Friday November 25-Most of the long flights have been made from Georgetown. James has made the last one and now I am flying with him for a couple of short flights from Paruima to Kaikan to shuttle some people in for the youth congress this weekend.I arrived here at the airstrip in Paruima about 12:30 to wait for James to get back from Georgetown...
James arrived in Paruima with conference officials about 2:30 pm. He had had some kind of problem with the plane and had had to turn back to Georgetown and at least figure out what the problem was. It looked like it was just a flapping/fluttering tach cable and would be fine. When he arrived in Paruima the mechanical tach was not working but the digital one was so James and I took off to Kaikan, a 15 minute hop. It turned out when we arrived in Kaikan there were about 15 people needing to get to Paruima for the congress. These people had been under the impression that we were going to be making 10-15 trips on Friday. (Found out that they had been waiting on another plane to take them since Sunday, and it never showed up so they were now hoping to be on the GAMAS plane) Oh boy!!! It was now 3pm no way we could do that many. So James asked me to stay in Kaikan so he could carry more people on each trip and would pick me up on the 3rd trip. I knew then that if everything didn't go according to plan I might have to spend the night. James took off with the first load while we all watched.
As I was standing there with the group of Pathfinders and musicians waiting and chatting someone hollered at me from a small government building by the runway "Captain someone radio for you from Paruima" "Huh-Oh" I thought as I climbed the stairs to the second floor where the Icom IC78 sat on a shelf about chest height. It was the health post in Paruima with a message from James. That there had been a problem with the plane and they were trying to fix it. A little while later they radioed again that he would not be making any more trips to Kaikan on Friday. There was discussion about some people taking a "village flight" in the morning but the transmission was hard to understand. Was I expected to be on board? Was this really an "ox in the ditch", or just a significant in convince? I did get across that I wanted to talk at 7 but wasn't sure if they got 7am or 7pm. The Trapeznikov family were very hospitable and gave me a room. At 7pm we tried and tried again at make radio contact but to no avail. They must have understood AM. I only had the clothes I had on, my flight gear and my water filter/hydration pack. No extras of anything, except batteries, I had batteries for my head light. This will change for future trips. We ate some kind of Russian fry bread stuffed with mashed potatoes. Wow that was delicious. They said the name several times but I still don't remember how to pronounce it.
James arrived in Paruima with conference officials about 2:30 pm. He had had some kind of problem with the plane and had had to turn back to Georgetown and at least figure out what the problem was. It looked like it was just a flapping/fluttering tach cable and would be fine. When he arrived in Paruima the mechanical tach was not working but the digital one was so James and I took off to Kaikan, a 15 minute hop. It turned out when we arrived in Kaikan there were about 15 people needing to get to Paruima for the congress. These people had been under the impression that we were going to be making 10-15 trips on Friday. (Found out that they had been waiting on another plane to take them since Sunday, and it never showed up so they were now hoping to be on the GAMAS plane) Oh boy!!! It was now 3pm no way we could do that many. So James asked me to stay in Kaikan so he could carry more people on each trip and would pick me up on the 3rd trip. I knew then that if everything didn't go according to plan I might have to spend the night. James took off with the first load while we all watched.
As I was standing there with the group of Pathfinders and musicians waiting and chatting someone hollered at me from a small government building by the runway "Captain someone radio for you from Paruima" "Huh-Oh" I thought as I climbed the stairs to the second floor where the Icom IC78 sat on a shelf about chest height. It was the health post in Paruima with a message from James. That there had been a problem with the plane and they were trying to fix it. A little while later they radioed again that he would not be making any more trips to Kaikan on Friday. There was discussion about some people taking a "village flight" in the morning but the transmission was hard to understand. Was I expected to be on board? Was this really an "ox in the ditch", or just a significant in convince? I did get across that I wanted to talk at 7 but wasn't sure if they got 7am or 7pm. The Trapeznikov family were very hospitable and gave me a room. At 7pm we tried and tried again at make radio contact but to no avail. They must have understood AM. I only had the clothes I had on, my flight gear and my water filter/hydration pack. No extras of anything, except batteries, I had batteries for my head light. This will change for future trips. We ate some kind of Russian fry bread stuffed with mashed potatoes. Wow that was delicious. They said the name several times but I still don't remember how to pronounce it.
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| Friday night as I was crawling into bed I met this little friend next to my pillow. He didn't seem too pleased about being evicted. |
Sabbath morning(November 26) Alex and I hiked back up to the building with the radio next to the runway. A few minutes after 7:00 we got ahold of someone at the health post in Paruima. They gave a little more detail. James had departed Paruima for the second trip and had turned back. Something about loosing power. James had told them to tell me to stay put and he would try to come for me on Sunday morning. That made a lot more sense. I also was able to ask them to pass a message to Laura that I would be on the radio at 7:00pm and wanted to talk to her.We had a wonderful Sabbath with the Adventist believers here in Kaikan and many who had hiked for several days to get here in hopes of a flight to Paruima. There were several guest musicians that had been invited to the congress to share their talents, but they were stuck just like me. So we got to enjoy several special numbers for church and again for AY meeting in the afternoon. Since I didn't have my Trumpet I thought I was fairly safe. But nope... Alex informed them that I play trumpet and Sergio, a trumpet player from Venezuela offered to let me use his horn. So much for just sitting back...I finally got to talk with Laura on the radio last night at 7:00.
I am heading out to the radio now to see if I can learn more of what they have found out or have decided to do.
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| Using the Radio at the Clinic |
Laura said that it was looking like bad gas, and they were going to drain the tanks and put in fresh gas. We should know in a few hours if this works.
I have not heard anything from Paruima since noon. We tried to contact around 3:30pm and again at 7:00pm. Nothing. I am guessing that the fuel swap didn't help and James is on his way to Kamarong. I have had reasonably good success at contacting the school there in Paruima (DIIC or Davis Indian Industrial College) at 7:00am. We will find out.
November 27
I found out what those stuffed fry bread things are called "pa-ROOSH-ki".
I found out what those stuffed fry bread things are called "pa-ROOSH-ki".
This AM I was able to talk with Chris Eno about the situation. It doesn't look good... so 9113M is grounded until appropriate repairs can be made. Chris and his family will be tied up until January with the building teams that are coming to the village of Bethany. Last they knew at DIIC was that James had gone to the river this AM at 5 or 5:30 to catch a boat to Kamarong, a trip of about 5hrs. From there hopefully he can catch a flight back to Georgetown. James is planning to put 8704T, a 1960 C-182 in service until Chris can fix 9113M. It is likely that it will be Tomorrow (Tuesday the 29th) before he can come and get me.
I got to talk with Laura and Kathryn on the radio this AM too, which was nice. They are doing well.
We set up another radio appointment for 4:00pm. So I can keep up with what is happening. It is hard being isolated and not able to make communication very easily.
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| Alex took me out to the Bible School that is nearly finished. We now just need Teachers. |
4:36 today
I just came back from the radio and they confirmed that James had made it to Kamarong but could not confirm if he had made it on a flight to Georgetown. Here at the internet café in Kaikan we tried to call James but no answer. Kamarong has cell service so I am hoping that means that he is out of reach because he is on that flight.
When we finally got up to the village health post and located a key it was about 7:20 this AM. We called for DIIC but James answered from the flight base in Georgetown. "It is good to hear from you" I said, "what is the situation?"I just came back from the radio and they confirmed that James had made it to Kamarong but could not confirm if he had made it on a flight to Georgetown. Here at the internet café in Kaikan we tried to call James but no answer. Kamarong has cell service so I am hoping that means that he is out of reach because he is on that flight.
"How is your courage?"
"Not too bad."
After an update on the situation with 9113M, and discussing what tools were possibly needed. James gave me a run down of his intended plan to fly 8704T with supplies to the church building site at Wax Creek, then stop in Paruima to drop some supplies and pick up some things for the Trapeznikov family. His plan was to be here in Kaikan after 3:00PM.
Well the plan changed a bit and he is now on his way from Wax Creek and according to ATC in Georgetown he will arrive in Kaikan first and then a 14 minute flight back to Paruima. Whew wow! What and adventure...
