Dear Family,
I had planned on hiking into find the site for the repeater for our Internet on Wednesday. On Tuesday we went to Francia to get some things we needed for the repeater, and got back about 2 PM. An American called us on the radio from Waspam, frantic to get out of Nicaragua. He had just returned from a few days down the river working in small communities, and upon his return to Waspam he found his mother in America had died. Due to the strike, all the buses and planes were shut down in Port, and the only plane to Waspam was full. I flew him and his wife to Managua Wednesday. About 1/2 the flight was IFR, but smooth. Fortunately we didn't hit any large storms, but there was heavy rain below us. Unfortunately, I was just in Managua about 1 1/2 weeks ago, so didn't need so many things. It would have been very sad to come back with an empty plane, so I took advantage of the trip and purchased 2 batteries. I was very fortunate to find a couple new deep cycle 6 volt batteries. They are less amp hours than I currently have with my three 12 volt batteries, but will be better. I will put them in the house, and then use the 12 volt batteries for radio's. One will go to Kukalia, the new runway I am working on getting going, and likely I will use one in Waspam for the radio there. Our house batteries are about 2 years old, also deep cycle. They are still in good shape. Eventually I will try to get two more 6 volt batteries for our house for a total of 4.
I also bought bike parts, some nails, and misc items, so I had about 400 lbs of stuff. Not a full load, but close. I flew back this morning, a beautiful day, couldn't have been prettier. It was clear blue above the clouds, smooth air. The volcano nearby (Masia) was pouring out steam, and the plane flew comfortably at 11,500 feet, where it was a chilly 45 degrees!
The day was so nice, that I made an appointment to meet the hospital people in Waspam and transport a nurse and some medicines to San Carlos. This is the first time I have been there since returning, and I need to go check their runway and inform them that the inspector will be there in 3 or 4 weeks. After unloading in Tronquera and eating breakfast, I landed in Waspam at 11 AM. A wall of rain was coming, but from the back, so I quickly loaded and took off, heading away from it. This time of year, storms go through fast, so I knew it would be gone before I returned. San Carlos was very muddy, covered the plane to the top of the tail in mud. It put 3 little nicks in my prop too. They promised tomorrow they had several communities all together coming to haul rock and fix the drainage ditches to fix it up. I told them they had to fix it before I would fly out emergencies. Then I flew another 15 minutes to Raiti, and looked it over from the air. As I have mentioned before, that is the most remote place in Nicaragua I have seen. They are actively working on their runway. It looks about 1/2 done. That surprised me since the rains are still going, I guess they are anxious to get it finished.
The trip home was IFR for about 1/2 hour through medium rain, I used my GPS approach I made and came out at 1,000 feet.
Tomorrow if it isn't too rainy, we plan to hike the 4 miles and choose the site for a tower for our Internet repeater.
Clint
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