OK, I am determined to take it easy for the next two weeks and "healing all wounds", stay off the ATV's, might even drink a few Cervezas while contemplating the future.......Will catch the Delta flight back to Atlanta on August 05 !!! If anything exciting happens in Annapoima this time, I will be sure to let you know!!

OK, Lets get up-to-date!! Maybe this picture of me, is not the "best", but guess what? It is current as of two weeks ago! I am quickly recovering from a mishap suffered due to in-experience on a 4X4 ATV in the Colombian mountains! But survival is the "operative phrase", and yes that is insured at this point! I have been doing some re-hab back in Bogota, and think that I will be back to 100% in a few more weeeks. For those interested in the details, I'll be brief-I was returning from some excitement in the mountain terrain and river crossing riding the ATV late afternoon [three weeks ago, June 22nd] outside of Annapoima, Colombia. Although I was on flat terrain, it was an old gravel road, that was unerdgoing some repair, due to low light conditions, I failed to see some makeshift 5 Gallon paint cans that were used to warn one that the road was torn up and "dug out". You can probably picture the rest, see me "launched" from the point of impact to a rough landing in the construction area!

Annapoima has no emergency services, so Annapoima's Mayor with his pickup truck was the only vehicle with enough "size" to load my A__ in to get me off the street! With only a "First Aid Station" in Annapoima, I was transported to another small town nearby that reportedly had X-Ray equipment! Arriving there, it was determined that the images were not clear, and that probably the next decision too be made is how to best get back to Bogota? It was by now, about 10:00 pm and we made a call to Bogota to send us an ambulance. The trip from Bogota would take approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours, because of the 2 lane mountaineous roads! So, I finally made it to the emergency room in a privte Bogota hospital at 3:00 AM. After that, everything normalized and I will be back in shape soon.

During this period, I have done some arthimetic and verified that 2008 minus 1936, equals 72 years of age, probably too old to really get too interested in ATV'ing as a serious past-time! We are now scheduled to return to Atlanta on August 05.

These pictures represent the last you will ever see of "Yours Truly" on a 4 X4 ATV! I have decided that cross-country ATV'ing is not in my DNA and I have lost alot of my prior expertise on rough terrain manuveuring since my U.S.Marine Corps time on Mount Fugi! Afterall, somethings are bound to leave you after 52 years!

To make an extremely long story [and night] short, I will summarize the details. Let me give you the bottom line, I am alive[?] a survivor. I "flipped over" in an uncanny manner and suffered 4 broken ribs on left backside, a broken bone between shoulder socket and where it connects to neck bone structure. A few stiches in the scalp and a considerable bruising from left shoulder to below hip area!

This happened outside of Annapoima where Fernando has city/country property that you have seen before. I can't recall how many employees of the Annapoima City Rescue Squad it took to load me into the "rescue" vehicle [Mayor's personal pick-up truck], but I was told, that some of them had not prior oppportunity to deal "hands-on" with a Gringo of my proportions!

The emergency facilities in Annapoima were not ready to cope with my challenges. On a positive side, It was good this happened and this situation identified, as Nada and I have been visiting Annapoima for the last 15 years!

I was then moved to a town called La Mesa. It is about 15 K's closer to Bogota. It was the intent to take x-rays of the damage and then decide the next course of action. Unfortunately, the x-ray machine had seen it's better days and produced images that could not be analyzed.

Ok, it's still not too late to go to Bogota! About 65 K's on very mountaineous highway. First thing....call Bogota for an Ambulance! They responded and arrived in LaMesa 11:30 PM. Back to Bogota and the Emergency Room at hospital at 02:00AM. Things went well from this point forward.

My prior visit the week before, for some blood pressure issues, put me in a good relationship with some of the same staff. Not the Americiano Gringo again? Although different Doctors, I had already set a precedent for my health care expectations from the earlier visit. You may have seen my heart Cardio Doctors brother on TV recently, if you have been watching the sucessful freeing of the hostages by the Colombian government from the insurgent FARC. Colombian Defense Minister Santos is the brother of my Cardio Doctor. In addition, I have Fernando's business partner Jorge to thank for introducing me to his B-in-Law Dr Santos.

This hostage recovery story has kept all in this country pre-occupied and justifies the fact that they have and continue to support their democratic form of government and fight the elements that support the drug trade, despite what our Congressional leaders have to say about these issues. I don't support George Bush on too many things these days, but he is absolutely right on the mark, relative to the FTA outstanding and yet to be acted upon, and the fact that Colombia is argueably the only "friend" that the USA can count on in the Southern Hemisphere!~

It has been a while since last posting, many events to report, so will get started. Fortunately, not many pictures, and those that were taken, I do not want to post, so that such events become a "historical fact".

Just to get back in the groove on how this site works, I pulled up the above picture. I thought it was good for the following reasons:

1] This is a "Internet Shop" in Annaipoima next to Fernando's "resort" in Annaipoima.
2] Kids on a Saturday morning playing video games!
3] The TV's were ordinary 19 inch older models, hooked up to a couple computers.
4] Can you imagine our US kids this age playing on this type equipment?