Ecuador 11/16/2019 - 12/1/2019 |
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Sunday, December 1, 2019 - DepartureWe woke up before 3 a.m. My stomach still wasn't back to normal, and I hoped that I would survive the 2 hour ride to the airport. Shina and Sisa woke up to see us off with Rosa and Antonio.Antonio's friend picked us up in a 4-door pickup truck at 4 a.m.. At 4:19, in the pitch black night, we were crossing the single lane bridge over Rio Blanco. We were 7/8 of the way across when a drunk asshole in a pickup quickly approached us head-on and refused to let us exit the bridge. He wanted us to back up to let him through, even though we clearly had the right of way. He drove at us, honked his horn, and flashed his headlights. He looked like a psycho. He started yelling. When our driver didn't move he actually hit our car head-on to try to push us backwards. Our driver stepped out of the truck and lockled the doors with us inside. He called the police. As he tried to photograph the man's licnese plate, the guy tried to run him over. Craig and I weren't sure we would survive the encounter, let alone make it to the airport on time. Craig and I were scared; things could go very wrong here in the middle of the night with nobody else around. Luckily, other cars arrived coming in his direction, and they could see what was going on. The guy finally took off down a side street. I had written down his license plate number, and our driver called the police to report the incident. This trip has been fraught with transportation incidents, from the Pan American highway closure upon our arrival to yesterday's road closure due to a horse race. Now we had nearly been run off the road in the middle of the night by an aggressive drunk. All we wanted at this point was to make it home safely! At around 5 a.m., I got an email from the airline. Uh-oh! We knew that there was a snowstorm predicted for Boston tonight, and we would be arriving at approximately the same time as the snow. I feared that this might be a notification that our flight was canceled. Luckily, that wasn't the case. Instead, our Panama to Boston flight would be 30 minutes early, no doubt to beat the snowstorm. We had enough of a layover that it wouldn't be a problem. We arrived at the airport shortly before 6 a.m. We checked in, went through security and immigration, and went to the gate. I stopped into our favorite airport store, Republica del Cacao, and bought some chocolate bars. I got Craig a cup of coffee at Amazonia, but it was way too "amargo" (bitter) for his liking. As much as I wanted the caffeine, my stomach was not in the mood for coffee. We boarded the plane, got settled into our business class seats, and took off on time at 8:04 a.m. My stomach had settled and I was finally starting to feel hungry. We had a chicken and cheese wrap that really hit the spot, plus yogurt and a roll. We arrived in Panama on time and sat at the gate to await our connection. Security came and set up portable tables and stanchions. They made us leave the gate and line up behind the stanchions. We had to re-enter one at a time, putting our carry-on bags through an X-ray machine. Craig and I got selected for a very extensive security screening (of course!). They went through everything in our bags, and swabbed everything to check for bombs. Luckily they let Craig sit down while I handled the security check. His legs were quite tired this morning. We boarded the plane. Although we were both in business class, he was in the front row and I was in the back row. The flight took off at 12:10 p.m. We had Bailey's, warm nuts, salad, turkey appetizer, a roll, and an entree. Craig got his entree of choice (beef tenderloin), while I was stuck with fish (the only remaining option by the time they got to me. At least one of us got our choice. We had tiramisu for dessert. I finished reading my book (Michael Palin's "North Korea Journal"), did some web site work on my laptop, and wrote out some Christmas notes to enclose with the cards that would need to be sent as soon as we arrive home. As we approached Boston, the snow started. We were each seated at a window, and could look out to see a whiteout. We had never seen such intense snowfall from a plane. When we landed, the snow was just starting to stick to the ground. By the time we collected luggage and hailed a taxi, it was downright treacherous. Streets had not yet been sanded or plowed. It was slick. We arrived home safe and sound, but exhausted; it had certainly been a stressful travel day! It seemed like we had been awake for days, and challenges had gotten in our way at every turn. We were so thankful to be home! |
 Snow welcoming us home  Inca and Maya are happy we are home See all photos from December 1 |
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