Speaking Engagement

We have been off and on busy these last few weeks as we get closer to our departure date this coming Monday. Now, it seems a lot easier as our "big" household shipment finally made it out the door yesterday. The only thing left to pack is our airline baggage, which shouldn't be to hard.

A few nights ago, I went out for coffee...(no not at Starbucks)...with a friend from language school. We met and enjoyed classes together while in Costa Rica. It was fun to finally sit with him and see what has been happening in each others lives since we all left Costa Rica a few years ago.

After talking with me, he realized that I know some of the Waorani Indians in Ecuador that are mentioned and even shown in the movie End of the Spear and the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. My friend works at the local Baptist Seminary with Mexican church planters. They were all inspired by the account of the 5 missionaries in Ecuador, but were left wondering how things are going now with the Waorani people.

I was able to fill in the gaps last night. After we all watched either the documentary or the movie, I spoke and answered questions to a group of around 45 people for around 30 minutes. It was a fun time to be able to encourage these young Mexican church planters with some of the stories from Ecuador. Some time around 11pm I finally made it back home and fell into bed...dead tired.

Just About There

We are still here....and doing just fine. We have exactly one week left here in Oaxaca. We leave for the USA next Monday. Our packing is going well, as well as our plans to get everything else sold. Nothing much to report...just checking in.

Backyard Critters

Walking past our sunflowers this morning I saw that someone had already made their breakfast. I guess having a stinger on your tailpipe doesn't make you invulnerable to the predator world. Just check out those spider legs...sexy eh?

From the Logbook...Last MAF Flight?

Being that we are fast approaching our "two weeks left in Oaxaca" mark, today was my last day of planned flying. We are going to work hard next week getting things ready once again for an international move. It was a very bittersweet feeling to be "hanging up my hat" today, but it only means we are that much closer to our next season in life as well.

The photo above is from Wednesday when we had two airplanes in Amoltepec. I had landed first and about 15 minutes later our other airplane was landing. I was thankful to be able to get some shots of an airplane landing while in Mexico. As I stated earlier, we usually don't have two airplanes in the same place here in Oaxaca, so it was special to have experienced it right before we leave.

From the Logbook...Interesting Cargo

(Due to very poor internet this week, I have been unable to post very much. Keep scrolling down to see what we have been up to this week. Don't worry...I am still here!)


While in Ecuador I had the opportunity to fly a few cadavers, and today was the first time I have seen it here in Mexico. I was going to fly this young man of 19 years back to his village be buried. At the last second, I asked a co-worker to do this flight for me because of some things I had to take care of in the office.

Supposedly, the young man left his home in the Sierra to come and work in Oaxaca just one week ago. This morning, his photo turned up on the front page of the newspaper in a very gruesome way. According to the news account, he was stabbed to death. Without being crude, remember that in most countries embalming a body is either impossible or too costly. Therefore bodies are usually in the ground less than 24 hours after the persons death. This is a good thing, because this poor young man was starting to "smell of death." Not something I recommend experiencing.

From the Logbook...Another neat experience

Yesterday, I was able to see a small glimpse of something special. I was waiting in Amoltepec for some passengers to complete some work in the pueblo. Every Wednesday the pueblo has a mid-week church service. I was able to accompany my Mexican boss, another pilot and his family, as well as our visitor from Texas to the church service. I was unable to stay for much of the service due to my previous comitments to my passengers but it was neat to see this small group of Christians in a VERY hostile community. This is the same community where the pastor was murdered over a land dispute just a few weeks ago.

While walking back to the plane, I returned to one of my favorite photo spots to see the airstrip with the both airplanes on it. It is rare to have both airplanes on one airstrip at the same time in Mexico, so it was fun to be able to take a picture of it. Because there isn't much room to turn around in Amoltepec, I flew the most uphill airplane into AMO, and flew the other one out while my co-workers stayed for the church service and returned in the airplane I flew in. Confused? Just think musical airplanes.

From the Logbook...A Special Passenger

Finally, this past Tuesday, I had the chance to take along my most favoritest passenger...my wife. After all these years of flying a little Cessna to Latin America's remotest places, she was finally able to come along just because. It was a fun time to be able to show her where we go and what my "job" looks like on a daily basis.

From the Logbook...Plauged by the Wind

The mountain airstrips that we fly into are already challenging enough, but when the wind sock looks like the picture above, it can make for an interesting approach. Thankfully, it was right down the runway today blowing from north to south in San Mateo. If it would have been south to north, I might not have been able to land due to some very mean terrain in the vicinity.


While waiting for a wind report from my next destination of Amoltepec, I just sat around near the airstrip to see what was happening. In most places, the airstrip is also a multi use road, for cars, animals, and of course airplanes. About 45 minutes later, I received a call from AMO saying that the wind was calm enough to attempt an approach to land. We made the landing there just fine, where I boarded 5 teenagers coming out to attend a Christian conference.

From the Logbook...How Many?

That was the question as I took off from Amoltepec yesterday and reported my ETA, amount of fuel, altitude and people aboard on my way back to Oaxaca. I anticipated having 3-4 people to pick up upon landing, but it was 3 adults...and 6 kids...and 1 in the hopper. All told, including the pilot, we were 10.5 (remember the hopper) people in a six seat aircraft. It made for a fun flight with a lot of laughs. Obviously this would not be possible with adults. Because of the size and weight of the children, I was able to bring out a lot more people than a typical flight, and I was still under my maximum takeoff weight.