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Of we go back home to Houston. My year rotation through Brazil has concluded. A rotation indeed it was. I started in the middle of the country with training in Rio de Janeiro, then I went for my initial petroleum engineering training in Macae, a coastal city 3 hours north of Rio. It was a great time. This base is one of the most high tech bases in the world, running many different services and with a group of teammates that just made it a great atmosphere to learn.

After spending a month there, I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma for my three month petroleum engineering school. This lasted for 3 months and was an intensive, practical masters in petroleum logging services (segment of the oilfield services that pinpoints what depth the oil is, how much is there, and a plethora of services more). After this time I had my first 10 days of and I went with my girlfriend to beautiful Playa del Carmen, Mexico (as you can see in the previous posts).

Short but sweet vacation it was back to Macae. Two intensive weeks full of helicopter escape training, firefighting training, first aid, and offshore escape techniques. Then it was off to the northern part of Brazil to a town named Mossoro. It was situated in between the beautiful Natal and Fortaleza. What can I say, the time spent there was incredible. The teammates there just made that whole experience a blast. I did my breakout after 28 days. This is the process of being able to do the jobs by yourself. I got to play guitar and make music with some other brazilians and French friends. I learned how to kitesurf and play bossanova in guitar. I played guitar and sang live in the most amazing bossanova venue in town. Played volleyball, tennis, soccer, and had a blast everyday over there. We had a great lady friend that helped us with cooking, cleaning, and laundry, since jobs kept us so busy that we would of been smelling all day if it weren’t for her. My experience with the field operations would of never been the same if it weren’t for the people that helped me and guided me all along. To one of the best bosses I have had, great friend, mentor and tennis partner. To my tutor for guiding me and setting strict actions for me. To my field “dad” who showed me around Brazil, corrected my Portuguese, took me to Carnatal, and answered the phone to my 300 questions. I thank you all.

The 24th of December I spent on a rig, but with such a cool group of operators it was like having a family over there with me. New Years was a whole different story. Last minute, how it is in the field, I managed all the logistics with help of other engineers and my boss, to take a couple of days off and meet all my great family in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. You can picture yourself there after seeing the video of the past post.

A quick two months and then I was transfered to another location, Catu. With mixed feelings of this location and leaving a great team behind I packed my stuff and headed down there. It was a total change. Catu was a small town in the middle of nowhere. Just so you get the picture, the gym where I worked out had cows passing along my side while I was doing my sets. I ran through mountains full of cattle, scared from the couple of times they came and attacked me. It was a good time too. I bought my food every Saturday morning in a nice little farmers market, the world’s best cashews were available there. Luckily, my transfer to Catu came just in time with the Carnaval in Salvador. The worlds best caranaval. After a three day job in the wellsite, me and my roommate Paolo, crammed in a car with two of our great operator friends and made it just in time to the last day of this legendary brazilian event. What a great time. We started of in the middle of the streets packed with millions of people. The most famous bands of Brazil hop on a huge truck covered with speakers and do a loop across a barricaded street where all the spectators dance.

Brazil was a very fullfilling experience for me. I was able to learn a new language, create great friendships and broaden my technical, sales, and customer service skills tremendously. After a year and a couple of months in Brazil I was sentback to the United States. I relocated to Victoria, a south Texas town close to the gulf of Mexico. This move came great to me since I was missing my family and girlfriend from being so far away in Brazil. On the more technical side the Schlumberger base in Victoria is very high tech running the latest and greatest tools and equipment in Wireline oilfield services. It was an intense six months of learning and running every tool imaginable on a 10 day on 5 day off rotation. This base serviced a great part of south Texas, as well as the platforms and barges in the gulf of Mexico.

I have to tell you that this was one of the most outstanding experiences of my life. As I look back on it I still get sad that I can’t share what I used to share with all the wonderful people that I partaked in this journey. It truly filled me spiritually, mentally, and physically. I was able tog et into the best shape of my life since I was so disciplined. I learned how to relax when faced to stress. I demanded out of my mind and body what I never thought I could. And I had an incredible journey.

Lastly I want to thank you all, family and friends for lifting me up when I was down, for sending me notes of joy and excitement, for reading my posts and commenting on them. You all made this journey so more joyous and in times like those you really give thanks to God for the family, friends, and experiences he has given you.

 

Action packed vacation.

After some long couple of months of nonstop work I had the pleasure of embarking in a two week vacation. I left Salvador, Brazil and arrived to Miami.

I spent three awesome days with my best friend Gustavo out in the Miami shores. He has a decked out place in Brickell Key that is like living in a private resort. I also had the chance to go up to Weston and meetup with one of my mentors Gregg Avedon for a quick workout and goal revision.

After these three days I met up with my mom and sister in Sarasota, FL. What a great place. We had a couple of wonderful nights, dinners, and chats. Then my girlfriend Victoria flew in Sarasota. We went to the beach, relaxed, ate at a couple of restaurants in Downtown Sarasota including the Drunken Poet Sushi Cafe.

On a last minute decision the four of us decided to head on to Miami and spend the rest of the week down by Coconut Grove. What a plan. We went to eat at the world renowned Joe’s Stone Crab House. I never thought that I could ever get filled up on some crabs, wow was I for a mindchange. The next day we spent the day around South Beach and then hit the CocoWalk at night.

Saturday came and Victoria and I had a cruise leaving that day. We took a Celebrity to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and the Grand Cayman Island. It was incredible. We did all sorts of activities ranging from canopy zip lines, water volleyball, bingo, casino (coming out victorious!), fly fishing, ping pong, glamorous dinners, dancing, going up waterfalls, and so many others.

At the end of the cruise we got in early morning and went to see the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. We got to see Roger Federer, James Blake, Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrer. It was great.

Then it was to Houston to visit my family. Family is the most amazing thing in the world. The days I spent with my mom and sister in Florida both in Sarasota and Miami were incredible. We laughed nonstop, shared the things that were on our minds, had amazing lunches, incredible dinners and got to experience things in Florida that we never did before. In Houston, being able to talk with my dad, chill with my brother and chat with Grandma just make me realize that family and friends are needs and priorities in my life. They fuel my days.

Lets see if you can guess who those two tennis players are…

Then thats me and my new dog fishing partner Rusty who met up with me and Victoria in the Grand Cayman…Is that nice or what…

And in the last pic the eel that almost took Torie’s foot off in one bite…

The new pad and an unexpected visitor…

As I wrote in my last post, I was transfered to Catu. It is a town forty five minutes away from Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Surrounded by valleys, one soccer field, a couple of farms, one nice restauraunts and 10 different bases of oilfield companies.

I arrived to a nice smaller sized house than the one I was before in Mossoro. It has been pretty hectic with lots of jobs that are very different from the ones I was doing in the Northern part of Brazil. These jobs have deeper wells up to 3000 meters (around 10,000ft). As well, I have been doing more of the production type jobs that acquire data of the wells that are producing oil already instead of exploring new reservoirs.

Free time has been scarce but when I do get some time in I have been running around the countryside. Just the other day I found myself jogging inside a farm and out of nowhere a group of cows and bulls appear to my right. I mind my own business when all of the sudden I see the bull doing the little thing with the front leg as it were going to knock me out. I just put my hands up high kept on running and the bull must of seen a pretty cow because I got out of that place scratchless.

My last job was using a very nice tool that measures the flow of water being injected from one well to the other to help the oil reach the surface. As I was running the tool down hole an unexpected visitor stopped by and got in the action…Thats the kind of things that happen when you are in the middle of the Jungles of Brazil. It had to be the smallest monkey I’ve ever seen.

On the Road Again…

So I was getting my stuff sorted out in Mossoro, I had just finished a 15 hour job, when all of the sudden my boss tells me that another location is short of field engineers and they need one as soon as possible.

As it is in the oilfield business as soon as possible means in two to three hours. So I caught up on my sleep for a couple of hours packed my stuff and on I went to start this journey. I went by car to Fortaleza for four hours and hopped on a plane headed to Salvador de Bahia about 2 hours south. I got to Salvador and the company car took me too a nice hotel where I was going to spend the night since it was to late to drive to my new base location.

I decided to put my Asics GT-2120′s on and go for my typical new town sightseeing jog. I have to tell you, it is one of the towns with the most joggers that I have ever seen. I felt like one more of the crowd there. I wasn’t just some crazy dude running around town looking at statues and asking for directions, I was part of the town. I went around the nice boardwalk overlooking the sea, I saw an old fort museum, and then I ended up in the side streets eating some of the famous cashews from caju (Orange like fruit) that has become my new addiction here in the Northeast of Brazil. Had some nice dinner in an Arabian restaurant and drank my favorite pineapple with mint leaves juice in the a little hole in the wall stand close to the hotel. I then woke up around 6:00 am and the driver was ready to take me 1 hour Northeast to the town of Catu.

Well I have been a couple of days in this location so far. It is smaller in people, jobs, and size but it requires more out of me since I am going to be one of the main field engineers in this base. Above are some pictures of the engineering involved in a job. It’s not only about managing a crew, having control of a gigantic rig, and running million dollar tools, it is also about getting some good rest while your waiting for your turn at bat!!!

The Epitomy of a Vacation…

Setting out to an exhilarating, non-stop, action packed family vacation.

So the last month has been non-stop. I finished my training and from day one in the Mossoro base I started going out to job after job after job. They varied from cased hole guns to perforate the casings of production wells to reservoir evaluation of exploration wells. In a nutshell, after the casing has been placed so the well does not collapse and the oil/water/gas zones don’t mix, there is a need to perforate the casing in a specific segment to start producing the oil and making the greens. Reservoir evaluation is when the well has been drilled and not yet cased, the well owners want to know if there is oil in the well and where its located.

A month and a week of that and I did my breakout. Therefore I no longer need to be babysitted by another engineer to help me do the job. I am experienced and knowledgeable enough to do the job by myself safely and efficiently.

Like any oilfield engineer will tell you, there is a great chance that you will spend some Christmas in the rig. This was my case as well. Luckily I managed to take a couple of days off after that to visit my family and girlfriend in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It was nuts, I bought my ticket at 2:00 am December 30th and started on my voyage to the caribbean 2 hours after I got the ticket.

I took a ride to Fortaleza, then flew to Sao Paolo connected to Miami, picked up my girlfriend, spent a couple of hours walking and drinking some espresso in South Beach while we waited for our final flight to Punta Cana.

Once in Punta Cana where do I start to narrate about the fabulous adventures. Let me start with the family. What a great group of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, brother, sister, mom, dad, and girlfriend. The whole trip was laugh after laugh non stop. Everybody’s true self came out and made this New Years trip so memorable. Below is a clip of some of the wild moments.

The adventures during this trip ranged from swimming with sharks and dolphins to snorkeling, windsurfing, kitesurfing, flyfishing, dancing merengue, salsa, and bachata. To top this amazing trip Victoria and I got upgraded to first class from Punta Cana to Miami. How about that picture of me running away from the shark, I vote it as a pretty typical behavior one does when a shark comes towards you…

Helicopter Underwater Escape Training and Firefighting

Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. Can it sound anymore complicated than that? Well let me tell you it was awesome. Little details that may seem insignificant make all the difference between you getting out or you sinking down.

The first hours was mostly theory and videos navy seals style with the 16 year veteran from the Brazilian Marines. He showed us examples of what to do and what not to do and familiarized the trainees with the different equipment and helicopters currently in use at our base.

We then had a small lunch and got into our safety gear to begin the training. It started with exercises to improve our underwater immersion abilities since we needed to be submerged without oxygen for some time. Then the fun began.

We sat in the helicopter simulator and after a briefing and short trial it started to go up. It was four of us in the simulator and when the helicopter went loose in air we got into impact position. Short after impact we put one hand on the belt buckle and the other one on the exit window. Most helicopters have been manufactured to turn heads down after they fall in water since when they sink the rotors would be under you and not towards the surface when when trying to escape. The simulator did just that. It turned and everybody turned with it. After the helicopter turned around and everybody was upside down, I took my seat belt off, propulsed myself out of through the window and made it to surface with my hands extended over my head and pushing up water in case there was a fire on surface. This would open a whole, give you a chance to breath and let you soon where there is a way out.

We repeated this simulation three more times with different scenarios. Once with everybody only being able to go out one door. Another time with everybody going through the other emergency door. And last but certainly not least blindfolded simulating a night landfall. Talk about a haunted house, this one had me shaking just for a second but it wasn’t that bad. Hope you enjoy the video!

After this day of H.U.E.T. training we did a full day of firefighting. It was burning out there! Take a peak at the pictures below. How about them Ray ban style safety glasses? The return of Tom Cruise?

On the Road to Mossoro…

I went to work yesterday and after lunch my boss tells me that he is sending me to the Northeast of Brazil to a town named Mossoro. The benefit of this is that I will be able to gain lots of experience since the jobs are more frequent and mostly on land rigs. So after this notice I packed my things and left in 6 hours through a plane flight to the city of Natal. After getting to the beautiful city of Natal I left my things in the hotel room put on my Asics GT 2120 running shoes and went out to a jog with my fly rod strapped on my back. I jogged all the way through Ponta Negra, a beautiful Caribbean like bay in Natal. I climbed a couple of cliffs and decided it was time to undust my fly rod and throw a couple of casts. As I do this I see two locals on a handmade wooden sea raft looking as  if they were floating in the water. They were casting their nets in the water and I asked them with my butchered Portuguese what fishes were they catching. As in every country that I go I realize that they always change the name of the same type of fish, I had no idea from what they said what could bite my line.

I did a couple of casts here and there and really enjoyed being out there with sand in my feet and the fly rod in my hand. I am not only saying this because I caught nothing but because I had a blast just seeing and trying.

Walking back to the hotel I saw a nice gym open so I decided to stop by, pay 20 reales, and move around some weights to stay in shape. After this I used my complimentary drink coupon from the hotel and drank a suco de abacaxi con hortelon (pineapple juice with mint leves). Oh let me tell you what an indulgence this is. It is like my natural healthy addiction. Then I took a quick shower and went to eat at a typical Brazilian steakhouse named Sal E Brasas. I barely could walk out of this place after having the all you can eat buffet.

The next morning at 5am the driver picked me up and took me on a 4hr drive to Mossoro my new Wireline base. Mossoro is a town 20 min from the coast. I am staying in a huge mansion/house with 9 other roommates from France, Brazil, and Bahrain. Here are some pics of the new crib. The lady in the fourth picture is Anna, she is the cook and she was making some good ol Guava juice. In the last picture you can see my roommate Wellton challenging me to a game of ping pong, oh he doesn’t know what he is getting into!

A fabulous weekend in Miami…

My best friend Gustavo just moved out to Miami for a new job position. He found a decked out apartment in Brickell Key and told me I had to come pay a visit. I didn’t think twice and did just that after my petroleum engineering three month training wrapped up in Tulsa.

Me and my girlfriend Victoria took a plane out of Chicago and flew in to Miami on a Friday. As soon as we got there Gus picked us up and took us to his place. It was an amazing sky rise tower with pool, jacuzzi, squash court , and fitness center. We chatted a while on the balcony reminiscing on old times and planning the weekend adventures. Then we decided to go to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Japanese restaurant which we heard was a hot spot in Miami.

As we walked by the boardwalk at 9pm I saw this big 100+ school of fish. I tell them to stop. After calling them blue runners, bonitos, sharks, and jacks, and deciding to postpone our nigh out for a couple of hours, I told Gustavo to run and get his rod from his car as I kept an eye on the fish. I kept on staring at them and I could finally see that they were big Jacks on sardine attack.

Gustavo finally came with the rod. We rigged it up and started casting. On the fifth cast a huge jack hit the fly and bent the hook totally straight. After 20 more casts and 2 more bites we finally hook one on and the fun begins. The beast runs until the backing hits. We are fighting it for 10minutes. Then my girlfriend Victoria gets cold since she was all dolled up to go hit the town. Therefore I gave her my shirt to keep her warm. After ten more minutes we got the Jack close to the boardwalk. I jumped out to the rocks and grabbed the fish by the tail so I would not hurt him. I got my loafers socked but those twenty minutes and the picture were all worth it!

Offshore survival

What a day! I had the chance to learn and practice offshore survival techniques on Brazilian open waters.

The first couple of hours were all about the theory and videos of what to do in the different survival situations. Then came the real life action. The whole team changed into the fire retardant coveralls and Class 1 Survival Life jackets. Then we practiced on the big boat some of the tactics to have a base knowledge before we head out to the waters. Our trainer had served the Brazilian marines for 16 years and survived a couple near death hypothermia incidences. He asked for two volunteers to throw the inflatable raft into the water. My roommate Paulo and I volunteered. We grabbed the raft that was in a white console, tied the rope used to inflate the raft to the boat so we don’t have to swim after it and then threw the raft into the water. After the raft was in the water I pulled the rope which triggered a carbon monoxide and nitrogen tank. It filled up the raft with air in less than one minute. Next I volunteered to jump first from the 30 feet platform, swam to the raft and turned it upside down since it was turned over for our group to learn how to turn it around if the situation arises.

After it was turned around every person jumped one by one of the boat and joined me in the famous survival circle as in the figure below. This way the heat expenditure is maintained in the grouped allowing more time before hypothermia sets in. Once everyone was in we separated into groups of five and did the survival group swim. Here you must put your feet under the armpits of the other person and once everybody is locked in the last person turns around and faces the direction to head to. Everybody rows with the hands in unison directed by the leader facing forward. Once we arrived to the raft each individual got up one by one.

 

 

 

It was awesome! Helicopter underwater escapes coming next keep tuned in!

GOAL DE LA CHI-CHI!!!

Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! After a two hour flight from Tulsa Oklahoma, a 45 min drive from the airport I made it on time to see my wonderful sister Alexandra score the game winning goal. What a goal it was!! She ran from midfield with the ball, passed two defenders and then tricked the goalie and scored diagonally at the left post. I stood up screamed and yelled. I could not believe it. It was a tough match very close all the way to the end. And all of the sudden my sister scored this awesome goal. Wow, what an adrenaline rush. I have not gotten a rush like this since I got stranded in the middle of the Amazon jungle this past Christmas from fly fishing late into the night looking for the mythical Tucunare also known as Peacock Bass. I am so proud of her. It was incredible seeing her play and she has improved so much in just a couple of years. Well Chi-chi (as I call her) keep those goals coming and I can’t wait for the next matches to come and see you.