Shell Mera, Ecuador

Shell Mera (also Shell, La Shell, or Shell-Mera) is a town located in the eastern foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes about 94 miles from Quito. Its name comes from the Royal Dutch Shell Company, and the smaller town of Mera, which is 5 miles to the west.

Shell Oil base

Shell Mera was established in 1937 as a Shell Oil Company base. It originally consisted of little more than several basic shacks and a 5,000-foot airstrip. It was operated as part of Shell's prospecting efforts in the region. The base was located near some Indian tribes that were known to be hostile. On a few occasions the Indians attacked Shell resulting in the deaths of several employees. The oil company eventually considered the base too dangerous to maintain and abandoned it in 1948. However, it is more likely that business prospects had more to do with the decision. It was during this time that the Middle East rose in prominence in the oil industry since it was becoming much more productive. After spending 10 years prospecting in Ecuador, the oil company had not produced any oil from the region.

Missionary base

Sometime around 1949, Shell was reoccupied by the Mission Aviation Fellowship. The Fellowship recognized the importance of Shell due to its airstrip and road access to Quito. They used it as their main base of operations for mission work in Ecuador, and it was also the home base of MAF pilots Nate Saint and Johnny Keenan.

In 1954, Saint, a former member of the U.S. Army, welcomed General James Doolittle to Shell. Doolittle was an Air Force (Army Air Forces) aviator who rose to fame during a desperate bombing raid over Tokyo in 1942. Doolittle was visiting Ecuador for President Eisenhower on a fact-finding mission for the CIA.

World wide attention focused on Shell in January 1956 at the news of the disappearance of Saint and four other missionaries. They had been trying to reach the Huaorani tribe and had been making aerial reconnaissance missions. When they landed in Huaorani territory they were killed by the natives and their bodies were thrown into the Curaray River. Once again, Shell served as a base of operations, this time for the families of the victims and rescue workers.

Two years later, in 1958, the Hospital Vozandes Del Oriente opened its doors as the first hospital in that region of Ecuador. The hospital was the dream of Nate Saint, who donated both land and time to work on its construction before his death in 1956. It served an estimated 65,000 people who lived on the eastern side of the Andes and in the jungle. In 1985 a new Hospital Vozandes was opened on the other side of the Motolo River and the old hospital was converted to a guesthouse, lasting until 2007 when weather and termites forced it to be torn down.

In August 1964, Nate Saint Memorial School opened in Shell for missionary children. The school was the realization of an idea Saint had of starting a mission school. He believed it was important for children to go to school close to home. The school was started by MAF and later was transferred to HCJB who now operate it.

Today

Today, Shell is a much larger town than it was, complete with a Spanish-speaking church, hangers, hospital, schools, hotels, and missionary guesthouses. The Saints' house is also still standing. The airstrip remains operational and continues to service the region as the Rio Amazonas Airport (PTZ), which is owned by the military and used as a base. The airport is also still a major base of operations for the MAF.