I will be leaving Friday for my annual trip to Ecuador, so I will be out of touch until Aug 9th. We will be visiting our ?adopted? home of Tosagua, which is on the coast (very hot and humid), then on to Loja (absolutely beautiful weather), in southern Ecuador.

I am hoping that American Airlines comes through and will transport some of the oversized rescue gear that I have been trying to get to Ecuador for several years now. I have a fair amount of fire, medical and rescue gear to bring and am having a hard time deciding <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> what we are bringing and what will have to wait for another trip. I am bringing very little personal ?survival? gear <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />, as weight is a major concern, mainly for the air transport while in Ecuador. We normally take a car or bus (6-7 hours) from Quito to Tosagua, but we have heard that there was so much damage to the roads this past year, we will fly form Quito to Manta and then take a cab/bus to Tosagua. We have to fly to Loja, as it would be a 12+-hour journey by car/bus.

I hope to have some interesting, but not too interesting stories this year. I am sort of glad we will not be taking that perilous journey in that 63? Landrover we took last year, although I will miss visiting our dear friend (85+ years old) and driver who was the source of many interesting adventures last year <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />.

Pete

Be safe and have fun!

-john

Catch you all in 1-1/2 weeks.

Pete <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Will be looking forward to hearing about the trip.

Hey folks,

I am back from Ecuador, trying to catch up things here at work and working on about 7 hours of sleep in the past 72 hrs, so I am a bit punchy and can’t quite think straight. I will try and get caught up on the postings as I can.

Trip was great, traveled several hundred miles in costal and southern Ecuador, over some of the roughest roads we have traveled over the last 6 years. The team saw over 1,000 patients, many in very remote areas, most were not serious although there were a few interesting cases. Visited, trained and supplied rescue equipment to two different fire departments and one government official.

More to come- hopefully.

Pete

Hey Pete,

when you shower and rest I would love to hear about the few interesting cases...

And what kind of flashlights you used.