Jumping out of prefectly good aircraft

Ok, here's another one from a month ago. We did some combined airborne training with the Hondurans over on the drop zone on our base. I didn't jump because I, like most Air Force troops, trust the aircraft and prefer to ride it all the way to the ground. It's like at the amusement park -- "keep your arms and hands inside and remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop."

For those who don't live by the tilt-a-whirl mantra, we have them jump out of helicopters nearly every month here. Here's some photos I shot of the last combined op:



I lost a bit of my situational awareness when photographing this guy -- he almost landed on my head (missed by a couple feet).



This is not doctored, that's what it looks like when four jumpers go out the bird right after each other. At this point, six were jumping at a time, but I only captured four.



Yes, the hit the ground hard and bounce. Remember the mantra.

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Ads

You may have noticed I've added a few ads to my site. I just did a few for Amazon.com and hope they aren't too annoying. Hopefully I'll get a few people to order something through them and make a couple bucks. If not, I'll eventually pull them down.

By the way, the Moleskine notebook in the top ad is the same kind I use -- and I take them everywhere. It works great for me, that's why I selected it for the blog. I ordered an address book and a notebook for travelers, so I'll let you know how they work out.

Also, I made three posts today, so make sure you read below.

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Chapel Hike with CNN

The end of April (I know, that was more than a month ago and I need to get on the ball), Barbara Starr from CNN came out to do a story on our Chapel Hikes. It's a monthly volunteer event where we pack-in food (purchased completely through donations) to remote villages around the area. Recently because of drought and rising food prices, some of the villages are really having a problem with famine, so this is just a little way for us to temporarily help, while we get to see the countryside and get some extra exercise while we're at it. The hikes are usually about three miles with varied terrain. Below you can see us walking up the side of the hill while Alfredo (CNN cameraman) shoots video of us. I'm the guy in the green University of Alaska, Anchorage Seawolves hat and Michigan State Spartans shirt.




And below was the bridge, we affectionately named the "Indiana Jones Bridge," we crossed during the hike. It rocked and swayed violently, so it really was fun to cross. If you look below you can see the folks who decided try an alternate river-crossing method.




The CNN story on the hike is at http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/05/01/starr.honduras.food.cnn.

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Tropical Storm Alma

We were the proud recipients of the first tropical storm of the season -- TS Alma. She didn't have a lot of punch, it just rained for a day. That's actually a good thing for the people with houses perched on the side of a mountain -- mud slides are a bad thing. Here's a couple pictures of the pond that forms between my office and the gym:





It isn't all that deep, but it didn't rain all that heavy either. It appears the drainage is a little slow here. I'm interested in what happens when we get a long, heavy rain. We're on stilts, as you can see in the next picture, so I have reason to believe it sometimes floods here.





As for the mango update, they have been getting ripe for a few weeks now and I've been eating way too many. In fact, a couple people have started calling me Johnny Mango. We have one tree with mangoes that mature much slower, and they are much bigger. They should start coming ripe in the next week or so.

Sorry about the long pause between updates, but I will start to update more often now. I have another trip to Tegucigalpa planned this weekend, and then a trip to the ruins at Copan next week. I also have some ENT surgery photos I took last week in San Pedro Sula, so I'll work on posting them this week.

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Thunderstorm

We are having the first thunderstorm I've seen since getting here in January. It's pretty good with plenty of lightning and rain. As it was coming in, I took some photos of my neighborhood and caught a bolt of lightning coming down in the distance.




I'm told the rainy season starts in a month or two and it gets mighty wet here. So come June, expect photos of wet things.

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Trip to Tegucigalpa

I took the bus into Tegucigalpa to spend the weekend. The bus was packed -- not a seat was open. A good chunk of the people got off at the Marriott, which was also where I was staying. They usually have plenty of rooms, and I had reservations, so no problems.

We had lunch at Gino's -- an Italian restaurant in the old tourist triangle of town. The food there is outstanding and all the people who work there are friendly. After lunch, we went around the corner to the Casino Royale (the entire casino is smaller than a McDonalds) and gambled for about an hour. I actually came out ahead - I think the casino dog was giving me luck -- it kept licking my feet.

The best part of a relaxing weekend in Tegucigalpa, to me, is relaxing at the hotel. They have a nice little bar with friendly employees, and also a nice area by the pool. Plus I get to sleep in a big bed and have my own bathroom for the night -- luxuries we don't have at Soto Cano Air Base.

The trip back was uneventful. We drove through a little rain, so we had to close the windows. I think I'll take a trip back the beginning of May.

Here are a few photos of the trip out there and just getting into town.

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Moved into a new place

I forgot to post that I moved into a half hooch last week. It's not big, but I like it and it is a permanent location. Below are a couple photos from Casa de Juan. Dig my groovy bedspread?
 

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