GSAAA Update #4 Guayaquil, Ecuador January 11, 1996
January 7, 1996
Paul and Kevin stayed an extra day in Panama City. No flying and no
adventures; one of the reasons they decided to take the extra day off was
based on information that written permission was needed prior to entering
Columbia airspace. Monday morning, the pilots found this information to be an
exaggeration. Columbia has the same notification requirements as the other
countries on the route.
January 8, 1996
Flew to Jacque, Panama. Jacque is only a small village in the middle of
nowhere (and there is a lot of nowhere on the GSAAA route). Kevin and Paul
transported 13 gals of fuel in the cockpit to refuel at this dirt airstrip on
an unused (for 60 years) military base. The prop mowed a path through the
grass on landing. The whole village turned out to see the plane; the pilots
gave out plenty of hats and stickers. Spent about 30 minutes on the ground.
Took off for Buenventura, Columbia; the tower obviously thought they were
under siege; at the same time Hobson's Choice' was requesting permission to
land, a hovering helicopter was also requesting landing permission. The
normal airport traffic is 2 or 3 planes per week, so this was pretty unusual.
The guards at Buenventura made the pilots empty the plane so they could
examine the baggage. The purpose seemed less looking for contraband than
looking over the goods in case there was something they wanted. Gifts of hats
and cash seemed to make them happy, at least happy enough to leave the plane
alone.
In town, Kevin and Paul met the helicopter crew who were ferrying the copter
from Houston to Quito, Ecuador. The helicopter crew helped arrange fuel in
town; the refueling efforts always seem to involve cans instead of hoses.
Columbia seemed dirty, even by South American standards and the coffee was the
worst of the entire trip. Go figure. Gas was about $2 per gallon with an
exchange rate of 950 Columbian pesos to 1 dollar.
January 9, 1996
Left Buenaventura for Esmereldas, Ecuador. The airport and the town of
Esmereldas are on opposite sides of the Rio Esmereldas. The only way to get
to town involves riding in the back of Pedro's truck for about one hour over
bad mountain roads. As the truck slowed down for bumps and holes, children
would hop onto the sides of the truck, sometimes as many as six at a time, and
hop off as the truck cleared the bad area. What a sport. The people were
much happier than the pilots who found Ecuador pretty expensive, so far.
Landing fees were $110 and gas was about $1.80 per gallon at the car pump;
exchange rate was 2900 sucre to 1 dollar.
January 10, 1996
Kevin and Paul were a little skeptical about the gas they purchased in
Esmereldas, the hydrometer indicated a specific gravity suspiciously close to
water. It did seem to burn, but after take off they wore the life vests and
stayed over the water just in case. After a little confidence building, Paul
and Kevin removed the vests and climbed over the mountains to Guayaquil.
Happy birthday, Kevin! Crossed the equator at 11 A.M.
The pilots wanted to give big thanks to Lafe Anderson in Guayaquil. Lafe made
all the arrangements for parking the plane, getting fuel and suppled a car and
driver for the day. The pilots were particularly impressed that he took time
from his busy schedule to greet them personally at the airport and took them
out for dinner and drinks. Paul and Kevin said they were treated like kings
and had a very pleasant but short stay. (The waiter had a cigarette lighter
that played Happy Birthday and they made a fuss over Kevin to help him
celebrate).
A quote from Paul:
"All the cars and people smoke." Maybe the EPA does help?
Paul and Kevin noted that crime rates are pretty high in many of the places
they have visited and that hotels and retail stores often have armed guards
with sawed off shotguns or automatic weapons on duty 24 hours a day.
The pilots also confirmed that water does drain clockwise 2° south of the
equator.
Paul and Kevin wanted to send along apologies to Capt. Alberto Molina in
Guatemala City. They had intended to visit and thank him in person for the
helpful advice he provided. The weather diverted the pilots from Guatemala
City to San Jose. Kevin and Paul tried the phone but couldn't get through due
to bad connections and the language barrier.