all the rain we have had. There was still about an inch of standing water everywhere. I brought in a load of food to a North American work team that has been waiting since Wednesday for their groceries. It's a good thing they didn't pay for next day air.


After landing in Quiwado all the mud from my previous landing was basically washed off after all the water I went through as I landed and brought the airplane to a stop. Water was going everywhere, even up through the door "seals."

Once I had finished up my day and was just walking out the door, we received an emergency call to pick up an 11 month old baby with severe pneumonia. I am on call this weekend, so I could have done it today, or waited until the morning. I am glad I went today. The baby was extremely sick. So sick in fact I am surprised it made the 25 minute flight back to Shell. Hopefully it will be taken care of in the hospital, and in a few more days we will be taking him and mom back home. Finally, just before sunset, I made my last landing. It was a complete day indeed.

From the logbook...All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

For the better part of this week, things have looked like the picture above; just flat out gray and dreary. In the late afternoon, the weather has been getting better, but usually it is too late to get a flight done. I did make a quick flight yesterday afternoon and today to get some patients. Yesterday it was a 9 month old baby, today was a miscarriage gone bad.


The man in the maroon shirt is the government appointed community doctor along with a community member carrying the patient to my airplane. After tons of rain, the airstrips are all in poor shape with lots of mud, and even more slipping and sliding. Shortly after I took this picture I was setting a course back to Shell with this girl and her husband where an awaiting ambulance took them to the hospital.

From the logbook...Mud Gremlins

After playing mechanic this morning trying to free up a sticky throttle control, I was finally off on my flight to make my first of 6 stops. Most of my flying today was for the Ministry of Health and a science team. While at my first stop of Chapintza where I left cargo, I was distracted by the laughter of children as I boarded the airplane to leave. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw numerous children running everywhere, covered from head to toe in mud. I thought they deserved a picture, so I got back out and stole a few shots. Looks like they were having fun, I'm just glad it wasn't my girls, although I wouldn't put it past them!

From the Rooftops

Last weekend when we were in Quito staying at the MAF apartment, I did what I usually do and went to the roof of the 11 story building to see the sights, and watch the airplanes make their final approach into Quito International Airport, only seconds from touching down. This cargo plane was a new one for me, as I had never heard of or seen Florida West before.

Photo Album

I have been messing around with a new photo album for a while and I finally have it full enough to make it worth posting. It has no pictures of family, just things that we see and places we have been. I will still be adding things to it, so check it from time to time it you are interested. Click the link in the side bar to go straight there...

From the logbook...Conference Flying

This weekend there is a large conference in the village of Makuma. Today we were busy bringing in pastors and leaders from various villages from all parts of the jungle to Makuma. The lady seen above is the wife of one of the leaders I picked up from a village called Panientza. The two animals on her shoulders are baby marmosets. Other animal sightings that I had today included a Blue Macaw which was in my cargo pod, and a whole smoked armadillo, which was also in my pod. The macaw sure seemed mad because of all the noise he was making, and the armadillo just plain stunk!

No Volcano Flight

Read this article and you will see why I didn't have any more volcano flying today. Tungurahua erupted HUGE last night at around 11pm. With eruptions this big flying near it is obviously foolish and unsafe. If she calms down, I'm sure we'll be getting some more calls to do some more over flights.

From the logbook...Carnival Flying

Carnival, or Mardi Gras as most Americans know it, is in full swing. Today is Fat Tuesday, therefore things will be back to normal tomorrow. Carnival is such a big thing down here in fact that the last two days were national holidays. That said, I was the on call pilot today while everyone else enjoyed a nice day off.

This morning I made a quick flight to take some patients home, and then I picked up some more on the way home. Thinking I was done for the day, I came home and settled into a nice nap. Well, it was short lived as one of the volcanologists called me and wanted to go get some aerial shots of nearby Tungurahua while it is erupting.
Shortly thereafter I was getting the airplane ready to make the accent to 19,500 feet above sea level. The flight was great, as they always are when the volcanoes are truely out of the clouds. As we flew around the volvano taking pictures and thermal images, Tungurahua didn't dissapoint. Almost consecutive explosions were ocuring, which really gave the volcanologists something to clap about.

Tomorrow we have another flight planned if the weather cooperates. I'll be sure to fill you in if it happens.

Back to Normal...Kind of

For those of you who read regularly, you have noticed that January left a little to be desired. Sorry! It was one of the busiest months we have had for a while. Below you will see very briefly what we have been up to the past few weeks.

Now, I will be working at the hangar for about the next 3 weeks. After that we will dedicate ourselves to getting our things together to make our move to Oaxaca, Mexico. This month will no doubt be a busy one as well. Pray for us as we go through these next few weeks.

Rest Time

Rebecca's parents stayed for a few days after the work team left home to Colorado to get some one on one time with us. We enjoyed a great weekend up north of Quito. Of course the women did some shopping (yuck!) but us guys had a fun time with my girls instead.

While the women were shopping, the rest of us drove up to a crater lake. In my opinion, this was time spent much better, although I did get a new wallet out of the women's shopping trip. Too bad there wasn't any money left in it.

Monkey Business

During a stretch of "free time" I was able to take a few of the work team members to the village of Tiweano for an afternoon. We were treated with some very interesting and funny monkey encounters.While I cannot prove it, I think I had to abort a takeoff from Tiweano a few weeks ago because of this monkey. As I began my takeoff roll, I saw a large black human shaped object in the middle of the runway. I pulled the power and slammed on the brakes only to find out it was a monkey, a big one. While walking back to the airplane on this subsequent trip, I saw him again, and learned he was a pet. I warned the owners to keep him close when airplanes are around, because he would leave a very expensive dent in an airplane due to his size.

As I approached this "pet" monkey, he appeared to get a little shy and pulled his "blankie" over himself. Or, maybe he was just a Young Monkey Jedi in training.


This picture doesn't need a lot of explanation. There was a little bit of everything under this house. Note the chicken legs in the background.

Barn Raising

This past week we had 13 people from our home church in Colorado here to help with some work on our church. I won't lie and say the work was easy, but we got a lot accomplished and especially blessed the little church that we attend with a lot of work well done.

I think we all were reminded of our appreciation for modern machinery. Here we are loading a dump truck one wheel barrow at a time with material from the concrete stage inside the church that we busted up by hand. Yes, it was a little precarious, but thankfully nobody got hurt.

The large pillars of concrete in the background were also what we were able to accomplish. All told, we poured 15 pillars for a new multipurpose building, each requiring about 85-90 buckets of concrete, all hand carried and hand poured. Thankfully we at least had a concrete mixer!

Come In

While at an old Spanish Hacienda recently I shot this big door. The old construction and huge hinges are neat to see as it reminds of a time long ago when things were made thick and durable.

My Other Hat

We have had a lot of rain lately, and most of us have been bringing back airplanes looking like this. Sometimes, if there is enough time in the afternoon, we will fill up the soap bucket and get the jungle mules all shiny again. Sometimes this is a daily occurance.

Been workin' hard

I'm here, too busy to write, next week should get things back to normal.

On Call Weekend

If you haven't figured it out yet due to my lack of posts this new year, I have been very busy. Rebecca and I are in a bit of a "slow" moment, so I thought I would write a few things before the crazy week gets going...

This weekend was mine for the on call shift. It is ironic, we had three flights, none of which I, the on call pilot, did. All three flights were to Quito. This is a route that I haven't been fully checked out on yet. Therefore, 3 of our other pilots chipped in while I stayed behind to help get things going, and stay available for anything that might (but didn't) come up in the jungle.

Yesterday, (Saturday) around noon, about 15 miles from Shell there was a horrific bus accident. While the details as to what made it crash are still sketchy, the best I can piece together from the numerous accounts I have talked to indicate that he lost his brakes. When the brakes finally gave way, the driver only had two options as the bus quickly gained speed heading downhill... 1.) swerve to the right, sending the bus about 300 feet down a cliff into the nearby Pastaza River, or 2.) swerve to the left into the hillside and hope it all works out. Well, he went to the left, but the results were not pretty. The bus impacted a boulder, slid and then rolled numerous times. EVERYONE on the bus was either killed or severely wounded. The hospital here in Shell was quickly overwhelmed as patients arrived in the back of pickup trucks and cars, blood everywhere. We were quickly brought into the picture because many of the patients needed to go to more advanced care in Quito. It still grieves my spirit to remember the faces of the numerous patients we flew to Quito in our three flights this weekend. NEVER have I seen such carnage and hurting. Families instantly lost moms, dads, children. While I am glad we were able to help in some small way to transport some critically injured people to better care in Quito, the pain that I saw as I loaded up plane after plane of patients was hard to comprehend.

I don't post this because I like morbid stories, or huge catastrophic accidents. I just wanted to have it written down, because I may never forget this weekend. Over 40 people riding that bus and a fruit vendor on the road side had their lives changed instantly, some eternally. It serves as a good reminder that our lives are "but a mist, here today and gone tomorrow." We don't know what the future holds, nor what our lives will play in it. All we do know, is Jesus conquered death, and when our day comes to walk though it's door, we have nothing to fear!

Yes it's close!

We have received a few emails asking us if we are close to the volcano that is "exploding." Yes, Tungurahua volcano is about 30 miles from the very chair where I sit writing, although we shouldn't be in any severe danger should it really decide to blow. I took this picture yesterday as we drove home from Quito. Hopefully, I will have a "free" night and we will drive back up there to see if we can take some night shots so you can see the lava coming out of it.