Ecuador 1/11/2019 - 2/2/2019

Prologue

Our dear friend Mukul from India has wanted to visit our compadres in Ecuador, and, being an avid birder, has also wanted to visit the Galapagos. We thought that we could combine those two options into a single trip.

We decided that it would be a good opportunity to take our 10-year old goddaughter Sisa on a trip as well. She has been working very diligently with school work, English classes, and catechism, as well as helping Rosa with housework and caring for her younger siblings. She is intellectually curious, and the exact right age to fully absorb, internalize, and recall the experience.

She and the family were thrilled with the idea. We got permission from the school for her to miss a week of classes. Since the Galapagos are part of Ecuador, she wouldn't need a passport, and we could accompany her in loco parentis without any legal paperwork.

We booked a land-based trip called Galapagos Wildlife Discovery from Neotropic Expeditions. Mukul was hoping to be able to see as much of the varied Ecuadorian wildlife as possible. He would be in the Galapagos and the Andean highlands...it would have been perfect if he could have visited the Amazon as well. But it was just too far away, and the timing didn't work well with the Galapagos trip.

Mindo was a more convenient alternative, and is renowned for its birdwatching, so we set up a trip extension for Mukul, also through Neotropic. Mukul would arrive from India the same day that we would arrive. Craig and I would go to Morochos with the family, and Mukul would be taken to a hotel in Quito. The following day, he would have a Quito city tour. Then he would spend two days in Mindo.

After his adventure, he would arrive in Morochos to spend several days with the family learning about indigenous Kichwa culture. Then Mukul, Craig, and I would take Sisa to the Galapagos. Upon our return to the mainland, Mukul would head back to India via Amsterdam, and we would return to Morochos for another week.

Friday, January 11, 2019 - Departure

We took the 7 p.m. Logan Express bus to the airport and checked in at the Avianca counter. Avianca offers flights to Quito connecting in Bogota, and the price of a business class ticket is comparable to coach on other airlines. This has become a nice option for us...and it means that we get to avoid Miami, our least favorite airport. A red-eye flight is not ideal, but at least you stand a chance at sleeping in the large business class seats.

After going through security, we went to the Lufthansa Lounge (a perk of business class). We sat in comfy chairs with a nice view and enjoyed cranberry juice, pork tenderloin, quiche, finger sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies.

We boarded our flight, which took off on time at 10:50 p.m. The seats were comfortable, with plenty of room to spread out. The plane temperature was nice and cool, so I snuggled up in my fleece and Craig snuggled up in his blanket and we tried to get some sleep. I managed to sleep on and off, whereas Craig was really just resting.

Saturday, January 12, 2019 - Arrival, A Visit from Javier and Jess

Shortly after 3 a.m., they served us breakfast. We each had a parfait with yogurt and fruit, plus raisin bran, a roll, and orange juice.

We arrived in Bogota at 4:30 a.m. There was absolutely no line at security; it had just opened. They wheeled Craig to the gate in a wheelchair and we had about 2 hours to wait. They left the chair with us and said someone would be back to help him board.

At boarding time, they put the sign up at the gate and it said the destination was Guayaquil. It turned out that the gate had been changed and it hadn't been announced. I told the woman at the desk and she called for a wheelchair attendant. We waited as everyone else had left the gate. We eventually lost patience and I just wheeled Craig to the new gate. We had no idea how far away it was or how long it would take to get there. We arrived shortly before boarding commenced.

We boarded the flight. As soon as we were airborne, they served us a second breakfast (Bilbo Baggins would be proud). Craig got a cheese omelet with orange juice and I got a cheese and mushroom crepe with peach juice. We landed in Quito shortly after 9 a.m. We collected our luggage swiftly. The family had not arrived yet, so we sat down.

Soon we saw Yupanqui and Antonio, followed by Rosa, Sisa, and Shina. They gave us each a rose and a bottle of water, and the kids gave us big hugs. Antonio's friend Luis drove us back to Morochos.

Sisa was practicing her English, speaking to us and asking questions like "What is your favorite food?" She also helps her younger siblings practice, and we were impressed when Yupanqui said in English "My favorite food is chicken." Of course the kids still remember "Be nice!" (the first English I think any of them ever knew, becuse we say it to them when they start to bicker with one another).

We were thrilled to see the construction progress on the house which has occurred since we were last here in September. They bumped out the front wall in the kitchen to give a bit more space and to strengthen the wall which had been cracked in an earthquake. The window above the sink had been replaced with a larger one. And they built another room to the right of the staircase. It has access to the washing machine, and is a good storage room for Antonio's audio equipment.

On the second floor, Sisa has a room of her own (though she's not sleeping in it yet), and Rosa has her sewing room set up. The living area is set up with a large table. We learned that Aida and Rosa have gone into the pajama business. Rosa makes the pajamas out of incredibly soft and warm fabric, and Aida sells them in Ibarra, Otavalo, and Quito. The table is for cutting fabric, and patterns in different sizes hang on the walls.

A cardboard box on a chair contained a hen's nest and seven eggs! The family's chickens are vulnerable to predators and weather outside, so it was good to see a nice warm nest within the safety of the house.

Aida's room on the 3rd floor is now complete, with floor tiles and windows. She says that the birds knock on her window each morning at 5 a.m. to wake her up.

The garden had also been reconfigured. We saw El Señor Chipikins the cat and Cachupin the dog. They are great pets and Cachupin always remembers that when we are here we supplement his diet with occasional granola bars.

It was nice to have all day to get settled. Since we visit so often, we leave some items at the casita so that we don't need to constantly bring them back and forth. I unpacked the things we had brought with us and merged them with the things we had left there; putting clothes into our wardrobe and organizing our toiletries.

We had lunch: homemade soup served with popcorn, a hamburg patty, rice, beans, and a plantain. Rosa made aji (a spicy picante) to go along with it.

We enjoyed chatting with Antonio, Rosa, and the kids. We were marveling at the fact that Sisa now speaks three languages (Kichwa, Spanish, and English). They tried to teach us a few Kichwa phrases while we ate, but for some reason it never sticks. We feel badly about this, but Spanish is difficult enough for us!

It was a lovely sunny day, and we walked to the back garden to see Juanita the pig. She is now pregnant, due in a couple of months, and has become more friendly. She even let me scratch her forehead this time. The cornstalks are very tall, and ears of corn are starting to appear.

Craig and I were both quite tired, so we went to our casita and each took a nap shortly after 3:00 p.m. The kids knocked on our door shortly after 5:30, telling us that Javier, Jess, and family were here for a visit. We roused ourselves quickly; we were thrilled to get a chance to see them.

We met Javier a year ago when he stayed with the family for a couple of weeks while studying indigenous culture. We had gotten along very well, and had met him and his wife Jess in Quito for dinner.

When we returned in September, we all met them (as well as Jess' parents Diego and Norma) in Ibarra for a day of sightseeing. They are a lovely family and we enjoyed our time with them very much. They have kept in touch with the family, even visiting them on Christmas Eve.

The four of them, along with Jess' brother Andres, had stopped in for a visit. We sat in the kitchen chatting with them over coffee and cornbread. It was wonderful to see them again! The coffee gave us our second wind.

After they left, we played hangman with Sisa, Shina, and Yupanqui. Sisa is very good at the game, and younger siblings Yupanqui and Shina did very well, too. Shina guessed the word correctly several times, a first for her! And Yupanqui was good at both guessing and creating puzzles.

We ate dinner: soup, chicken, melloco, red cabbage, and rice. Craig and I were running on fumes, not having gotten very much sleep over the past few days. So we decided to go to bed early, at 8:30.