Saturday 

This morning we had a quick breakfast with Commandante Sierra and the rest of the gang as we went over this year’s “game plan”.  We’ll have a couple of assistants in each class this year, which should make things a little easier in terms of coordination. 

After breakfast, we made our way out to the local mall for some quick shopping. The fun event was that we had a choice.  We could take the bus, take a cab, or walk.  Per David, “it’s not that far, only 6 blocks”.  None of us remembered it being that close…but if they “say it’s that close”…why not walk?  About 8 hours and 23 minutes later….we arrived at the mall.  Okay…it wasn’t that far…but it wasn’t 6 blocks either!  Yes…we took the taxi back into town.

Around 1400 (2pm), we left for a little city called Robles to help them dedicate a new fire engine.  Of course….we didn’t really leave at 1400 as it was more like 1500 as nothing really starts on time.  The 30 minute trip lasted around 3 hours.  Unfortunately, the fire engine that we were riding on, the M-4, developed some mechanical difficulties.  As we left town, the engine was smoking so bad and with so much black smoke…that many honestly thought it was on fire!  Alas, it was only some engine difficulty that it has yet to recover from and is still out of service.  But the thick, nasty, pressurized black smoke was certainly impressive to watch!!  So we sat along the side of the road, in the pouring (literally) rain, waiting for the replacement engine to come pick us up.  Yes…we were all “soaked to the bone” and remained that way until we returned home.

We arrived in Robles, having traveled through a couple of other little towns and were promptly met by a throng of excited citizens.   They had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new engine, M-11.  M-11 received a nice dedication ceremony and was promptly put into service.

After making our way back to Jamundi, we met up briefly with the bombers from Bolivia.  They had a long plane ride and it was great to see them. 

Well here we are for another round of fun in Colombia!  Actually…things have started off rather well with the gang all leaving Seattle together…and actually on time.  This year’s volunteers include the following:

Hannah Dummer – CPR/First Aid for the public.  This year, OESP is going out to all the local schools…which is a phenomenal idea!  I think this is Hannah’s 3^rd with us in Colombia.

Gervase Henson – Mini-Fire Academy.  This is Gervas’ first year with OESP and we’re glad he’s here.  The Mini-Academy is basically 40 hours of all the basic fire skills.  They’ll cover everything from hose, to ladders, the S&R, to whatever happens to pop up in class.

Bill Klein – EMS Trauma.  The focus this year for EMS is mainly trauma related from the normal stuff they see to MCI’s.  So less medical this year, and more “hand on” trauma traininig.  Bill is a 4 year vet of the program…and keeps coming back!

Dominic McGuire – Mini- Fire Academy.  Dominic is from London and will be working with Gervas on the basic firefighter fundamentals.  This is Dominic’s first year with OESP, but he is no stranger to Colombia having traveled her several years prior.

Rick Norwood – EMS Trauma.  Rick and Bill Klein will team up again in the land of EMS.  I keep hoping each year that Rick will just go away and he keeps coming back!  Okay, actually he’s become a staple of the EMS training program here and I’m certainly glad to have him here.

Angelica Escobar – CPR/First Aid for the public.  Angelica is returning for year two of this class, having “pioneered” the program with Karen last year.  This year will be exciting to see what happens as they take the class “on the road”! 

David Solano – Rescue.  This year’s class will cover the basics of confined space rescue, a little rope rescue, trench rescue, and some auto extrication.  Over the past 3 years, David has proven to be a huge asset to the OESP mission in Colombia and help to orchestrate most of 2008.

Me – Officer Academy. This year well focus more on just tactics, building construction, and a ton of safety.  Part of our challenge is getting the officers engaged a bit more with their crews on a daily and incident basis. 

We were met at the airport by the “usual gang” and made our way back to Jamundi.  Actually, Dominic had flown in a day earlier and also met us at the airport.  Since we had never met before, he was actually fairly easy to spot as he was the only “skinny white dude wearing a ‘football’ jersey”!  He arrived a day earlier and went to the dentist.  Apparently one of the office assistant’s husband is a local bombero.  She contacted him, word got around, and Dominic was met at the office by a couple of Jamundi bomberos, much to his surprise!

Once we arrived at the “estacion” in Jamundi, there was a great band playing with a few of them on stilts!  What a sight to see.  Of course, there were a lot of bomberos and fireworks, too.  It was great for all of us to meet up with our friends again.  The big surprise was the “hotel accommodations”.  This year, instead of our normal hotel in the town square, we’re staying at the local church….in the town square.  The church is approximately 200 years old, as well as the living quarters.  There is a lot of “character” in the building…as well as being quite beautiful.

Tomorrow we’ll head into the full first day in Jamundi.