Saturday Specials

A couple interesting trips the last two Saturdays- one with all 6 of us and one for just me (or just me out of our family).

- Our family went to the "zoo" with Andi and Olivia Irwin two Saturdays ago. Fatima is a pretty informal place a few miles outside of Puyo. We saw monkeys, snakes, turtles, birds, alligators, pigs, and some other things that I'm not real sure what they are. The alligators were not behind any type of fence or cage and Jads and I walked down fairly "close" to one to get a picture. This trip is better told with pictures- hopefully soon.

-Last Saturday I went on a flight to a jungle community to pick up a lady who had been bitten by a snake. I flew along with Chad Irwin to a village that I can't recall the name of right now. It's 3 letter "airport identifier" is MRT- I do remember that. The flight was pretty cool, my first flight in a small plane (all of the Alas de Socorro planes here in Shell are Cessna 206s). After we got east of Puyo, there was basically nothing (no roads, and only a few scattered dwellings) but jungle below us until we got to the village (a little less than 30 minute flight). I can't imagine how many hours it would take to walk that distance. As we approached for our landing there were people lining the runway and after we landed they all poured out to meet the plane. I just observed as Chad and a man from the community loaded the patient in. She was accompanied by two others on the flight back to Shell. An ambulance was waiting for her as we landed back in Shell to take her to Hospital Vozandes de Oriente here in Shell. What a neat experience to get to see first hand how Alas de Socorro meets the needs of the people in the jungle communities here in Ecuador.

Check back soon for a few pictures of both trips.