Doors Off

 Some tourists from Europe called us up and wanted to do some video filming on the surrounding area. I flew an hour out from Santa Cruz to where they were staying, took off the cargo doors, and get the situated with a tripod all tied down and held securely in place.

This was their first time filming from an airplane like this, the Cessna 206 is nice for this kind of work as removing the cargo doors gives a wide area to shoot pictures from.

Good shot of the camera guys and the open doorway looking at the hills

Spectacular rock faces, always love seeing this and it was even more of a treat to look at it up close for filming!

San Fernando

A few weeks ago I got back from another trip to San Fernando. This is a small village of about 200 people where SAM has had a missionary working for the last 2 years. Recently a Bolivian couple decided that they would like to take over the work from the other missionary and I had the privileged of bringing them to San Fernando.

My usual accommodations are a tent with an airmattress set up on the church stage. Not the more comfortable, but its ok for one night at a time. Thankfully it was cooler than previous times when I have been there. 75 degrees instead of 90!

Jose Luis got me going in the morning with a breakfast of steak... not quite like IHOP but it works.

Nothing quite like flying on a beautiful morning. I was going to Robere to bring some supplies out to another village about 30 minutes away. The missionaries who live out there took 2 days to travel by road to Robere!

Robere, south eastern Bolivia. There is a highway and a rail road which connect this town to Santa Cruz.

Supplies and plastic chairs (a first for me to transport in the plane) going out to Santo Corazon in support of a children's after school program which the missionaries run. They had some of their food stolen recently and had to purchase more!

Camp!

In additions to flying and fixing airplanes, I have been helping out with the Junior and Senior High youth groups. All of the kids come from the school where most of the missionary children go and where SAM has a number of people on staff.

I was the counselor for the 8th grade boys and got to lead a couple of small groups in addition to evening devotions. Being a group of boys, my devotional on Ehud, the left-handed judge was well received.

The mosquitoes were feasting on us for days straight, but that did not detour us from playing board games or enjoying the fantastic view.

Electron Flow

In a couple weeks I will pass the 6 month mark of time spent in Bolivia. The process for getting a pilot license has been slow going, although the horse is smelling the barn and I expect to have a piece of plastic in hand withing the next week!

To get around the pilot license issue, I have flown with another pilot, Miguel. He used to be in the Bolivian Air Force and now flies for a living as an air taxi pilot. A few days ago he accompanied me on a flight to bring a single missionary lady out to her village where she works. On the way out, Miguel and I both noticed that the airplane batterywas no longer charging.

We quickly reduced the electrical loads and tried a few trouble shooting checks to no avail.

Even with a dead battery, the engine will continue to run because the ignition system self generates a spark. Not being able to get the flaps down would be a problem though as they reduce the landing distance and speed that is flown on approach. Thankfully it all worked out just fine and once one the ground we found the culprit. A broken ring terminal that connects to the alternator (the thing that generates electricity). Not having any ring terminals on hand, and being in the middle of the jungle meant it was time to improvise. Cutting back the insulation on the wire, we looped it around the terminal and tightened down the nut on top of the bare wire. We pronounced it good to go and on the flight home it performed flawlessly.

On the way home Miguel and I were talking and he mentioned that we were pretty "lucky" to have fixed the problem. I asked him if he believed in "luck" and that started a conversation about spiritual things where I was able to witness to him. Please pray for Miguel, that the seeds planted would take hold. It's called providence after all, not luck.

Moving: 3rd World Style

By December 31st of 2010 I had to move out of the house that I had been sharing with the other SAMAIR pilot. He left for the USA and I was on to some other place where I could share expenses and not have to set up a complete house just for another 6-9 months. I did find another place to live a bit farther outside of town with some single missionaries who work at an orphanage. Thus far it has worked out very well.

As many missionaries can relate to, when moving into a new house, you have to start completely from scratch. I mean completely! If it is not bolted down or a structural member of the house, it is gone! This includes light bulbs. I know, who would take light bulbs with them when they move? But I have had to buy light bubs on many occasions because the house, evidently, did not come with them. So I thought the only culturally sensitive thing to do when I moved was to take my light bulbs with me as well. I think I am starting to get the hang of this 3rd world living thing.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

This morning, Tom, the SAMAIR program manager and I, spent the morning delivering a little bit of Christmas Cheer. During this past year, there have been many people and organizations that have helped SAMAIR either with paperwork, licenses, maintenance, hanger space, and government paperwork. To show our appreciate, we set off like Santa's elves to make our rounds.

It is cultural at Christmas time to give gifts of appreciation such as a "Paneton". This is a bread which has raisins and little chewy gummy bear bits inside of it and seems to have an indefinite shelf life. At every stop we were well received and of course spent additional time "hamming it up".

"Paneton" is the gift that keeps on giving! Notice the fancy red bags with Christmas trees on them with snow. Quite a contrast to beads of sweat forming on our brows in the 95 degree weather!

There's your problem!

Rainy season has started here in Bolivia and that means water and mud on the roads. Since I do not have a vehicle here, I have been bumming rides with my roommate, Greg. He has a 1987 Dodge Raider which is a small 2 door SUV, also known as a "JEEP". Pretty much anything that has 2 doors and is a truck they call a Jeep. Anyways, we had noticed that there was some daylight coming through the area over the rear wheel well. Upon further investigation we found a LARGE hole where the top of the wheel well used to be.

After removing the carpeting the damage was obvious.

An angle grinder with a thin cutting disk made quick work of removing the damage.

A paper template made from a manila folder was used as a pattern for the steel patch.

Aviation clecoes were used to hold everything in place while drilling the holes for pop rivets.

Some silicon under the patch and black uncoating were brush on for "corrosion protection".

With the carpet re-installed I pronounced it road worthy for the next 24 years.

Fruit vs. Tupperware

Thought it would be interesting to visually show how far $8 goes here in Bolivia. Each Tupperware costs about $4. The Pineapple, bananas, apples, peaches, and passion fruit can also be purchased for $8. I know which one I would rather eat...