Nate's Travel Blog

Trinidad and Tobago...

2006-08-08T01:34:00.000-04:00

Since I keep forgetting to update this blog I think it is probably safe to assume that most people have given up on checking it… No worries. I’ll still post from time to time and maybe someone will enjoy it.

The big news is that I have moved to Trinidad and am now working on an offshore drilling platform (what everyone imagined I meant all the times I said I was working on an oil rig in Ecuador but were then surprised to learn I was on land and we still called it a rig). Before I tell you about my first week in Trinidad though, I should share a little about my Trip to Europe.

I spent 2.5 weeks in Europe at the end of June / Beginning of July. A big thanks to Fish and Spence for their hospitality in hosting me and guiding my sorry @$$ around Germany. I flew from Quito to Bogotá, Colombia, to Paris, France, to Frankfurt, Germany. En route I had a 9 hour layover in Bogota. I definitely want to get to Bogota for a weekend sometime as I had a blast with friends there watching the Ecuador/England world cup game and only got the smallest taste of what the city has to offer.

Germany was awesome (or “wicked” if you are from Boston, or “Dope” if you are from NJ). I stayed the first week with my buddy Fisher in Karlsruhe and we took trips to visit Freiberg, Baden-Baden, and some castle ruins in the area. We also managed to play some Settlers of Catan and Corassonne (or something like that). Really good board games. Partied a bit, watched some world cup games, joined in the celebrations when Germany won, and had an all around excellent time. Fish and I then took the train to Amsterdam where we met up with my friend Spencer and a group of guys that Spence and I were friends with at MIT. It was really cool that it worked out that we were all there at the same time. It turns out that none of us had bothered to confirm that we were going to meet them so they were surprised when they found us at the Hostel, kind of cool. Spent a couple haze, I mean, days, in Amsterdam. Spencer and I then headed to Cologne, Fish headed to Dallas, and the MIT guys headed to Scotland.

I spent my last week with Spence. We watched world cup games in Cologne (we didn’t actually attend any matches, but were with large crowds of boisterous fans), then spent a couple days in Aachen, where Spence was living and working for the last year, and then went with some of Spencer’s friends to Berlin for a long weekend and the World Cup final. Berlin was awesome. We rented an apartment and had a group of 7 of us staying there. Spence’s friends were a great group of guys from his work/school from all over the world. There were a couple Germans in the group, but also an Iranian, Indian from Malaysia, and an El Salvadorian. Berlin is a cool city that is also a striking reminder of the chasm between eastern and western levels of development. The government has spent tons of money modernizing the former East Berlin, but it is obvious which parts have received that renovation and which parts have not.

Finally I caught the train from Aachen to Frankfurt to catch my flight back to Ecuador. The train ride was awesome. I took a scenic route that followed the Rhein river for most of the trip. It was well worth the extra time. I’m convinced that a person could have a nice one or two week vacation just exploring the towns and castles along the Rhein.

Ok, so, once I returned to Quito I had almost 2 weeks of vacation time just hanging out in Quito enjoying some time with friends there before I made the move to Trinidad. A big thank you to all my friends in Quito (and now Peru, Lafayette – Louisiana, Venezuela, etc.). We will meet again, either in Houston or somewhere else in the future. I won’t miss the jungle, but I will definitely miss the friends.

On Monday, July 31^st I flew from Quito to Miami to Port of Spain, Trinidad. I am living in a staff house in San Fernando, Trinidad. Unfortunately, San Fernando is purely industrial, but the weather is always warm and sunny, and the Island is small enough that with a car a person can get anywhere in less than 2 hours and there are definitely some nice beaches, etc. to explore. Unfortunately I don’t have a car and since I will only be here for 8 months, it is hard to justify one. So, the plan is to rent a car for 4 or 5 days sometime when I have days off and do some exploring.

Trinidad is a small island that essentially “broke off” of Venezuela and continues to be very close to Venezuela. The island is very tropical and has a mountain range along the northern coastline and rolling hills across much of the rest of the island. I haven’t taken any pics yet, but I will, I promise. The capital is Port of Spain. Port of Spain has some very nice malls, restaurants, bars, clubs, but from what I’ve seen doesn’t really have a “downtown” in the traditional western world city sense. No sky scrapers, etc. The entire population of Trinidad and Tobago (Tobago is a much smaller Island that is supposed to be a tropical paradise with great scuba diving, beaches and rainforest) is only 1.5 million. Port of Spain is the place to go for city life though and I look forward to checking it out sometime with friends. I’ve driven through some of the suburbs there as I had my offshore safety course near port of Spain. It is 60 km from San Fernando to Port of Spain.

The population is divided almost 50/50 between black islander and Indian (from India). The food seems to be a fusion of Indian and Caribbean, although what I’ve had I would describe as more Indian. It is good! :) The people are very friendly and greet each other very warmly even if they are strangers. I’m still getting used to the Accent and I find myself asking people to repeat themselves almost every time they first start speaking to me. For some reason I find the girls easier to understand, but maybe I am just more attentive to females… :P

So, I arrived late on Monday night. Tuesday I went to the office but there weren’t many people there because it was a holiday. I am staying in a room in the staff house which is split into an upstairs apartment and downstairs. My room is in the upstairs apartment. The apartment is nice enough… Tile, cable TV, ice machine, but if you look closely it is falling apart a bit and the cabinets and bathrooms and stuff could definitely use some work. All in all it should be very ok for my time here. The good news is that the mall is only 2 blocks away. There don’t seem to be any big stores in the mall, unlike in the US and Quito, just lots of little ones. There is a food court with a Subway and KFC, and there is a grocery, and next to the mall there is a TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver’s. Thank goodness the mall is so close so I can walk to all those places. If it weren’t I would almost certainly have to buy a car even if I only got to use it a couple days a month.

Wednesday to Friday I was in offshore safety/survival training. That was really cool. The training is a mixture of classroom theoretical and practical exercises, including firefighting, escape and evacuation, rig abandonment, and helicopter crash simulations. If you’ve seen the movie “An officer and a Gentleman” it was sort of like that, where they strap us into a helicopter fuselage that crashes into a pool of water and flips upside down. You have to un-strap the harness and swim out the nearest emergency exit (window). They had divers in the pool, etc. Anyway, it sounds scarier than it was. You build up to the “rollover” exercise in a number of steps so when the time came we were pretty comfortable with being strapped in under water and staying calm to get out. Anyway, it was interesting training to say the least.

Then, on Saturday I headed to the rig. I am writing this sitting on an oil rig that is floating in 500 ft. of water several miles off the north west coast of Trinidad. I’ll write about what an offshore oil rig is like in my next post. I hope to get some pictures but that may be tricky since cameras are pretty carefully controlled because the flash could be a potential ignition source. The helicopter ride out was pretty cool although the landing on the little platform hanging off the side of the rig was a little nerve wracking since from my seat all I could see was water and the derrick (steel tower on all drill rigs) shooting up past us.

Cheers,
Nate

And just like that, my time is done...

2006-05-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

If you remember in my last post i said there was a "Slight" chance i would be transferred out of Ecuador... I didn't actually think it would happen, and if it were to happen, I thought there would be some discussion. Wrong on both accounts. :)

I have just been notified that I am being transferred out of Ecuador to Trinidad as soon as my visa is ready. I'm not certain how long that will take, but my understanding is that Trinidad has very friendly relations with the US and so i don't expect it to take more than a few days.

I am currently on the rig, but I don't have to be here. It was actually my idea that I come here because we have a new trainee who is my mentee and it is his first time on a rig and so I vollunteered to come along and work nights with him until he is more comfortable. I expect to stay on the rig for a few more days and then head back to Quito to begin the visa process and prepare for my move.

So, what are my thoughts/feelings. Well, they are mixed. On the one hand, I have heard good things about Trinidad as a location to work for SLB. The tools they run are supposed to be better technology than what I have been exposed to here in Ecuador and the weather/beaches are caribean. So, even if Tobago is supposed to have the nicer beaches, any beaches at all would be welcomed. I have also had some concerns about some of the changes here in Ecuador of late. Asside from the decrease in activity which has led to my transfer, and the nationalization of the assets of Occidental Oil Co.'s interests in Ecuador, there are some other, internal things that have raised my and some of my colleagues eyebrows in terms of a "change in the wind" among the managers and a change in the atmosphere/moral at work in the office here. I won't lie and I won't sugar coat it, I have not been very happy with the way the operations of my company are run in Ecuador throughout, but I did always get along with my manager and most of the other folks in the office.

Anyway, back on topic, I am a little sorry to be leaving Ecuador, primarily for 2 reasons. One, I feel i was just getting settled in here. The first 7 months I was here were a very difficult transition and emotionally very challenging. Since I've returned from my 3 months of training in Houston, I have really felt like I established myself in Quito. I've started to have a good group of friends, my norwegian friend just moved into the staffhouse I've been living in Last week. We bought a new TV about 4 days ago (yeah, bit of a shame there, oh well, we got a good price and since we split it, i'm not out that much money). We were even considering buying a cheap car so we could start to explore the areas around Quito more. The second regret I have is that while I still intend to study my spanish lessons, I know that it is unlikely i will become conversant in Spanish. English is the official language of Trinidad. I had hoped that if I were relocated it would be to either another Spanish speaking country or an English speaking one because i didn't want to have to start the language learning process over, so English is fine, but I hate to miss the chance to gain more spanish.

Anyway, we will see what happens. I hope that Trinidad turns out well.

I will miss Ecuador and I hope to have the chance to make a few more memories here before I leave. And the friends I will have forever, as well as a familiarity with the country that makes it very easy to visit again.

Bugs and snakes and parasites... OH MY!

2006-04-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

Yes my friends, I am back in the Jungle and I am actually really enjoying it. It has its moments to be sure, but for the most part it has been a good initial 10 days back in the jungle on the rig.

You may remember from my previous posts that I was working nights. Well, this job I am working days. I am not technically the lead engineer, but i worked it out with my colleaguee that I could work days and practice being cell manager whith him here in case there were problems I didn't know how to address. It was a good experience and I find that i like working during the day. The weather has been really nice. Even though we are on the equator and so don' t (my current lattitude is S 0.17327) really have seasons, they do have varying weather patterns throughout the year that mimic our seasons to a point. For example, the first 2 months I was in the jungle it didn't rain very often and it was HOT, like houston in August hot, and humid. But this time of year it rains everyday for at least a while, for instance, it is POURING right now, after having been a beautiful first half of the day.

Unfortunately the rain doesn't really reduce the humidity, so you are just left with steam after it stops, but it does keep the temperature down, and some of the days, Saturday for instance, are just gorgeous until it rains. Partly cloudy, nice breeze, if only there were a lake or stream nearby that wasn't teaming with anacondas and pirana, and parasites, it would have been a lovely day for a swim. :)

Let's see, what else is new... I had a bunch of friends in Quito over for a dinner two nights before I left to come to the jungle. It is unusual for more than 3 of us field engineers to be in the city at the same time since we are always on different rigs and so have different days off, but there was a 5 day stretch when almost all of us that are friends, a group of about 8, were in Quito. It was too good an opportunity to pass up so I cooked a big dinner (thanks to chris for his mom's awesome spaghetti sauce recipe) and we drank wine, ate cheese and bread, hung out and then had a nice dinner. It was a big hit and everyone agreed we should do it again. Now the only question is what should I cook next time... Ideas?

Work has been good. I actually like this job most of the time. I'm not thrilled with not having a life, but the work itself and the time on the rig is really ok most of the time. The stressful times are when something goes wrong or I need to do something and I'm not sure how. So, the more time I am on the rig, the better it gets because the more I know and the more confident I am in dealing with whatever problems arise. This job is our most basic service, but as my first time as the day time engineer I still learned a lot. Also, in a truly unusual set of circumstances, the oil company decided not to use Directional Drillers for the last half of the well, so it was just my colleague and I, no DDs... Normally we are a team of 4... now we are 2... and, just because the DD's aren't here doesn't mean that we don't still have to provide a bunch of information that is normally their responsibility. Fortunately my partner is cross-training to become a DD and so was able to show me some things and handle most of the detailed work, but we still had to track drilling parameters and make trajectory projections, etc. It was pretty cool. My favorite part was having an excuse to spend more time on the rig floor. I definitely intend to make that a normal part of my routine, to go often to the rig floor. We are supposed to do it pretty frequently anyway, but normally, if things are going well or we can talk to the driller, we can make it so we only have to go 1 or 2 times a shift.

The guys on the rig floor, the roughnecks as they are called in the oil industry, are all really nice and respectful and friendly. They also like to tease the gringo, which is fine by me. I HAVE TO LEARN MORE SPANISH! :)

In other news, I attended my first South American Football (soccer) game and it was awesome. I love going to sporting events anyway, but this was way cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but as those of you who get my links to my photo albums probably know by now, my camera died tragically a little after half time. I'll be able to get the pictures off of it, i just haven't had the chance yet. I had my friend take the rest of the pics from the game, but i really miss having my camera already. I'm going to try to get it fixed in Quito, but I am not holding my breath and I almost think it isn't worth it since it might work, but not as well as before, and it is really important to me to be able to keep taking good pics. So, I will probably buy a new camera and have the next colleague who goes to Houston bring it back for me.

That is about all really. We have technically finished drilling the current well but have about 12 more hours of work to do, and most of that back breaking, as we have to do a full "rig down" where we take down all our equipment and cables and pack up the logging unit (portable office) to get everything ready to be shipped to the next location. Luckily we don't have to do full rig ups and rig downs every job because we normally drill several wells at the same location, but this was a one time deal. Oh well, hopefully after this I'll get a few days in Quito.

Oh yeah, I've made some new friends in Quito. I met a couple of the girls from Human Resources that are young and fun (and hot) and we went out one night and are planning to do something this weekend if i'm in town. Cool.

I'll put this question out there: there is a small chance I will have to transfer out of Ecuador in the next few months as politically the climate for oil producers is turning sour, so many of the foriegn oil companies are thinking of pulling out of here... If i were to transfer, where would you vote I go... The easiest locations to get to would probably be: Columbia, Russia and former Russian States, Angola (shitty, not going there if I can help it)... after that, it is not as certain, but I think the North Sea (Aberdeen, Scotland), Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, and some other places might be possibilities.

I'm really not sure at the moment. If it comes to pass I will ask for a list of places to pick from (something that people don't normally get but that I think i might be able to since my situation is a bit unique as having 5 years with the company and only 10 months or so left in the field).

I hope you are all well.

Cheers,
Nate

I'm still here...

2006-03-31T16:18:00.000-05:00

Well, friends and family, I’m going to be perfectly honest… I’ve started to reconsider this whole blog thing. I think my adventures are going to be spaced out enough now that I won’t have fun things to post and share often enough to keep it interesting.

I like the photo albums with captions better I think. Maybe I’ll just periodically add a blog post if there is something “blog worthy” that isn’t captured completely in the captions of the pics.

I will update you a bit on the last 3.5 months of my life so you know why I have been so quiet… As most of you know, I got to go home, unexpectedly, for Christmas. It is a bit funny that the reason I got to go home for Christmas is because my managers messed up and sent me to a rig that was less than one mile from Columbia, putting me at an unacceptably high risk for kidnapping… I know what you are thinking – “what the hell is funny about that…” Well, I don’t know, but I didn’t know enough to be scared at the time and it did lead me to purchase a T-shirt that says “big people are harder to kidnap.”

Anyway, I flew home on Dec. 18 and flew back to Ecuador on Dec. 28. It was awesome to be home and spend Christmas with Mom and Larry and Bry and Rose… When I got back to Ecuador I was able to take a trip to Guyaquil and the southern beaches of Ecuador with my friend Gunnar. Unfortunately we had to rush place to place, but it was still a cool trip. I then went to a rig for a about a week before flying to the US on Jan. 13. I had a week of vacation to see friends in Houston and visit Mom and Larry at their place in Florida and then I started a 9 week training school in Houston. It was great living in Houston with so many friends there. We gorged ourselves for 2 months on the amazing food available in Houston. I finished school on March 24, flew home for a quick visit to Lawrenceburg (mom flew up from florida for the weekend and a friend came from MIT) to shop for a years worth of clothes and to enjoy some R&R at home. I had meetings in Houston Monday and Tuesday and then flew back to Ecuador on Wednesday, March 29.

I am in the office in Quito now and should have a few more days in Quito before I go to the rig, we’ll see.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. As a teaser, I am planning a trip to Europe this summer for a couple weeks with friends, then in October I’ll be headed to Australia for my brother’s wedding. It looks like my travel plans for south America may get pushed back to February 2007… It looks like I will probably work until the end of January and then travel for all of February before moving back to Houston for my next job in the product center starting March 2007. That isn’t set in concrete yet, but it is looking probable.

Cheers.

Annual Festival of Quito

2005-12-14T03:11:00.000-05:00

I know it has been almost 2 months since I last posted anything on the blog and so I understand if no one is actually checking this thing anymore. I do plan to continue to update the blog, but I only plan to do so when I do something fun, exciting, Latin, or generally worthwhile

That being said, I have just had 3 weeks of wonderful cultural experiences and parties. I was unexpectedly on days off for 3 full weeks in Quito. Unfortunately the nature of this job means that I only found out a few days at a time that I still had more time off, and so I was not able to take a trip home or anywhere else for that matter. At one point I did find out that I had 8 to 10 days off (the last 10 days I was off), but as I will describe in detail, this corresponded with the height of QuitoFest (Festivo De Quito) which meant that the whole city was going crazy with parties, a good time to stay put.

I was having trouble remembering what all I did, so I put together a timeline for the three weeks off… I have included it here because I thought it was funny that it took so much effort (I stared blankly at my computer screen for almost an hour trying to remember the days and order of things) and because it provides a good outline of the events I have to talk about. J

After my last stint on the rig, I headed back to Quito on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

November

Fri 18 Travel from the rig to Quito.

Sat 19 Hung out with Alberto, Didi, Karla, Fernando, Andrea

Sun 20 No idea, but I think there may have been some NFL watching

Mon 21 Monday Night Football – Colts Dominant!

Tues 22

Wed 23 (not sure what I did these three days, but I think it was mostly relaxing)

Thurs 24

Fri 25 Hmmm… I don’t remember what I did, but I think it involved a bar…

Sat 26 Lunch w/ Karla, Argentine Tango/Electronica concert, Soul, Blues

Sun 27 Bull Fight w/Luis – Erika / Gabby

Mon 28 Went to work… hehe… was there almost 6 hours… exhausting…

Tues 29 Flamenco Show w/Erika/Byron

Wed 30 Concert at Blues w/ Byron

December

Thurs 1 Lorena’s going away…

Fri 2 Chiva, Ramon Antigua

Sat 3 Mexican Restaurant… Too drunk on tequila

Sun 4 Cell phone gone, went to Lunch with luis/Alberto, chilled a home…

Mon 5 Relaxing day, Dinner at Tony Roma’s and trip to see Harry Potter 4

Tues 6 My Birthday!!! DVD shopping, Dinner Mea Culpa

Wed 7 Guayabamba w/ Anabela

Thurs 8 Relaxing night at home

Fri 9 Off to a Rig… different rig than before… we’ll see how it goes.

It was just luck that I got so much time off - it is very rare to get more than a week off without taking vacation time. And it was just a lucky coincidence that my three weeks off coincided with the annual Festival of Quito, a marathon of parties, street concerts, and celebration leading up to my birthday, December 6^th. Dec. 6 also happens to be the day Quito was founded, but that is a secondary reason for the festivities… :)

My roommate Alberto, another field engineer, suffered a serious back injury (herniated disk) about 10 days before I got back to Quito and so was laid up in the apartment when I got back. Over the three weeks I was there he showed significant improvement but still has to walk slowly and has occasional soreness or numbness of his legs. He is 28… the good news is that he is expected to make a full recovery and will not need surgery, but it certainly drives home the need to use caution (and proper lifting technique) in this job. He was lifting the same tool I am currently running from the ground, where we assemble it, to the catwalk where it is raised by a crane to the rig floor… Anyway, he is doing much better but will never work on rigs again as he is moving to an office position.

Anyway, all I wanted to say was that my roommate was around the entire time I was in Quito which is unusual, but that he wasn’t quite as wild a partier as normal because of his back injury. I did meet several of his friends and got to know him much better. I spent my first Saturday back from the rig hanging out with his friends Didi, Karla, Andrea, and Fernando… They are a very fun group of Ecuadorians that all speak English. Didi is finishing her university studies and plans to apply to Architecture graduate schools in the US and Europe. Karla works as a tax and legal consultant for Ernst and Young…

I took it pretty easy the first week back. I moved to a new apartment about a month and a half ago but just managed to move into the room that is “mine” this last trip. For those of you who don’t know, this signified the first time I had truly unpacked into a proper bedroom since I arrived in Ecuador in July. The first apartment I was in had too many people and I didn’t have a bedroom, just a bed in a small room with no door or furniture (other than the bed). My new apartment is great. It is very big and all three of us have our own bedrooms and bathrooms. We are starting to make it feel more like a home, even going as far as to buy a home theater surround sound stereo. It feels very good to have a place that is mine.

On Saturday, November 26, I went to a concert at Theatro Bolivar in the old city of Quito with my roommate, his girlfriend Christina, Didi and Karla… The concert was a fusion of Argentinean Tango and Electronica music.. Imagine driving club style base lines and music that forms a base that a piano, accordion, violin, standup bass, etc. play over top of to create a truly unique sound. It was actually really cool. Plus the theater was huge and had suffered a fire or something and they are just starting to renovate it so there were lots of exposed columns and concrete and the balcony was mostly a ruin… it really added to the whole experience to have the theater feel like a giant ruin… unfortunately I forgot my camera that night… sorry… The good news is that I remembered my camera the other times I went to the old city and so I have some fun pics of other theaters and buildings down there all lit up at night. While I really enjoyed the instrumentation and they were very good, I sort of felt like all the songs started to sound the same after a while. They only played one that had any vocals. Anyway, it was an interesting experience and truly unique to Latin America…

After the concert we went to a bar called Blues that has become one of my favorite bars in the city. They normally play rock and metal music but on this night they were playing club “house” music. The band from the concert was there partying (not performing) which gave it a neat “after party feel.” That was it for Saturday night…

I slept until 11:40 am on Sunday… that was when my manager called and told me to hurry and get down to the Bull Fighting Arena to go to the bull fights with him… Now, only a few days before I had expressed a general objection to bull fighting as a sport. I could have decided not to go but I thought that 1) I should witness it before deciding to condemn the “sport” and 2) that it is a well known part of Spanish and Latin culture, and so too good a cultural opportunity to pass up.

I took a lot of pictures of the bull fights which you will get a link to, but I want to warn you that it is a violent “sport” and even though I tried to weed out any disturbing pictures, you may not want to look at them if you are hyper sensitive to that sort of thing. Feel free to post comments on this blog condemning me or the sport or anything you want, but I don’t want irate emails or phone calls (although, if you can figure out how to call me on an oil rig in the middle of the Amazon jungle, feel free to yell at me as you will have earned the right for being so clever)… :)

So, I have a couple of observations to share with regard to bull fighting. It is first and foremost a big outdoor drinking party. It was a beautiful day. There were three stages set up around the arena with live music and a carnival going on outside. There were 6 different bull fights that day. Each bull fight consists of 5 parts. First the bull is brought out and there are matadors with the capes that get the bull to take a few passes at them. Depending on the size and how aggressive the bull is the matadors may just peak out from behind the walls to get the bull to charge over, or they may get out into the arena with the bull. At this point, the bull is definitely in charge. The second part is the most disturbing and the part the audience doesn’t like. A man rides out on a horse that is covered with pads to protect it from the bulls horns and the man has a spear and he sticks the bull with the spear 2 to 4 times between the should blades in a place intended to bleed quite a bit. This has the effect of over time weakening the bull. The third part consists of one or multiple matadors essentially playing chicken with the bull, getting it to charge and timing it just right to allow them to stick the bull with short spears that are barbed and normally decorated with colorful ribbons. The spears stick in the bull and are left in dangling colorfully. After 2 to 4 spears have been stuck in the bull the final matador comes out for the fourth part which is the part we associate with bull fighting, having the bull charge at a red cape, stepping aside at the last minute. The matador will dance with the bull in this way for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes in what is essentially a battle for dominance. The bull is wounded and bleeding, but the matador is not further wounding it, he is staring the bull down and dancing with it. At some point trumpets play indicating that it is time for the matador to end the match and he times his pass and then kills the bull with a single sword thrust.

The audience is very respectful of the bull and boos etc. when the man on the horse is wounding the bull. I was glad the crowd was respectful and not the least bit blood thirsty. My guess is that this is a change in the last 50 years or so… Oh yeah, and one of the matadors got trampled and gored by the bull he was fighting… he was well enough to finish the fight, but that match the audience felt the bull had won.

OK, so, my feelings, now that I’ve been to a bull fight are as follows: I don’t like bull fighting. I can’t help but feel really bad for the bull. That being said, I would caution Americans of being too judgmental. It would be easy for me to claim some moral high ground and just say it is wrong to hurt an animal like that or to kill an animal for sport, but what I instead thought about was in what situations animals might be treated in a brutal manner in the US. I thought of two examples of socially accepted instances where animals are treated so in the states… 1) bow hunting… Hunting in general is less brutal because it is a quick death (although I doubt that is much consolation to all the bambis) but often times bow hunters fail to kill their prey with a single arrow and instead have to track a wounded animal for up to an hour before killing it. 2) factory farms… I have seen some very disturbing documentaries on the treatment of cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys raised for food in the US. When you compare the lifelong torment of the animals that end up on US supermarket shelves with the 20 minute fight between a bull and a man, there is no question that the bull has the better deal. Not all beef, chicken, and pork in the US comes from Factory Farms, but an awful lot of it does, and it is really horrendous how those animals are treated their whole lives… Anyway, I try to be very careful about being too judgmental or falling into the trap of thinking Americans are “better” or something when I am faced with cultural differences, like bull fighting.

I should also say that I have met MANY Ecuadorians that hate bull fighting and think it is “wrong” (although I get the impression that in Mexico and Venezuela it is more generally enjoyed). Also, if you were wondering, the bulls are apparently treated very well while being raised and are raised and bred specifically for the bull fighting arena… Free ranged, lots of cows to mate with, etc. :)

Now that I’ve covered the right vs. wrong of bull fighting, I can tell you I had a fabulous time. Like I said, it was a big outdoor drinking party and it was a beautiful day. I bought a sombrero (apparently that is the word for cowboy hats too, not just the round floppy hats we normally think of as sombrero’s… I bought the cowboy style – I haven’t even seen one of the others here, again, a Mexican thing more than a latin thing). My manager and I, between the two of us drank 5 bottles of cheap red wine and about 8 beers… neither of us ate anything before either… needless to say, we were trashed. I didn’t even watch the last two bull fights. I was too busy getting to know all the people sitting around us.

One last thing about the bull fights. The 4^th bull fight, the matador fought the bull from Horse back. The Horses were BEAUTIFUL and amazing in how they responded instantly to the rider… they were truly show horses… they would dance in place, rear, spin, anything the rider asked of them. My friend tells me that it is a popular investment for drug lords which has made those horses prized and valued (some of them) in the hundreds of thousands of dollar range… He may have been exaggerating, but it wouldn’t surprise me if not. I got a great video of the horse and rider. Anyway, still felt bad for the bull, but I admit the matador on horse back put on a hell of a show… Oh yeah, one more last thing ;) after the matador killed the bull, when the audience was applauding they would throw their hats down to him, it was really cool, he or some of his helpers, would pick up the hats and throw them back to the person who saluted him by throwing the hat down. People in the audience were really great about making sure the hat got passed back to the owner. Anyway, kind of a neat tradition.

We were so drunk after the bull fight that we went to dinner then I walked home and drunk dialed my mom and some friends (you have to love international drunk dialing on the work cell phone – sorry about that ********) I was awake for 8 hours that day… I then slept for 14… I woke up three times with a killer headache from the cheap wine and had to drink lots of water and take some advil.

Flamenco Show

I went to a Flamenco show with Erika and Byron. Erika is my friend from Mexico that those of you who have been looking through my photo albums have seen several times and Byron is my other roommate… Alberto is the roommate that hurt his back, Byron just bought a brand new BMW (sweet ride). Anyway, the flamenco show was just ok. Again, a good cultural experience, but not something I need to do again. The live music was good, but I didn’t care for the singing, even though my friend told me that was the “style”. The singers sounded hoarse or something. I much prefer powerful, clean, impressive vocals in live performance (see Les Mis or Phantom of the Opera), but whatever. The guitar players were very good. The dancing was just ok. I’m sure they were very good at flamenco, I am just not (as it turns out) that big a fan of flamenco. It is sort of like tap dancing or Irish Folk dancing, that is to say, it is all about how fast they move their feet. The thing is, it didn’t have the flair of American Tap or the coordination of the Irish Folk (at least in the lord of the dance / riverdance versions where there are lots of people dancing together). Instead, it is one dancer at a time doing about 15 or 30 seconds of dance steps as fast as they can and then playing for applause. It is also a very mad or sad dance and so they always look severe in their facial expressions. Anyway, just ok but not worth what we paid for really good tickets.

Concert

I’m sorry but I don’t know the name of the Ecuadorian rock group we saw on Wednesday night (it was actually Thursday morning since the concert started at 1:00 am – I’m telling you, this Quito Fest is 3 weeks of non-stop partying, who goes to a concert at 1:00am during the week…) but the concert was great. The group I saw was described sort of as Ecuador’s version of Pearl Jam and I was led to believe that it was really unusual for this group that is hugely popular to perform a concert in a little club (it was at Blues). Anyway, $10 and a great show and fun time. Byron and I wooed many a lady with our dance moves…

Lorena’s going away party.

A friend here from Ecuador that works for the same company I do has just been transferred to Midland, Texas. We threw here a going away party, also called the “welcome to the middle of nowhere party” or as I like to think of it the “enjoy being hit on by cowboys who’s trucks are worth more than their houses party”… whatever you call it, we had a good time. We started at Buster’s, a Scottish pub, and then 4 of us headed to a club after and had lots of fun dancing to classic American tunes…

La Chiva and Ramon Antigua

The office arranged for La Chiva… This is nuts… during Quito Fest you see all these big, open air buses driving around the city with music and partiers hanging all over them. I thought there was no way my company would get one as it isn’t that safe to mix drinking and hanging on the sides and roof of a bus driving around a major city like Quito… well, I was wrong and what a great time we had. A big group of folks from the office road around drinking on the bus and partying for about an hour and then went to a bar and kept the party going for most of the night. I was one of the only people with a camera and everyone got in the spirit of taking and posing for fun pictures… I ended up with 160 pics… I trimmed that number down to 108 to post them to the web and I may weed out some more of them, but it was a great party. You’ll see more of it in the pics if you check those out. Good times.

The next night I went to a Mexican restaurant with Erica, Daniel, and Yirccy… we were supposed to go for dinner but there was a live band and it was just a big party and we never did eat any dinner. We were drinking Sangria and having a great time when the shots started… after two shots of tequila and one shot of a black lickerish flavored liquor someone in our group decided it would be a good idea to buy an entire bottle of Tequila… Well, 3 or 4 of us finished the entire bottle in about 20 minutes and that is the last thing I remember from that night. We were having a great time dancing and hanging out, but that all ended when the Tequila started. I lost my jacket and my cell phone and I don’t remember leaving, getting in the cab or getting home and going to bed… Apparently I drunk dialed a friend in the states on my cell phone shortly before losing it (sorry about that Amanda) and apparently sounded bad enough that she was worried enough to call my mom to try to get my number and call me back and make sure I was ok.. anyway, not a good thing. The good news is that one of my friends picked up my Jacket but my phone is gone… Surprisingly I wasn’t hungover the next day, just confused about how I got home.

The next few days I took it pretty easy having done my fair share of partying for QuitoFest . Then for my birthday I bought some DVD’s and went out to a great dinner with a big group of friends, very fun…

I know this has been way too long but I want to say a few more things about the Festivo De Quito… For the entire three weeks, almost every night, there were impromptu street parties in front of all the best located liquor stores. The stores wouldn’t even let people in, they would cell booze through the metal gates over the entrance. People would just park in front and have the car stereos up loud and stand around outside drinking and partying. At a number of the liquor stores located in the coolest parts of the city the party would grow to a couple hundred people. It was NUTS.

The other interesting part of Quito fest was all the organized street parties that I guess the city would put on. They would shut down this major street that runs along the big park in the middle of the city and set up stages and have booths and food and alcohol, concerts, just a big party. The cool thing was that my apartment was one block from the heart of the party. Now, I didn’t actually go to any of them because they are reported to get out of hand from time to time and people get killed in the brawls that can break out (although I don’t think there were any incidents like that this year) but I could hear them and see them from my apartment which was fun.

OK, that does it for Quito Fest. Sorry it is so long and Sorry I haven’t had more posts. I can tell you it will probably be a long time before my next post as I will be on the rig for most of the holidays and then I head to the States on January 13 for some vacation time and then 2 months of technical school in Houston.

Oh, for those who might be interested in a South American adventure, I’m thinking of putting together a big trip for one year from now. I’m thinking I will do some travel before Christmas (after I finish my time working here), maybe do a week in the Galapagos and another week traveling around Ecuador, then go home for the Holidays and come back and travel all of January going to Machu Picchu in Peru, Patagonia in Argentina, Bogota for the ladies, the Andes in Chile, maybe a stop in Brazil… I’m not sure where all I will go and the plans are very much up in the air at the moment, but I definitely want to see a lot of South America before I leave and with a trip to Europe scheduled for next summer and possibly my brother’s wedding in October (if that is when they hold it) in Australia, I think my best opportunity will be after I’ve finished my work here before starting in my next role in Houston.

So, yeah, if you want to join me for any or all of that, I’d love to have the company. Let me know in an email and I will keep you posted.

Ok, back to work you slackers… my life isn’t that interesting anyway… :) take care and I can’t wait to hopefully see many of you while I’m in the states this Jan – March.

-Nate

Good things come to those who wait…

2005-10-21T01:48:00.000-04:00

I apologize for taking so long between this and my last post, but I have had an eventful two weeks and so have plenty to share.

Life in Ecuador is finally coming together. I spent two weeks on the rig for my last job followed by 3.5 days off in Quito and for those 3.5 days, life couldn’t have been much better.

After not sleeping for the last 20 hours on the rig, we headed to Quito on Saturday morning of this past weekend. Upon arrival in Quito, I would normally have slept for a few hours before doing anything else, but on this occasion we wasted no time in getting the party started. My friend’s wife and baby were visiting with family in their home country of Venezuela and so he was left to fend for himself in the big city of Quito. He is the directional driller I work with most nights on the rig. Given his free pass to hang with the guys for the weekend, we set about gathering friends and began to drink.

We headed first to the home of a co-worker. While we waited for his young daughters to get ready, we played with his awesome dog (a chow) and started drank Jack Daniels on the rocks, a sure way to get the party off to a fast start and the perfect cocktail for 11am. With a group of about 6 we headed to TGI Fridays, a favorite spot with everyone in Quito, located at the big mall, Quicentro, which is a 5 minute walk from where I live. After a nice lunch and several beers we headed to drop some people off and pick other people up, having drinks at every home we stopped in. Finally, around 4:30 it was time to head to the big event for the day, a CrawFish boil hosted by one of the other service companies. That’s right, a Houston based service company had imported the idea of a crawfish boil. The crawfish lacked the usual heat you expect in Texas or Louisiana, probably as a courtesy to the South Americans who aren’t big on Spicy Foods, but these were the largest crawfish I had ever seen (Yes, I am certain they were crawfish and not small lobsters). It was quite a treat to enjoy a crawfish boil even though I’m on a different continent. The people were friendly, the drinks were flowing, the location was beautiful, the friends were many, and the times were good.

At some point in the evening, noticing that 1) no one was dancing, and 2) they had started playing some American Rock ‘n Roll from the 50’s, a young lady friend of mine and I headed to the dance floor and put on quite the swing demonstration, after which the dance floor quickly filled with merry makers and the party really got rolling. Now, I like to dance, but Latin’s take it to a new level… It isn’t so much that I don’t like to dance as much as they do as I like to do other things too… for them, night life means dancing salsa. Period, End of Story. Come with your dancing shoes on or stay at home. Bear in mind that by this point I’d been awake for 31 hours and drinking for 11 or 12…

As things began to wind down at the Crawfish boil, my group of 6 or 8 friends who had been hanging out all evening at the crawfish boil, decided to head to a club in Quito to keep the party rolling. Now, I would be lying if I said that I was enthusiastic about this non-stop partying… mostly I was giving in to peer pressure. I must have said my good-byes and informed everyone of my intention to head home 10 different times that night and I know I fell asleep a couple times at the crawfish boil and at least 1 time at the bar, but I did make it to the 36 hour mark before calling it a night.

The next day, waking up at the shockingly early hour of 10am (after partying until 3am) I met up with two of the friends from the night before and we headed to a Golf course 30 minutes outside of Quito. We didn’t go to play, but to meet up with friends/co-workers playing in an Oilfield Tournament for lunch. I did manage to go golfing at the same golf course on Tuesday and had a ball. Anyway, so Lunch at the golf course on Sunday, hanging out with friends and co-workers. The drive from the city to the golf course was kind of cool through the mountains.

After finishing up at the golf course, we picked up the lady friend that I did the swing dancing with, and three of us headed to the Center of the World monument. This is the monument, plaza, mini-theme park that marks the Equator where it passes through (near) Quito. It had been one of the tourist destinations at the top of my list of things to see in Quito, so I was very excited to check it out.

Before going to the Monument we first drove to a HUGE dormant volcanic crater that now holds a village and farms… it is HUGE… like 5000 m across. And the rim is several hundred feet high and there aren’t any real roads in or out, so the people who live there primarily ride horses and donkeys in and out. Unfortunately it was very cloudy so we couldn’t see much, but you did get a feel for the enormity of the crater and there were some crafts stalls set up with neat trinkets to look at. Oh yeah, and I got a pic of a Donkey as requested by a friend who had done a mission in Ecuador…

Then we headed to the Center of the World Monument. It is a big square tower with a globe on top (see my latest photo album). There are shops and a museum and a plaza with live music and dancing all around the monument. The area is a popular weekend destination for people in Quito. Apparently around noon there is quite the dance demonstration but we didn’t get there until late afternoon and so there were just 40 or so people dancing (did I mention that dancing is big here?).

Sunday night, after getting back from the Center of the World Monument and taking a much needed nap, I headed to dinner with the same 3 friends I’d been hanging out with all weekend. We went for Sushi at a Japanese/Thai restaurant. I love sushi.

It was really nice to have a group to hang out with, but sometimes I prefer hanging out with my Latin friends one on one as they speak Spanish when they are in a group. People here think I’m quiet most of the time, but I just don’t have the Spanish to participate and it really takes a great deal of active listening/concentration for me to follow a conversation in Spanish. I’m glad that I am getting better at understanding, but I’m a long way from joining the chat in Spanish.

Monday was a work day in the office. There is always a fair bit of paperwork to finish up after each well and I am still getting all my administrative items taken care of that are required to live/work in Ecuador. One consequence of only spending like 10 days in my first 3 months in Quito is that when I am there on a work day, there are usually tasks I need to address with Personnel. Monday night I headed to my usual Massage and Sushi dinner at the Swiss Hotel.

Tuesday morning I went golfing with two of the Directional Drillers I work with. I really like everyone I work with and it is a good thing since we are in such close quarters on the rig. I was using borrowed clubs for the golf and the first few holes were really painful. Struggling with ones golf game is bad enough, but doing it with friends the first time you are invited to golf with them is torture. Luckily I got adjusted to the clubs ok and had a run of good holes and even chipped in for par from 25 yards out, something I hadn’t done before (chipping in from 25 yards out, I’d had pars before, if not a great many of them… :).

The course was beautiful and having a knowledgeable caddy (who even spoke English) was a trip. It was the first time I’ve played with a caddy and it was really something. They find your ball for you, clean it on the green, give you yardage, make club selection suggestions, read the greens for your puts, etc. etc. There are only like 3 golf courses in the Quito area and they are all Private, but you can play them 1 or 2 times a month as a non member. The greens fee was $25 and the caddy was $10 with tip. A great day of golf for only $35 dollars, not too bad. I did manage to get a pretty good sunburn on my arms, but even that felt good because I am normally such a vampire working nights and wearing coveralls all the time.

The bad news was that on the 4^th green we got the call that we were going to have to go the rig the next day, Wednesday, instead of Thursday or Friday as planned. That was a double whammy as I had a date scheduled for Wednesday with one of the receptionists from the spa where I get my massages (I told you it is one of my favorite treats for when I am in Quito ;) Luckily she was very understanding of my work situation and we plan to do something the next time I’m in Quito.

After golf, I headed home for another much needed nap, then went to the office for a couple hours, then moved into a new apartment. It is kind of funny to be able to move in less than an hour… Everything I have fit in my two suitcases, a backpack, and the duffel bag I use on the rig. I just had to throw everything into the bags, lug them downstairs, get a taxi, have him take me the 4 blocks to my new apartment, and voila… I am very excited about my new apartment. The apartment is HUGE. There are three of us field engineers that live there but we will almost never be in Quito at the same time, so when I am there, I have the place pretty much all to myself. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, all the rooms are ENORMOUS, a nice big kitchen, cable tv (with quite a few movie channels in English – and the playboy channel guys). Hardwoods, tile, etc. Very nice. Talk about a 100% improvement over the last apartment where I didn’t even have a bedroom or a dresser or closet…

After the move, I headed back to the Swiss Hotel to talk a bit with the girl I was supposed to go out with on Wednesday and to enjoy one last Sushi Dinner before heading back here to the rig the next morning.

So, as I said, life has certainly started to improve here in Ecuador. Getting a few days off between each well is sooo nice and should be the norm. The only bad news is that this well is going to take 3+ weeks and the next one could take more than 4… but what can you do…

For those of you I haven’t told yet, I have signed up for my technical school in Houston and it starts on January 23 and runs through late March. I hope to get to see as many of you as I can during that time and I plan to take some vacation time before starting school.

Well, we should start drilling sometime tonight. Take care and I’d love to hear from all of you.

Cheers!

If I don't make a noise, maybe no one will notice I'm on Days off...

2005-10-07T04:06:00.000-04:00

OK, so there wasn't much chance of that working anyway, but I did get 4 days off in Quito after only 65 consecutive days of work. It felt amazing. It is funny though, as a consequence of working all the time there is a great deal of pressure and expectation among our little community of field engineers that when you are on Days Off you will party hard every night. Well, I'm just not interested in that... Don't get me wrong, I love going out with new friends and enjoying the Latin Night life, but I also like to take it easy a few days when i have the chance. Watch movies, get massages, go out for Sushi, read... all sorts of normal "Lazy Sunday" sorts of activities. So, I will tell you about my 4 days of freedom in Quito but don't be surprised when you learn I mostly did nothing... and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! :)

To travel back to Quito from the oil rig, we take the reverse trip (maybe that is so obvious as to be silly to mention, but it is not an easy trip, so it is worth starting there) we take a bus for 30 minutes through the jungle to a boat. Take the boat for 3 hours to the nearest crappy oil town with an Airport. then fly the 30 minutes to Quito. All that takes about 6 hours total (and yet, for some reason, the trip here took almost 12 hours, hmmm).

I arrived in Quito on Sept. 28 at around noon. Took a nap (after all, I had been working the night shift) and then went to the office for a few hours to work on the End of Well paperwork. That night I went to the Swiss Hotel, an international hotel that caters to business travellers from all over the world. It is expensive, but all the employees speak english and every service provided is top notch. If you only get 3 to 5 days a month in civilization, you might as well spoil yourself. I had a relaxation massage followed by a great Sushi Dinner with a few coronas. My roommate and fellow trainee friend from Norway, Gunnar, and I have made it a ritual that when either or both of us is in Quito, we eat Sushi... Lots and Lots of Sushi.

Thursday i slept in and went to the office for a few hours again, then watched movies and went for another massage and dinner at the steak house at the Swiss Hotel. I think i watched a season and a half of Soprano's in those 4 days in Quito.

Friday, more of the same, plus some random phone calls from random girls...

Saturday I went to the movies with a friend from the office. We saw two movies and watched some American College Football in the sportsbar at the complex with the movie theater. That night a group of us from the office went out to a club called Cabul. This is the same club I went to on my first night in Quito with my two managers. This time it was a fairly big group of mixed guys and girls. We had a great time. I'm working on my salsa dancing but it takes a bit of practice. Luckily i have lots of beautiful latin ladies willing to help teach this poor gringo.

Saturday afternoon I was told that I would be leaving for the well on sunday... Sunday I was waiting for 30 minutes for the driver when I called and was told that, no, i wouldn't be going to the rig until monday... Just no one thought to tell me... Communication is continually an issue. I was just as glad to have another day in Quito as 1) Quito is better than the jungle, and 2) I was a bit hungover and didn't fance the flight and 3 hour boat ride in that condition. :) The hangover combined with rain in Quito served as the perfect excuse to spend the day watching Soprano's episodes. That evening I went to apartment of the friend that I went to the movies with on Saturday, she loves movies almost as much as I do, and we watched a movie and then went out for Sushi.

OK, so I know I promised to do some Touristy sightseeing and take lots of pics and post them for everyone, but, well, i didn't. I had good intentions. I even found a tour option with a personal guide, but then i started hanging out with friends from the office and have now had offers to show me around the next time I'm in town, plus I've started to meet some girls that are from Quito that could be a good source of local knowledge for touring, so I've decided to wait until it happens naturally or I learn enough spanish to get around on my own. Sorry, you'll just have to wait a little longer. :) I can take some more pictures of jungle and post those if you want, although it all looks the same... green and forbidding.

Well, we started drilling a few hours ago and have already had lots of problems with the equipment so I should get back to work. I hope you all are well and I really think I am starting to get established here with friends and meeting girls, so that in the near future the stories will become more interesting.

cheers!

Earthquake! And: “a runny nose can be dangerous in the Jungle”

2005-09-26T16:58:00.000-04:00

I experienced my first Earthquake today. It was really strange, the logging unit just started swaying and shaking at a really low frequency. I was only feeling a very minor effect but the epicenter in Peru had a magnitude of more than 7. Oh yeah, and there is a Volcano erupting about 90 miles from Quito. We have had some emails saying “while ash in Quito is unlikely, here is what you should do in the event we get some ash in Quito…” This country has some of the most diverse geography, climates, and landscapes of any country in the world, and all in a relatively small area. So, I have now survived my first earthquake and will know what to look for in the future (instead of getting the look on my face that a dog gets when people try to talk baby talk to it… you know, where the dog cocks his head to the side and squints a bit as if to say “what the hell is he/she doing now”). I look forward to doing some volcano sight seeing. A friend here has a bunch of pictures of volcanoes, including some really cool shots of an erupting volcano.

For as long as I can remember, I have been getting a sinus infection twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. I have always thought this was the result of the sudden change in temperatures associated with the change of seasons, but that theory is being put to the test. I have a sinus infection in a country that has no seasons… One of the consequences of being located on the equator is that there are only very small seasonal variations in temperature. And yet, here it is the start of fall in America and I have a sinus infection…

So, while the cause remains a mystery (or has become a mystery now that I can no longer assume it is caused by seasonal temperature changes), I can tell you that when you are in the middle of the jungle, a runny nose can be dangerous. While a sinus infection is no more dangerous here than anywhere else (I even have my normal assortment of decongestants with me) the remoteness of my location and the possibility of the symptoms being caused by something more serious means that all necessary precautions have to be taken. In this case that means going to the Rig Dr. to have my temperature taken, saying “ahhhh,” etc. So, the good news is that I seem to only have my bi-annual sinus infection, however, the Dr. and the suits in Quito have been made aware of my situation so that an evacuation plan can be implemented if I should take a turn for the worse. Another one of those surreal moments, like the military escort, to think that my runny nose means somewhere, someone is monitoring the situation so a helicopter can be dispatched to retrieve me if needed. I have to say, a helicopter ride out of here sounds a hell of a lot better than that 3 hour boat trip on the river, but I would rather not have to be diagnosed with a tropical disease to get it.

It has occurred to me that I may sound really… I don’t know, naïve isn’t really the word I’m looking for, but like a valley girl dropped in a war zone who notices the bombs going off around her but still takes time to window shop… It really isn’t that dangerous here. Yes, there is a risk of tropical disease (malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever), and there are natural disasters that occur on a regular basis here (volcanoes, earthquakes), and this region of the world, particularly the neighboring country to the north (Columbia) has groups of people who use kidnapping as a form of business, but it is honestly not significantly more dangerous to live/work here than Houston. Hurricanes, rush hour traffic, west nile virus… It is just that these dangers are so “foreign” to my way of life and thinking. I also tend to state the danger in the worst case because: 1) it makes it more interesting, and 2) it is my adventure so I’ll portray it however I choose. If I have seen one too many Indiana Jones movies, well, so be it. :-P The point I want to make is that I’m aware of the hazards and I think I am taking the necessary precautions, but the actual “Risk” level associated with my life here is not that high. And if I’m wrong, and the $#!t hits the fan, when they make a movie about it, make sure somebody cool plays me (Matthew McConaughey, Matt Damon, Will Farrel – he might be too old, but damn he is funny) and the love interest should be played by Natalie Portman (the list of alternatives if she isn’t available is too long to bother with - let’s just agree she should be hot). No, I’m not seeing anyone at the moment but that could change and there always need to be a love interest in a movie. :-)

Let’s see, in other news… We are nearly finished with the current job and should be returning to Quito on Wednesday morning. I should have some days off at that point.

Oh, I took some pictures today of the rig site here and also of one of the more interesting fruits I’ve been introduced to – Granadilla. It looks like an Orange, but when you open it… well, I don’t know how to describe it in a way that makes it sound appetizing, somehow saying the inside looks like frog eggs doesn’t do it justice, although you can imagine my surprise the fist time I saw someone peel one and I was expecting an orange inside. It is really sweet and very easy to eat, although it can be a bit messy if you don’t have spoon, but no more so than an orange. You can see the pic in my next Ecuador photo album (coming soon). The variety of fruits in the world has been one of the great discoveries for me on my international adventure. Every country I’ve been to has shown me a new variety of really tasty fruit not available in the US (or, at least I’ve never seen them), and Ecuador has an incredible range of new fruits to try. So far, the Granadilla is my favorite new discovery in Ecuador. I’ll keep you posted.

Cheers!

Snakes, tongue, and a military escort…

2005-09-19T06:10:00.000-04:00

I am back on the rig living the life of an oilfield man… I am actually on the same rig I was on last time but there have been some significant changes. The people are almost all different, both that I’m working with and that are working on the rig. The location is different. We are still in the same jungle, but we have moved a few miles to a different clearing. And my responsibilities are different as I am now a “second hand” meaning that I am responsible for things from 7pm to 7am. I’ll give a bit of an explanation of what I’m doing day to day in a bit, but first I need to share the latest experiences which were hinted at in the title…

Snakes: I have had my first wild, Amazonian, probably poisonous and deadly, snake encounter. The snake was small by Amazon standards at just over 4 ft. long. Very skinny and all black and very fast. He had slithered out onto the road to soak up some warmth and escape from the eternally wet undergrowth of the forest. Luckily I was in a truck driving on the road when I saw him and so didn’t have to run away screaming like a little girl (I don’t mean that to be sexest, I just think the visual of me running away screaming like a little girl is funnier than me running away screaming like a little boy… I’m sure there are lots of little girls in the world less afraid of snakes than I am). I was actually less frightened of the snake than of the extreme driving maneuver my driver pulled in an effort to hit the snake. The roads in the jungle that connect the various rigs and buildings here are gravel and bumpy and normally lined with ditches. The ditches, you understand, are important for all the rain we get here in the RAIN FOREST. So, my crazy driver about killed us trying to run over the poor little snake that was just enjoying a warm afternoon. I am hoping to spot and to photograph one of the Anacondas that they say lays on the shore of the river that we have to take to get here. How cool would that be, see a 20+ ft. anaconda. So far I haven’t been able to stay awake on the boat long enough, but I’ll be sure to be on the lookout when I am awake.

Tongue: apparently I have eaten tongue on any number of occasions and quite enjoyed it. Cow tongue is popular and common here, I just didn’t know that was what it was until a few days ago when my Venezuelan friend looked at me kind of funny while eating and said “you like tongue?” And I said, “I don’t know, I’ve never had it.” And he said, “you are eating it now…” To which I replied (without gagging), “well, then, in that case, yes, yes I do like it… but I liked it better before I knew what it was.” He went on to share with me a number of other parts of the cow that are often enjoyed here that perhaps are not commonly eaten in the states. The highlights include a bull penis and testicle soup and cow brains. The Tongue, however, is served like a sliced loin and the meat just falls apart. I thought it was a really tender or over cooked roast with tasty sauce. I’m not sure why eating a cows tongue is kind of gross to me but eating a cows butt seems perfectly normal, just cultural differences I guess. As for if I will continue to eat and enjoy tongue in the future… probably, but we’ll see. It really was better before I knew.

Military Escort: so, you think you are cool and/or you have a cool job… Do they assign regular Army infantry units to accompany you wherever you go? Do you have a guy in full fatigues carrying a Heckler and Koch fully automatic machine gun ride in the back of the pick up truck that takes you the 10 minutes to the buildings/base with the computer support? An Army guy that waits (with your driver, I might add) for the 1.5 hours you are there, just chilling outside in the truck so they will be at your disposal when you are ready to go? I didn’t think so… (don’t worry mom, it is all just to make an appearance of being over careful after the strikes last month… there isn’t any real danger). It was an interesting experience though. It is the first time I have had to have that and I found myself bouncing between thinking “wow I’m special or important” to thinking “I don’t know how I feel about working somewhere that anyone you ask can quote you the price that your ransom would be if you were kidnapped”… I have made some interesting decisions in my life and they have led me to an interesting place. I don’t think I will be able to really appreciate the ramifications until I look back on the experience. :)

So, this week has been about snakes, tongue, and army dudes assigned to protect me. Speaking of protection, I heard some interesting information about the “local Indians” around the oil field here in the jungle. Apparently these tribes were the tribes that were “head shrinkers” in the past and in some cases cannibals. Now they have mostly fallen into the traps so often associated with indigenous peoples exposed overnight to westerners with money to give them just for letting the westerners do business. Alcohol, etc.

For the record, it is 4:45am. I am not sure how I feel about working the night shift but I better get used to it because it will likely be 9 or 10 months before I get to work days, and even then I will still work nights when working with a more experienced engineer.

Speaking of work… So I got to the rig site 5 days ago. The first 3 days we spent setting up our equipment. This means installing pressure sensors on the pumps and pipes that contain the fluid pumped into the well while drilling, as well as a number of other sensors and computers… We use the sensors to monitor the activity on the rig (while drilling a well) and to communicate with our tools which are shaped like pieces of pipe and are attached to the drill bit. Our tools take measurements of direction and location, as well as physical properties of the ground that we are drilling through, thereby allowing us to determine what type of formation we are in (does it contain oil) as well as giving the necessary location and orientation information needed to “steer” the drill bit. I won’t go into how you “steer” a drill bit, but just realize that wells are seldom drilled straight into the ground anymore. Instead they can drill down and then turn north and drill horizontally, or any number of other geometries. They don’t “turn a corner” but instead change the direction by a few degrees for every 100 ft. we drill. Anyway, the tools that allow you to steer the drill bit only steer the drill bit. Other tools (the ones I’m responsible for) provide all the information that you need to know where the hole is, where it is pointed, and what changes you should make. My company does both the steering and the information on location, but I am only responsible (for now) for the information on location and formation type. I provide that info to the directional driller and he steers the well. So, it takes two days or so to set up all the equipment both on the rig and in the logging unit. The logging unit is our office. It looks an awful lot like a shipping container, but it has desks, chairs, lights, computers, etc. inside. When the logging unit is moved (after each job the rig moves and the logging unit is moved to the new well location) and you have to pack all the computers, etc. into big plastic boxes, and tie down all the chairs, and take the air conditioner out of the wall, and disconnect electricity, phone, internet, etc… Then, when you get to a new job, you have to reconnect and unpack all that stuff, and it takes about 18 hours of hard physical work to get everything set up.

So, after we got all of our equipment set up we begin drilling and I monitor the readouts from the computers and share that info with the driller and the oil company etc. It might not sound like much, but there are always problems with the equipment or with the communication with the tool, and there is a ton of work that goes into capturing the information and processing the data to make it useful in making decisions about the well.

That’s what I’m doing. I’m sitting in the logging unit each nigh, watching the computers and monitoring our sensors, making corrections, changes when I need to, and processing/sharing our data with folks who need it to decide what to do with the well. Sometimes we aren’t that busy and can watch some DVDs (or write in Blogs) but other times, we have to scramble to solve problems and find ways to get the data. You can imagine that it is very expensive to operate an oil rig in the middle of the jungle with no roads leading to cities… it is even more expensive to operate a rig offshore. If our equipment has a problem or we have trouble getting the info, the entire rig just sits waiting while we fix it and my company has to pay for the lost time. As an extreme case, it can cost more than $250,000 each day to operate some of the larger offshore oil platforms. If you screw up and stop the operation for an hour or two, it costs A LoT of money. So, anyway, I try to do as little as possible so that I minimize the risk of messing something up. :)

Well, that is about all for now. I am supposed to get some days of in Quito after this job. If so, I’ll do some sight seeing and take lots of pics to share… :)

Cheers!

Light at the end of the Tunnel...

2005-09-13T17:14:00.000-04:00

I have just received my schedule for the next few weeks, as with everything in this job, it is of course, subject to change, but it is nice to at least have an idea of what is in store.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will head to the rig for my first job as a second working the night shift. The last time I was on a rig, I was a trainee third which had both advantages and disadvantages. This time, i will be the Second hand responsible for the 7pm to 7am shift. The job is supposed to last approximately 13 days, after which I will be on Days off in Quito until Oct. 5 when i will head to the next rig job. That should work out to about 7 days off. Sounds good to me.

The rig I am headed to tomorrow is the same rig I was on last time. They have moved it to a new location to drill a new well, but I will still have to take a 3 hour boat ride to get there. Everything else on the rig should be similar. The good news is that I will get to sleep in the normal living quarters for my company and have a small fridge and satellite TV (with lots of English channels) in the room as well as a private shower for just those of us in the living quarters.

I am ready to go back to work... sort of. :) I definitely need a change of scenery and it will be good to have a set schedule and some days off to look forward to. I hope the job goes well and we don't have problems with the tool, but either way, I am due for something different.

I will try to remember to get some pictures of the bugs this time and maybe some more of the rig and the guys. I have to get approval to take pics, but hopefully that won't be a problem.

On a more cultural note, it is funny the things I miss or crave. I haven't really been here that long, but when everything that you are accustomed to is taken away, it doesn't take long before you really get a craving. Those of you who know me best know that I love Ice... It is funny that I see that as a luxury item but it is surprisingly difficult to get ice outside of the US. In Quito they serve ice in drinks, but as discussed previously, I seldom see Quito, and when i am there, the beverages tend to be of the barley based variety. Luckily, the rig I am going to has both Ice and Diet Coke (another rarity outside the US). Cold milk... It sounds funny, but they primarily use the pasteurized box milk like hikers in the US use, and that doesn't have to be refrigerated until it is opened and they are small enough that they normally open new ones for breakfast everyday... so, while they offer cereal, it is with lukewarm milk. Hot dogs, ice cream (I’ve had a lot of ice cream here, more than I have in the states, but it isn't the same and it is something subconscious anyway), lunch meat sandwiches, something other than Rice... Chicken Breast Meat or meat not still attached to a bone. Oh, and I have been watching the Sopranos on DVD which has made me crave Italian food. Funny, I know, but well, with no fun traveling or adventures to share, the best I can offer are observations of the experience. :)

That is about all for now. I'll write more from the rig.

Cheers,
Nate

And the hits just keep on coming....

2005-09-12T21:56:00.000-04:00

As some of you know I had planned on being in Houston for 9 weeks this fall from Oct. 10 to Dec. 9 for my technical school (internal training). Unfortunately management decided today that they are going to be too short handed during that time to send both my friend and I to school at the same time. I am number 2 on the list because my friend started about 6 weeks before I did so i have to wait until the next school which isn't until January sometime.

I'm dissapointed but there isn't much i can do. I guess my friends will have to cheer on the Boilermakers for me. :)

In other news. i am still in Coca at the base. We have nicknamed it Alcatraz because it feels a bit like a prison. It is much nicer to be sure, but there are a lot of rules and we get buzzed in through a gate and we aren't allowed to go out after 9pm. :)

I'm afraid I don't have much exciting to tell. Hopefully I will get out of here in the next few days and get back to having adventures.

Cheers!

So Much For R&R…

2005-09-04T12:42:00.000-04:00

Such is the life of a field engineer. Nothing is certain, especially something as fickle as Days Off. After not sleeping for the last 24 hours on the rig (rig down took all night) we caught the 6:30am boat for the three hour trip to Coca and then the 10:30 flight from Coca to Quito. I got to my apartment at about 11:30am and had a quick bite to eat and then promptly fell asleep for a couple hours before heading to the office to finish up the post-job reports. It was then that I learned that not only would I not have the next day or 2 off but that I would be attending a course given by the Ecuadorian government on Radiation. A class taught in Spanish, with slides and a book in Spanish, and with a test at the end. Have I mentioned that I don’t speak Spanish? :)

It was an interesting experience and gave me a greater appreciation for what people I have had training and courses with in English, for whom English is a second language, go through. I was actually surprised how much I got out of the class. Enough of the words are similar between English and Spanish, that if I could see it, I could understand some of it and if I asked a friend the meaning of a word or two, I pretty much understood the material. Anyway, there were times (for instance, hung over on the first day of class with 4 hours sleep after not sleeping the day before) when I wanted to throw myself off the building, but in general it was ok and I think I may have even passed the test, we’ll see.

They did give two of us an English version of the test, but the material was all Spanish, so it was only a little help. As bad as it was for me, I really feel for my roommate/friend Gunnar who is from Norway… Where they speak Norwegian, for whom English is already a 2^nd language and Spanish will be a 3^rd (actually, Portuguese is his 3^rd language after spending a year of university in Brazil, and Spanish will be number 4) He took a test in English on material taught in Spanish… yeah… it was an interesting experience for both of us.

Thank goodness I haven’t had to do much traveling alone. My Spanish is non-existent. I certainly understand more now (by far) than I did when I got here and I have a number of words and phrases that I’m comfortable saying, but when things go “wrong” I am lost without the assistance of my bi-lingual friends.

For instance, when we got to the Airport in Coca we realized that I did not have an airline ticket. I’m still trying to figure the system of travel out but it seems that basically if you fly on the company charter, you don’t need a ticket. So, I flew on an airline from Quito to Lago and had a ticket for that. Then I flew on the Charter from Lago to Coca when I went to the rig and didn’t need/have a ticket. Well, when we found that we were flying on the airline from Coca to Quito and that I didn’t have a ticket, everyone was surprised… My thought was, well, if I’m supposed to have a ticket, when was I supposed to get it, who was I supposed to get it from, and how the hell was I supposed to know… J Luckily my friends were able to discuss the situation with the airline and they were happy to issue me a boarding pass without a ticket and just bill the company, so no harm, but a fine example of my dependence on my co-workers/friends when things aren’t running smoothly.

Anyway, so after taking 3 days of class and getting all excited to have the weekend off in Quito and watch college football at TGI Friday’s, I was told that on Saturday morning I would be flying to our base in Coca to help because we are currently relocating the lago base to coca, and this weekend is the bulk of the equipment transfer. That’s ok, I didn’t really need a day off after 5 weeks anyway… Ah well, I mentioned to my manager that it would be nice if I could have a couple days off after I finish in coca (since he was planning on sending me straight to a well) and he seemed receptive (when I told him I hadn’t had a day off yet) so we’ll see.

I did have a good time in Quito though. Went out for two excellent Sushi dinners and went to the bars one night.

Ok, well, I’m in Coca now and it looks like there is more work to do, so I better get going.

Cheers,
Nate

Time to get the hell out of Dodge...

2005-08-29T20:46:00.000-04:00

We have finally finished the well, despite setback after setback, and it is time to head to Quito for some R&R. My last day off was July 24th and I'm looking forward to a few days of fun and rest in Quito.

The strike is likely to start again tomorrow night at Midnight. We are on the 6:30 am boat to Coca and the 10:30 am flight. Should get us to Quito around 11am and home by noon.

These last 16 days on the rig have been interesting. Being a Trainee was a double edged sword. Because I was a trainee, I was the 3^rd engineer on what is normally a 2 man team. This meant I had less responsibility than I will on future jobs when I go as a 2^nd but the hours were definitely worse. The other engineers were really great about teaching me and showing me how to do things, but I didn’t get much sleep because I was expected to be up for interesting things, whichever shift they were on. If I were a 2^nd, I would have had a 12 hour shift to cover and been “off” the rest of the day to sleep or whatever. So, I learned a lot and got to see and do a lot, especially since this was a more complicated job than the ones I will go on as a 2^nd from now on. Overall it was good, but it was definitely tough. I usually worked most of the day shift and about half of the night shift, made for long days. Anyway, not a big deal and after the first week, I was normally able to get 6 or 7 hours.

As for being a field engineer and therefore not having a life for 2 or 3 (and sometimes even 4 or 5) weeks on end, that took some adjusting to and I’m sure I will still have good and not as good days. The work is usually really good. I don’t mind the physical elements, as it is nice to not be in an office all day, and the more I learn and the more I can do the more interesting the job is. We will see. I am sure there will be those days and times where I look around and ask myself what the hell I am doing on an oil rig in the middle of the jungle.

The food on this rig was really good. I hope I am not gaining weight. I am watching the portion sizes and I’m certainly burning a lot of energy each day, so hopefully it will balance out, but when the only “good” part of a day are the meals, it is very tempting to indulge. I don’t mean to imply the rest of the day is bad, but it is all work. Every now and then I sit in the logging unit with my headphones on and watch a DVD on my laptop or chat on-line with someone (which, if any of you are on MSN messenger, let me know and I will add you to my contacts).

OK, that’s enough “soft” stuff, what have I been neglecting telling you guys lately… let’s see… Bugs. I have not seen any interesting wildlife in the Jungle, which is probably for the best, as I would crap if I ever saw a 10’ anaconda or something, but the bugs are incredible. There are so many different kinds and they are so BIG. Texas eat your heart out. I’ve seen a couple of moths that I swear were 9 or 10 inches across. I was going to take a pic of one with my hand next to it to show you that it was longer than my hand by a good 3 inches, but didn’t have my camera with me. I also saw the largest preying mantis I have ever seen. It was huge. Walking sticks, lots of grasshoppers and different size moths and beetles. I saw a rhinoceros beetle. That was cool. I definitely should have taken a pic of it. It was big, like 4 inches long and has a big horn that sticks out the front (thus the name).

You don’t see the bugs in the day time, but since I’ve been working both shifts, when I go up on the rig at night, they are attracted to the lights and they are all over the place.

I’ve made some friends here. The people I work with are great and we are a bit of a surrogate family for each other, but I’ve also met a guy from Victoria Texas, Jaime, who is really cool and a Colombian, German and Trini (Trinidadian) Jose, who both work for a competitor. It is a strange lifestyle most of them lead, being on oil rigs for 3 or 4 weeks at a time and then having 3 or 4 weeks off. I am glad that I have the luxury of other options and an end date. I can always choose to come back into the field side of things, but I don’t see any chance in hell of my deciding that. J But for now it is good and I’m hoping to be in the states for a technical school this fall from Oct. 10 to Dec. 9. That would be great.

Tabasco sauce. I have started to use large quantities of Tabasco sauce. I don’t even think it is spicy anymore (I owe a certain Scotsman an apology as I told him quite emphatically one time that he was crazy for saying that Tabasco sauce isn’t hot). Being on a rig with red beans (or some other kind of beans) and rice for every meal, and steamed veggies that are normally pretty bland, it is great to spice it up a bit.

Yeah, not much of interest to share. I’m sure I’ll have a few good stories and some good pics after I get back to Quito. My good friend and roommate Gunnar (Norweigan) will also be back at the same time, a treat, and so we are going to see what kind of trouble we can get into in Quito. He has been there quite a bit more than I have, even though he started only a month before, and has some good places for us to check out, including a good sushi place.

OK, well, there is more work to do before we can say we are finished “rigging down” and we are all getting tired, so, I will sign off here.

I hope you all are well. I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers!

Strike again?!?!?!?

2005-08-28T01:51:00.000-04:00

So the protestors are claiming the oil companies are backing down from the verbal agreement they had and are threatening to resume the attacks on pipelines and pumping stations on Monday if they don't get it worked out.

So, I am still at the rig. We have faced some unexpected challenges in the drilling of the well and so the job has taken longer than expected. If things go well (which they haven't to this point so we are either due for some good fortune or doomed to have a tough run for the whole well) we should finish in 3 or 4 more days. Of course, if the strike is back on by then, we would most likely have to hang around the rig site until it ends again. Hopefully things will go well with the ... well... and the strikes will not resume and I'll get to civilization early next week. If not, oh well, the food is good here, I'm learning alot and making friends along the way. I want to post my latest pics and take some more of the area here but I might not have time. Work has been tough lately with lots to do. If nothing else, I'll get them posted when I get to Quito.

Time for bed...

Ciao.

The Strike is over

2005-08-26T11:28:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to drop a quick note letting you all know the strike ended late last night.

An agreement was reached between the strikers and oil companies. Unfortunately it just reinforces the idea that violent protests are an effective way to get what you want... Something that seems to be a trend in modern society.

Anyway,work to do.

Chao.

Quick update

2005-08-25T15:13:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update.

It appears the strike is nearing an end. There have been negotiations on-going in Quito since monday and asside from a flare up of hostility on Monday evening, things have been fairly quiet and work has been progressing as normal. We have finally been re-supplied. We weren't out of anything important, but in a job where you have no life, no privacy, dirty communal bathrooms/showers, every little creature comfort (like small bottles of water) seem important. :P

The food is good but probably too plentiful and I have to be careful to really watch portion sizes, especially because a good meal or two are the high points of the day. The company man is from Louisianna, and I don't know for certain, but i suspect, that is why there are redbeans and rice available at every meal. I've been eating a lot of those and a lot of hot sauce.

Ok, well, I just wanted to let you all know that I've been doing ok with the strike and that it is almost over (hopefully).

Things have gotten very busy with work, so I might not be able to do a real post until after I'm done with this well, which will hopefully be in 5 or 6 days...

Ciao (or, as they say in Ecuador, Chao).

Out of the frying pan...

2005-08-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

... and into the: Jungle, Oil Rig, Political Unrest South America Style... well, at least there isn't any fire. :)

So I left Lago Agrio on Saturday, 1 week ago, to start my first field job on an oil rig in the Amazonian Jungle. I took a plane to a van to a boat, rode the boat for 3 hours down-river to the oil field (read: Dense Rainforest with roads and rig sites cut into it). Apparently, if we would have continued another 8 hours down river we would have hit Peru, and about 12 to 18 hours after that, the Amazon River, and if you take it to extremes, a couple days after that we'd have hit the Atlantic, and from there the world is at your finger tips... For my part, 3 hours in that boat, with my @$ and legs falling asleep, was more than enough.

My timing to leave Lago could not have been better.

On Sunday Morning, less than 24 hours after I arrived at the rig site, the people of Ecuador living in the region with oil (the Oriente, aka. Amazon Jungle, aka. my current location) went on strike against the government and oil companies operating in the country asking for more money to be invested in infrastructure and jobs. If you've seen my pictures of Lago Agrio, where I was working for the 2.5 weeks prior to coming to the well site, then you have a feel for what the cities in the region look like and are free to draw your own conclusions about the validity of their complaint. The strike was NOT a surprise as it had been publicly planned for a week and a half leading up to the start.

This happens regularly in Ecuador. The strikes I mean. And I think it occurs in a number of other Central and South American countries on a regular basis, but certainly in Ecuador. In fact, in news stories, they say "this is the worst strike to face (new) president Alfredo Palacio since he came to power in April..." Yes, that is right, THE WORST since APRIL, 2005... I infer from this statement that he has faced other, less serious protests since becoming president all of 4 months ago. You get the idea, this really isn't a new thing for Ecuador.

Now, the good news is that by virtue of being a 3 hour boat ride from the nearest city, I am completely isolated from all the excitement. Also, while a couple of the protestors have had minor injuries as a result of clashes with police and military units, none of the injuries have been serious and no oilfield personnel have been injurred. The aim of the protestors is to disrupt oil production to gain leverage in negotiating their demands. To do this, they go to an installation, say, "we are going to come in and we want you to all leave," and the companies leave peacefuly (or as often as not have already left). The protestors go in and stop production.

Certainly, some of the news reaching us here has been a bit worrisome. The protestors shut down the airports in the two biggest cities (Lago - where i was and took off from on my way here, and Coca - where I landed and got on the boat) for a few days, and blocked roads, took over pipeline pumping stations and stopped the pumps, and in two extreme cases, damaged pipelines causing minor oil spills and further limiting production.

I really am safe and fine. I had friends at the base in Lago when the protests started and they just went to the hotel and spent a couple days there to see if the strike would pass quickly, when it didn't, they went to Quito to wait things out and have a few days off (lucky bastards). The cities (Quito, Guyaquil, etc.) outside of the two states that make up this region have been unaffected. No one is all that concerned. They are just waiting to see if it will disrupt the work here. We did stop activity for about a day because we were waiting on some equipment that was delayed, but we are up and running now.

You may start to hear about the strike on the news due to the impact on oil exports of ecuador, most of which go to the US. Don't be alarmed by any of the stories, this really is old hat here. It is how they do politics in Ecuador. It was a strike that led their congress to remove the former president and install the current one (4 months ago).

I was a little nervous at first, but I talked with the other Americans and Canadians here (there are quite a few) who have been in Ecuador for years, and they all said it happens from time to time and is not a big deal. Most of the time I don't even remember it is happening since I am so far removed from it (mom - don't worry. I'm fine, I'm safe, and I'll be careful :)

So, now that I've shared my exposure to Politics - South American Style, i should tell you a bit about what life is like for me working on an oil rig in the jungle in Ecuador. I have some more pics to post of the flight, boat ride, and 1 or 2 of the rig here (I have to get approval to take pics, which they have been happy to give, but when the American in charge of the rig gives me permission and then I go out and take the pics and the security guards see me and start asking me if I have permission to take the pics and I have to explain that yes, I do, and they don't speak much english and i don't speak much spanish and well, it just isn't worth it and it isn't much to look at anyway).

The oil field is in the Jungle (I don't mean to repeat myself, but I really can't emphasize enough the extent to which I am "in the jungle"). There are a number of oil rigs and well sites spread over a fairly large area (measured in miles) with roads connecting them, and a couple of clusters of buildings and industrial plants - that look a lot like the chemical plants at Dow. I am working with 4 other SLB people providing technology associated with taking measurements of the rock properties and steer the drill as we drill the oil well. Of the other 4 SLB engineers, 2 are from Venezuela, 1 is from Ecuador, and 1 is from China. We have all been getting along very well and they have been really helpful, friendly, etc. in showing me things and teaching me about our tools and the work. We are here providing a "service" for the oil company - they pay us to provide our technology to them while they are drilling their well. There are a bunch of other service companies here (and other SLB people from other product lines unrelated to drilling). They have contractors to operate the machinery and provide the equipment to drill the well (except for the equipment we provide) they have a service company providing the "mud" that is pumped into the well during drilling to clear rock cuttings, lubricate the drill string, etc. We all report to the "Compan Man" who is the companies representative in charge of all the operations on the rig. The rig is big. Those of you from texas have seen oil rigs on land... A big tower (that looks a bit like the ones in the old pictures of oil finds in texas, with oil spraying up through the tower - that doesn't happen anymore, but you still need the tower :). So, the big tower, a steel deck at the base of the tower, and both the deck and tower start about 5 or 6 stories off the ground. All the equipment needed to lift pipe sections and pipe shaped tools and lower them into the well, and grab hold of them and turn them (to turn the drill bit) are on the rig.

Anyway, there are some portable buildings around the rig with office space and computers. We have one with or computers and stuff in it that we need to program, run, and monitor our tools during the drilling. Then, set away from the rig and office buildings are the living quarters. Again, mobile buildings with bunks (I'm in a room that can hold 5 people but there are only 4 of us) and not much else. Because I'm a trainee, and I got here a week after the other SLB folks, i'm in a room with some men from a different service company and our room isn't as nice as the one my co-workers are in. Their room has a TV, Satellite Dish, DVD player, minifridge, and bathroom with shower attached. The rooms like mine are supposed to use the community showers and restroom. I use my co-workers shower and watch TV in there with them sometimes, but mostly we are in the "logging unit" (our portable office... 8' x 12' or so) both when we are working and when we aren't because the chairs are comfortable and we have internet connection and watch DVDs in there (the TV in the room is up high and there is only one folding chair, otherwise you have to sit or lay on a bunk bed, and it is a small room).

There are also a couple portable buildings assembled together into a cafeteria. They serve meals from 5 to 7 (am/pm) and 11 to 1 (am/pm). So, 4 chances to eat each day and you just use the 3 that overlap your shift. We also have some snacks in the logging unit and a mini fridge for drinks for between meals if we get hungry (or choose to sleep a little longer instead of getting up for Breakfast).

We work 12 hour shifts. The reason there are 4 other engineers (I don't count as a trainee) is because they are broken into two teams of two. Two of the guys are responsible for the work related to steering the well and planning it's path, and two are responsible for the sensors and communications equipment we send in the well (to take measurements and communicate the data to surface). I am with the 2 guys responsible for the sensors and comunications equipment. We all share the same logging unit and much of the data we take we pass on to the 2 guys who are steering the drill string, but there is a division of responsibility. So, normally, each member of the 2 person team takes a 12 hour shift. As a trainee I have mostly been working days but plan to spend at least some time on nights.

The last few days we haven't had to do much because the company is between drilling runs. What that means is that you start drilling the oil well with a big diameter hole, say 12 or 13 inches and you drill down several hundred or a couple thousand feet. Then you stop, lower steel pipe into the hole and cement it into place so that the hole doesn't collapse. Then you drill a few thousand more feet a slightly smaller diameter hole (since you have to lower the equipment through the pipe in the original hole). Then you stop, run more pipe to support that section of the well, and repeat. Each "next" section of the well (going deeper and deeper) gets a little smaller in diameter. Well, we finished drilling one of the sections a couple days ago and now they are running the "casing" (the name of the pipe that they put in the hole to keep the sides from collapsing) and doing some other things to the well. If things go well, they should be ready for us to drill the next section (last) of the well in a day or two. This last section should only take a couple days to drill and then we'll pack up our equipment and head to Quito for a few days off.

The 12 hour shift, 7/day a week work/life takes a bit of getting used to, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought to myself more than once either "what am i doing here" or "I went to MIT for this" but those times are few and not that often. :) The technology is really interesting, and I love the non-traditional work (most of the time) i just miss the lifestyle that comes with working 10 hour days in Houston where you can do things in the evening, or have your own home, or a pillow that doesn't smell like dirty man (the pillow case is clean but nothing completely covers the tangy sweaty locker room odor). I really do like the guys and we've had fun these last few days while we haven't been busy. Watching movies, playing basketball, etc. I'm just still getting used to being a field engineer.

So, I hope you are all well. I will try to get the pics posted soon and I'll keep you posted on the strike here.

Cheers!

Change is in the wind...

2005-08-12T10:27:00.000-04:00

There is truly only one certainty in working for this company and that is that nothing is certain.

I just found out (yesterday afternoon) that I will be going on my first field job tomorrow (saturday) instead of on the 23rd.

I'm feeling significantly better today although my stomach is still really tender/sore/achy. I hope that it will pass before I leave tomorrow morning.

This field job is more complex than the other one on the 23rd. We are running more than the basic service and we will be drilling a horizontal well. Should be interesting.

The funny/fun part of this new assignment is that getting to the well should be an adventure. I fly from the little oil town i'm in now, Lago Agrio, to the other Oil Town we have a base in, Coca, which is only like a 15 minute flight to somewhere slightly deeper in the Amazon Jungle (Oriente). When I get to Coca, I get in a boat and take an 1.5 to 2 hour boat ride up the river to a truck that will then take me 30 minutes deeper into the jungle to the well site. I am sooo Indiana Jones... I'll take lots of pictures.

That's it for now. I'm trying to figure out if there is anything else I should do while at the base (in terms of working with the tools/asking questions etc.) but I'm also trying to take it easy today to improve my chances of being fully over this stomach bug by tomorrow.

Ciao!

19 days...

2005-08-11T16:00:00.000-04:00

19 Days. I only lasted 19 days in Ecuador before getting sick.

The good news is that: 1) it is not malaria (already did that test.. knew it wasn't since I haven't been bitten by a mosquito and have only seen maybe 2 since I got to this country) and 2) it isn't all that bad, just a "tummy ache."

Probably something I ate. The Dr. gave me some stuff to keep from getting dehydrated and preventative measures against Montezuma, but I probably will just need a day or to to get over whatever it is.

The bad news is that if I don't recover in a day or two, or if I start feeling worse, i will have to give a Stool Sample, and I don't care who you are, no one wants to have to go poo in a tuberware bowl...

Gross, I know, but i never promised to filter this blog. :)

I'm not feeling all that bad but I am taking it easy today (don't worry mom). No fever or anything.

in other news, I now have my schedule for the next month. I will be in Lago for one more week and then I return to Quito for the weekend, then I go on my first field job on Aug. 23 which will last aproximately 21 days.

That's all for now...

(something clever and eye catching)

2005-08-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

I have now been in Ecuador for just over 2 weeks. I still don’t speak Spanish, although I have picked up a number of words and phrases and I am understanding more and more of what I hear.

I don’t have a whole lot to add as this week has been fairly “routine.” I tried another restaurant here in Lago, but otherwise, it has pretty much just been work, hotel, work, hotel, etc.

I guess I could offer some observations of the culture, food, and such, and maybe tell you a bit about the work I am doing.

There are several cultural differences from the US that I really appreciate/like here in Ecuador. I believe that these are generally true throughout Latin America, but I’ll just speak for Ecuador. The people are genuinely warm and friendly, while that isn’t that different from the Midwest, what are different are the greetings. They are warm, enthusiastic; involve eye contact and a big smile and touching. Guy to Guy you always “warmly” shake hands. Guy to girl you normally touch cheek to cheek and make a kiss noise (not actually a kiss on the cheek, but something close to that). Girl to girl, hugs and a kiss on the cheek normally.

For those of you who know me best or have worked with me, you will probably nod to yourself when I say that Siestas are the best thing in the world. You take a 2 hour lunch and it is standard that you take a nap for 1 hour of that time. I find that I only take advantage of this once or twice a week (really, that is all the more I’ve been napping, I know in Lab at school and at work in Houston I used to nap every day, but when I am able to get 8 hours of sleep a night, I normally don’t need one). So, even though I generally stay here at lunch and email or add comments to my pics, or update this blog, having the option to go to the hotel and catch a nap and not have to feel like you are being judged for it is great. Although, I got over a fear of being “judged” for napping in my first month or two of working after undergrad, so it isn’t that big a problem for me in the states.

The food… Well, the food in Ecuador is actually quite good. It isn’t spicy at all, and it normally involves some kind of fruit juice (we have a different juice with each meal every day and I’ve tried probably 10 different juices and only can name orange, pineapple, coconut, and maybe mango?), a meat (beef, chicken, or fish – shrimp – clams) a steamed vegetable, and something fried. Always, something fried, unless there are multiple things fried. They fry a lot of food here in Ecuador, especially plantains and yucca (like a potato). But also pastries, cheese filled dough, corn husk wrapped cheese and bread of some kind… always something fried. With breakfast they also have a fresh cut fruit of some kind. Oh yeah, and a soup and rice. The soups are great. The meats with a sauce of some kind are normally pretty good but they are lazy about removing the meat from bones and also tend to use some of the cheaper portions of the animal, so you get some suspicious meat pieces.

I should clarify, this is the food I get at work each day and is pretty typical Ecaudor fare, however, there are restaurants both here in Lago, and a ton of them in Quito, that offer lots of choices for food. Here in Lago I’ve eaten at both a BBQ place (my favorite so far) and a seafood place (good, but the bones in the food thing is a bit of a problem… you have to be so careful eating fish of any kind here because it almost always has bones in it).

So, most days I’ll have a bowl of cereal and a couple pieces of fruit and OJ for breakfast. Good except that the milk isn’t cold, it is room temp. They use those boxes of milk that don’t have to be refrigerated until they are opened. The milk is really good, but I wish they would refrigerate it before hand just to make it cold. Lunch normally involves a bowl of soup, rice with meat and gravy on it (normally they offer a beef or pork or chicken and a fish of some kind), and steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, artichoke hearts, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, lots of different kinds of beans, or a salad of some kind). I try to avoid or minimize the fried stuff, but will normally try a little if it is something I haven’t had before just to get the full experience. It is amazing all the different ways they fry plantains. They look different but always taste the same, which is to say, not much taste at all. J Dinner is a lot like lunch but will normally have a better choice of meat, like slices of a beef roast or pork chop or something. Some days they do Lasagna, and Monday nights for dinner you get a choice of chili cheeseburger, sub sandwich, footlong hotdog, or, my favorite, a fajita/burrito thing.

As for the work I am doing, well, I am in the Drilling & Measurements group. I am a Field Engineer in Training. So, for the first three weeks I am here in Lago, at the base, working with the technicians to do maintenance and repairs on the tools and to test the functionality to get them ready to be sent to the well site. Uhm, yeah, I work for an Oilfield Services company, so they are tools that are used while drilling oil wells at a “well site.” The tools are freaking cool to anyone who likes mechanical equipment. Basically, when an oil company decides to drill and oil well, they set up a rig (either on land or in the water) with a big derrick (the steel tower that is like the ones you see in classic pictures of oil wells in texas with oil squirting out of the ground or whatever). You take a drill bit (big, knobby piece of metal for breaking up rock as it digs into the ground) and screw a piece of pipe into it and twist the pipe, thus twisting the bit, and lower it into the ground. The bit breaks up rock and as it goes deeper into the ground more and more pipes are attached to it, like stringing straws together. Now, while the drill bit is cutting a fluid is pumped down the middle of the pipe, out through the drill bit, and back up the annulus of the well to carry the rock chips and debris out of the hole (and do a number of other things).

Well, my company has a couple of highly sophisticated “tools” that look like sections of the drill pip but actually have sensors, motors, electronics, and all sorts of other things in them, that allow us to take measurements (things like measuring the fluid pressure in the well, the temperature, detecting the type of rock we are drilling through, identifying if we are finding fluids and if so, if they are gas, oil, water, etc.).

So, yeah, I am currently learning all about the “tools” at the base but will eventually travel with them to well sites where the oil company will attach them to the drill bit and lower them in the hole while they are drilling and I will monitor the measurements and provide information on the rock that they are drilling through while they are drilling. My company also provides the equipment necessary to steer a well, so that you can drill straight down for several thousand feet, have our sensors identify some rock with oil in it, and then steer the drill bit to turn and start drilling horizontally through the “formation” (piece of rock saturated with oil). All the equipment is really interesting to engineering nerds and the way that they steer the well, take measurements, etc. is all really cool.

Anyway, that’s a little bit of an overview of the work I’ll be doing. Oh, yeah, so I go to the well with the equipment, it normally takes about 3 weeks to do all the drilling at one location (I am there with one other engineer trading off on 12 hour shifts). At the end of the job, I will either head to the next well or back to Quito for some days off.

If you have questions/comments please add them or drop me an email.

I’ll try to have an adventure to share before I head to the well site in a week, but if I don’t, well, I’m sure I’ll have some good stories from the well site once I get there.

I was shown pics of a “little” 8 ft. long anaconda that they found at the base here a couple months ago. I’ll try to include them in my post. You’ll notice that they caught it and then everyone took turns holding it and getting their picture taken with it… yeah, right… sure… let me get right on that.

Hasta,
Nate

Lago, another day another adventure...

2005-08-02T12:12:00.000-04:00

I have now spent one week in Lago and so far it is quite the adventure. In the last week I've been to a well site for a day, worked with equipment at the base, completed several hours of computer based training, been out to eat at an Ecuadorian BBQ place (that was Fantastic!), ridden a ferry that was a bit "sketchy," spent some time on a rocky beach by the big river that flows through town (a tributary for the Amazon River), partied with co-workers in the hotel bar, partied with co-workers at the river walk - group of open air bars on the river, danced with some pretty girls, got a number, but, well, she doesn't speak english and I still don't have much spanish to work with, so I don't see much future in that one (although i've been assured that it isn't necessarily a problem... we'll see)... Oh yeah, and saw more dogs, chickens, donkeys, horses, cows, and even a couple of little monkeys (looked like what I think a squirrel monkey looks like).

Not a bad week. :)

The Two highlights have to be the trip to the well site and the sunday afternoon/evening on the river walk.

To get to the well site, my friend Edison (Ecuadorian who is training me on surface systems this week) and I took a taxi (4x4 toyota, 4-door pickup, with roll-bar and big tires) 1.5 hours into the jungle. Most of the way we were on a paved road that follows one of the majore pipelines here but for about 30 minutes of it we were barrelling along a gravel road with big pot-holes and occasional, sudden, speed mountains... The best parts of the trip were the ferry ride and the sites... between the animals and the houses along the road and jungle, it felt like a great adventure. The houses here tend to be built on stilts... My understanding is that this has more to do with getting up off the ground where it isn't quite as humid and you are more likely to catch a breeze than anything else, but whatever the reason, all the houses sit on stilts. the well site, well, it was interesting in terms of my job, but otherwise was not much to look at. The living quarters were actually really nice. The bring in portable trailers that are split in half. Half for a 4 person bunk room and a shower, and half for a rec room with a table, tv, microwave, dvd player, etc. and a 2nd bathroom. Really not bad at all. Otherwise, the rig is one of the older ones we work with (they tell me) and not much to look at.

So, about half of the people working at this base are not "local" or are from Ecuador, but not treated as "living in Lago" and so live in the hotel. Those of us living in the hotel work 7 days a week but on the weekend things are normally pretty quiet since the other half of folks aren't around. This past sunday, my manager took me to the river. First we went to a beach area that was rocky where families were playing in the water, lounging in the shade, washing their trucks in the river, and just spending a nice afternoon on the "beach." We didn't stay there long, it was mostly a tourist stop for me, then we headed to the riverwalk, a string of open air bars. This was great fun. We ended up with about 8 of the guys from work all at the bar and had drinks and danced with girls from about 4pm to 8pm (had to be back at the hotel before 9). The beer was good, cold and Cheap! For a "tall-boy" of the local brew, which is actually quite good, it is $1. Not bad at all. I think it is more like a 20 oz. than a 16 oz. like a true tall boy, but in spanish and metric units, who can tell. :)

Anyway, it was a good time. Got a girls name and number but, like i said before, she doesn't speak english, so not sure exactly how we are supposed to communicate on the phone anyway, but the sport of getting the number is half the fun anyway.

Otherwise I've been hanging out with some of the guys... 1 from Scotland, 1 from Canada, and 1 from the Ivory Coast in Africa, who are all managers here, in the hotel bar most nights. throwing darts or, on the nights we imbibe and have a good crowd there, singing Karaoke.

Well, gotta get back to work. I've posted pics from the first week, if you didn't get the link and would like it, drop me an email or leave a comment and I'll send it to you.

Hasta!

Lago Agrio (Our Base)

2005-07-27T18:37:00.000-04:00

First a big thank you to those of you who have emailed me here in Ecuador. I appreciate it immensely.

I'm finally at the location of our base for work (Amazon jungle, or as the locals call it, Oriente) in Lago Agrio (Lago) which is good because it means I finally get to work with the equipment and tools. Up to this point it has been mostly administrative stuff. I will be working in the base for 3 weeks learning the tools and then I will head to a well site for a job for aproximately 3 more weeks... that's right all you 4o, 50, 60 hour a week workers who think the week is too long... boo hoo... 12 hour days for 6 straight weeks before I get to even think about a day off... :) Even then, most people go into the office in Quito on those days because not knowing the language, what are we going to do anyway.

The people have all been a great help and very friendly. The language continues to be an issue but it is all part of the experience. Lago is quite different from Quito. The Town is an Oil Town, and as the Lonely Planet Travel guide says, Lago Agrio is an Oil Town, and an Oil town is an oil town is an oil town… seedy bars, prostitutes, industrial sites and oil pipelines everywhere… J

All that is true, but Life is good here in Lago, actually. We work about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but that includes 3 provided meals that, judging by the 1 I have had so far, are quite good. The hotel is really nice and I have my own room with cable and maybe even one or two channels in english (movie channels in english with subtitles in Spanish – I’m not wasting time watching movies, I’m studying the language). There is a pool, small gym, bar that is rented by Schlumberger where we can just get beers out of a fridge and play pool and stuff all we want, and a restaurant. We are well cared for. Of course, that has something to do with the fact that it isn't safe to go out on our own and we have to be in the Hotel by 9pm... :)

Anyway, things are good. There have been a couple lonely moments because even though most people in Schlumberger speak at least some english, they only do so when they are talking directly to you, so there are times when I'm just standing on the sidelines in a conversation... Not a big deal, and I am going to be working all the time, so won't have time to wish I had some americans, brits, or Aussie's to hang out with. :)

Lago is definitely a 3^rd world town. There are aprox. 30,000 inhabitants and most live a poor life. The hotel is definitely the nicest things I’ve seen so far, although I hear there is a riverwalk with some decent bars and restaurants that the guys here (since we all live in the hotel) go to on Sunday Afternoons normally.

It is hot, but not as hot as Houston, and it did rain a lot today. Pretty much things are just always damp. Luckily most of the areas I’m in are air conditioned, unless I’m in one of the bays working on tools (picture a do it yourself car wash for semis, only there are tools and overhead cranes and stuff… but a room with a roof that is missing a wall).

I have been taking pictures and I hope to get some posted in the next few days. For now, I only have internet access while in the office and I don’t want to make the wrong impression on my first day or two by always being on-line instead of doing the training modules I’m supposed to work on while in the office.

OK, that’s enough on Lago… Oh yeah, it is funny that I put all this about lago as next week we are moving the base to Coca. Hopefully the hotel is as nice, I hear the town is similar but safer because we are a couple hours from the Columbian border there.

Hasta!

Arrival in Quito

2005-07-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

My flight from Houston to Quito was delayed by 7.5 hours... DOH! It actually worked out really well though because i left the airport and caught a cab to a friends house were a bunch of my friends in Houston were having a dinner party/get together. A word of advice to the wayword traveller, if your flight should ever depart at a late hour (I know that is vague, but it was never made clear to me what the cutoff time was) get there early, for an international flight, 2 hours... See, my flight was delayed from a 5:50pm departure to a 1:30am departure. My bags were checked through, I had a boarding pass, and they just sayed to get back to the gate area by 12:30. Well, ok, I figured if I got to the airport at 12:15, it surely wouldn't take much time to get through security at that time of night when there were no other flights... well, i was partially right. There was no one in line at the security point but the 3 federal employee security screeners said that I couldn't go through because they didn't have a ticket checker, so i would have to go to Terminal C (I was departing from terminal E) and go through there.... in terminal C they said I couldn't go through without an escort from the airline, so I had to go to Lost Baggage and get an escort... Of course there were about 15 people in line to report lost luggage because airlines still can't get that right, but luckily after noisily protesting one of the two women agreed that my need to get to a departing plane was slightly more immediate than the poor folks reporting lost luggage and so she helped me while the other woman continued to be snide. She had to look me up in the computer, print something out, and walk me up to Security and tell them that I could go through... In hind sight, i think that the ladies that check your boarding pass and photo ID before entering the screening area are airline employees and the folks by the x-ray machine just look for dangerous stuff, and so don't decide who is supposed to go through and not, but my hour and 15 minutes early eventually got me through security with about 40 minutes till departure and boarding was well underway when I got on the plane. Anyway, enough about that, after all, I'm in ECUADOR now!

Quito is cool. I'm still not sure how touristy it is going to prove to be but I think it will be a very good place for me to live when I'm not working at the base or well site. The city sits in a high mountain valley at 10,000 ft. above sea level. The downside is that altitude sickness means it normally takes a couple days to adjust (normally fatigue and a minor headache are the worst of the symptoms) but the benefits of being on the Ecuator (Quito is the only capitol, and only major city, in the world on the Ecuator) and at a high altitude is that the weather is Wonderful! Every day, all year round, the Hi is in the 70's and the low is in the 50's. For about a month each year there is a rainy season that causes an afternoon shower, but otherwise, it is really comfortable. I don't think a single building has either heating or air conditioning.

Quito also offers access to many (if not all) western goods and comforts. I definitely need to learn some spanish in a hurry to be able to get around on my own, but I can walk to a big mall and a MegaMaxi which is their version of a Super Walmart, so I won't go without things, i just won't be able to easily do touristy stuff in other parts of the city. The people are nice and by all acounts the city is safe with the biggest risk being that there are some parts of the city where if you are walking alone at night there is a risk of a petty robbery, but these are never violent. I've been impressed with how friendly, welcoming, and honest the people are... an example, there was a Hugely important soccer game in Quito today, an Ecuador Wide tournament final game, and the Quito team won. There was a street festival about three blocks from my apartment with a sound stage, dancing, vendors, and lots of happy soccer fans. While I was standing in the crowd with my manager and a coworker (both nice guys that have been showing me around and taking me out these first 36 hours) a woman asked us if a bilfold that was on the ground was ours... we said no and she walked around searching for the owner and eventually found her a few feet from us. And, the woman was an Indian (andes indian). I'm not trying to be racist, but ecuador definitely has a social class structure that does not favor the indians. They dress in a traditional garb and are typically the people selling post cards, souvenirs, flowers, etc. on the road and are looked at by Ecuadorians in a sort of similar way that Italians view the Gypsies... Obviously the Ecuadorians need to think better of the Indians... anyway, the point is that I have not felt that I was in danger at any time. I do make a concious effort not to walk alone after dark (which isn't easy not knowing how to say or read my own address and having it get dark around 6 or 6:30 here.

Anyway, this is getting a bit long winded. The advantage of the delayed flight was that I landed in Quito as the sun was rising affording a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes. Two of the like 19 volcanoes in the region are tall enough to be snow capped and visible from the city. There are others visible but not as distinct without the snow cap.

Tomorrow is my first official report to the local office day but I was there this afternoon checking emial (before i found an unsecured wireless network within range of my apartment, OH YEAH!).

Tuesday I fly to Lago Agrio, the location of our Base where I will be working and living in a hotel for the next 3 weeks working in the shop maintaining the tools and going through technical training before going to the wellsite sometime in mid to late August (I think, I'll know more tomorrow).

One last note, I went to a club with my manager and one of my roommates last night... South Americans are as bad as the French when it comes to partying until all hours of the morning (I've also known a couple Aussie and Dutch who had similar tendencies). We got to the club around 10:30 or 11 and didn't get home until 4:30am. If I knew the language well enough to get myself home it wouldn't be a big deal, but being at the mercy of friends here makes for some late nights. The women are gorgeous, by the way, although not all of them. I see many more over-weight people and not so attractive people than I expected. That is a good thing in so far as it would be tough to be in a place where EVERYONE was dropped dead beautiful (which is the rumor about Bogota, though I don't plan to ever set foot in Columbia).

Ok, that's about it for now. I'll update again in a few days after getting to Lago Agrio and see what it is like. As it turns out, we are in the process of moving the base from Lago to Coca (I think that is what it's called) and should be working out of there by the end of August. Not having seen either location, I am in favor of the move if for no other reason that Coca is more central (farther from the Columbian border) but as they are both in the oriente (Amazon basin, rainforest) the towns won't be as western comfortable and the precautions necessary for insect borne disease will be the same.

Ciao,
Nate

hi ho, hi ho....

2005-07-18T22:56:00.000-04:00

After a wonderful 6 months of travel i have finally returned to work. I spent last week in training in Houston, this week I am in training in Tulsa, OK. Friday, i fly to Quito!

I have learned that i will be living in Quito and then flying to Lago Agrio in the Amazon Jungle to work jubs. The typical job will last between 1 and 3 weeks. Lago Agrio is only a 30 minute flight from Quito so it is convenient to commute. I'm so excited! Quito is supposed to be a really good city. The jungle will be an adventure but I think it will be ok. I'll soon find out. :)

I have been innoculated with every vaccination known to man... Hepatitus A&B, Tetinus/Diptherea, Yellow Fever, Typhoid Fever and I will be taking Malaria medication and altitude sickness meds in Ecuador... Like I said, it should be an adventure. :)

Ok, well, that is about all for now. I will have lots to post once I get to Ecuador. Wish me luck!

The Latest...

2005-06-28T19:41:00.000-04:00

I've been keeping very busy preparing for my move to Ecuador. I've started to be poked and prodded like a lab rat. The good news is that I do not have HIV and I am becoming immune to all sorts of nasty things that one can run into in the jungles of South America.

The big news of the day is that I have finally received my itinerary from SLB. I head to Houston on July 3rd to spend a week with friends and take care of some last minute visa issues (like going to the Ecuador Consulate and getting the visa). I start work in Houston on July 12th. I will spend 4 days in training in Houston (the same training I had 3 years ago when i went to work for them the first time... oh yeah, i'm excited ). On Saturday July 16 I head to Tulsa, Ok to learn how to drive. This should be fun. I'll be trained on driving big crane trucks and cable trucks and also get to take a few spins on the skid pad where they have you drive a modified car and on different runs lock up the rear tires, front tires, and all the tires to demonstrate which result in a loss of control. Anyway, a week in Oklahoma and then on Friday, July 16 I fly to Quito, Ecuador. Very exciting. I find it a little strange that I arrive in Ecuador on Friday night at 11pm, but hey, whatever.

You'll notice I am also slowly figuring out how to make changes to my blog (all those years of avoiding learning HTML are finally coming back to haunt me). Of particular interest, i have added links to the blogs of two of my friends, Spencer - who is spending the next year in Achen, Germany, and Kathie - who, along with Eric, is spending the rest of the summer in Africa.

Here's a sales pitch - to those of my friends who are currently elsewhere in Africa, Germany, China, Australia, Russia, etc., if ya'll would start keeping a blog, I'd love to link to it and hear what is going on in your part of the world.

OK, that's an awful lot for not having anything to say. I hope everyone is doing well.

Hasta!

Hola!

2005-06-19T21:13:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! As most of you know I have just finished 5 months of travel that took me all over Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, and Cambodia. I will post links to my pics that are viewable at ofoto on this blog soon.

At the moment I am in Lawrenceburg preparing to start work again. I will be working for Schlumberger, an oilfield services company. They are sending me to Ecuador for the next year and a half where I will either be working at well sites in the jungle or on an oil rig.

I will be adding updates to this blog to keep family and friends updated on my experiences in Ecuador.