Ecuador 8/31/2018 - 9/15/2018

Saturday, 9/15/2018 - Departure

We woke up at 5 a.m. and finished packing away all of our last minute items. At 5:30, we went into the kitchen where Rosa had prepared Intag coffee, bread, ham, and cheese. El Señor Chipikins heard our voices and came in to join us for breakfast. Antonio came and sat with us at the table.

A sleepy Sisa stumbled out of her room to say goodbye, but on her way back to bed was distracted by the fact that Chipikins was out and about. She chased him around the yard until she caught him and brought him back to bed. I peeked into their room where she was snuggled in bed with the TV on low. Shina popped up from the bedclothes and called "Ciao Achi Mama!" I gave her a kiss and carried her into the kitchen to say goodbye to Craig.

A few minutes later, Yupanqui came down the stairs, with one bare foot and one sock. He was followed by Aida, and they both gave us goodbye hugs.

At 6:10, Hector arrived. We brought our luggage out to the car. Sisa followed us out, carrying Chipikins. When she hugged us, Cachupin jumped up to say goodbye. Shina came down the driveway for a final hug and kiss. We said our farewells until we return in January and waved as we departed from Morochos.

As we approached Quiroga, we were briefly stuck behind a herd of cows. But as Hector slowly approached, the cows moved to the side of the road and we were able to pass. Hector no longer had to take a detour around the Otavalo animal market to avoid Saturday morning traffic. There are now two new passthrough lanes as you approach the market, so that you don't get stuck behind all of the vehicles loading and unloading animals.

It took just under 2 hours to reach the airport. We thanked Hector and said goodbye before entering the terminal. We checked in at the Avianca desk, went through security, and immigration. We were given passes to the VIP lounge. It looked brand new, and we enjoyed tall glasses of frosty chocolate milk, yogurt with fruit and granola, finger sandwiches, potato chips, and Fanta. We could get used to this treatment. So this is how the other half lives?

We boarded our flight and got comfortable in our business class seats. We were served chicken fajitas, bread, and an orange souffle topped with peaches. To drink we had Bailey's.

When we arrived at El Dorado airport in Bogota, we were not at a jetway and had to disembark via stairs onto the tarmac. We had ordered a wheelchair for Craig, but when we got to the tarmac all we saw was a bus. We got onto the bus and assumed that the wheelchair would be waiting at the terminal. There was some confusion, because apparently we were supposed to have waited for it on the tarmac. We lost about 20 minutes due to this, but luckily we had a long enough layover that it didn't really matter.

There was a large line at security, and we reached our gate at the scheduled boarding time. But everything was running a little bit late, so we had a chance to catch our breath.

We boarded and got comfortable in our business class seats. There was a downpour and we even heard thunder, which resulted in the plane taking off about 30 minutes late.

We were given dinner menus and Craig had his heart set on the peper steak he had eaten last time. Unfortunately, we were the last two (out of 12) served, and there was no longer any steak remaining. We both had shitake mushroom ravioli with pesto sauce and ricotta. It was served wit a cheese plate, olives, a Greek salad, and bread. For dessert we had pistachio mousse and Bailey's.

I freaked out when my laptop wouldn't turn on. It was behaving as if the battery was dead (even though it had been fully charged). Maybe I hadn't shut it down correctly last night? I plugged it in and still nothing. Craig suggested asking the flight attendant if the plugs were working. It turned out that they hadn't been turned on. He fixed this immediately, and then I was able to fire up the laptop. Phew!

We were served a small sandwich not long before we landed in Boston. After we landed, we went through Global Entry, picked up our luggage, and caught the Logan Express bus home. We arrived home at around 11 p.m. after a long day of travel. I was happy that I would have Sunday to catch up on laundry and food shopping before returning to the office on Monday.



This was our flight path from Bogota to Boston. What happens in the middle there? Did we go through a wormhole or what??
Saying farewell to the girls and pets

Saying farewell to the girls and pets

Some traffic en route to the airport

Some traffic en route to the airport

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