Ecuador 6/2/2024 |
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Sunday, June 2, 2024 - Kuri's Second Birthday, DepartureWe got up at 6 a.m. so that we had time to finish packing our last-minute items. As we were heading over to the kitchen for 8 a.m. breakfast, we heard a ruckus outside. There was another party last night in the village that lasted all night. At 8 am some of the inebriated partygoers from that party stopped in at the house to dance and drink. And they wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Craig danced and drank with them, even before his coffee. This was part of the lead-up to Inti Raymi, which would be celebrated later in the month. (We had attended this important cultural celebration back in 2011.)Today was Kuri's second birthday, so he got to have leftover cake for breakfast. The rest of us had jam-filled crepes, bread, ham, cheese, and coffee. Beer at 8 a.m.? Cake for breakfast? Just a Sunday morning in Morochos in June! Nena was crying because we were leaving, poor thing. Kuri is not yet old enough to understand that he would not be seeing us again until another year had passed. It was difficult to say goodbye to the family. We always enjoy our time with them so much. As a parting gift, we gave the family some momney to buy a new hot water heater. It not only serves our casita, but also the house. We don't like the thought of the kids getting up at 5:30 in the dark and taking ice cold showers before going to school, and we certainly don't like having to take cold showers when we visit. The previous heater was purchased used, and had a good run, but now it was time for a new one. Shortly before 9 o'clock, our car arrived. We were driven to the airport by David and his bride of three months, Anna. David is an English teacher who is developing an app for people to learn the Kichwa language. His goal is to expand the app to include all 14 indigenous languages of Ecuador! David asked if we wanted to stop at Mirador El Pisque on the way to the airport. We had plenty of time, and we had never seen the view there, so we were happy to stretch our legs and get gorgeous views of snow-capped volcanoes Cayambe and Cotopaxi. Thank you, David and Anna, for the delightful conversation. We wish you luck with your app and we wish you much happiness in your marriage. We arrived at the airport at 11 o'clock. We got lunch at Johnny Rockets. Craig had a grilled chicken sandwich, and I had chicken tenders with fries We each got a vanilla shake. Our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, which meant that by the time we arrived in Miami, we only had one hour and 37 minutes to make our connection. That was tight, given that we had to go through customs, collect and recheck our bags, and go through security. Usually, the wheelchair staff at Miami are very good, and do their level best to ensure that you make it to your gate in plenty of time. We have had such good wheelchair attendants in the past. Not today, though. This young man had no sense of urgency whatsoever. He took his sweet time, stopping to flirt with coworkers, sitting down and playing on his phone rather than helping me with the luggage, etc. We repeatedly told him that we had a very tight connection, but he just brushed us off. We got to the point where we only had 15 minutes before the doors of the flight would close. I asked him which gate we were heading to and he didn't even know. He stopped to look it up on his iPad. It was the absolute furthest gate from where we were. Still no sense of urgency. Still stopping to talk to women. Craig and I decided that I would run ahead to the gate so that they would know that Craig was on his way. I hoofed it through the terminal and arrived, sweaty and out of breath, as they were making the final boarding announcement. Gasping for air, I explained the situation and begged them to let us on the plane. They told me that they could wait 5 minutes, and that was it. I looked up and saw the attendant in the distance, pushing Craig at a slow pace. "Come on!" I yelled. "They're closing the doors!" He pushed Craig to the gate and we quickly got onto the airplane. We were the last ones on before they shut the doors. A flight attendant took pity on us and offered us each a cup of water, which we accepted graciously. We told her what had transpired, and that we were so grateful to have made it onto the plane. If we hadn't, we would have been stuck in the airport overnight, I would have to take a day off work tomorrow, etc. It took us a while to get our blood pressure back to normal after the ordeal. We landed in Boston at 12:23 a.m. We picked up our luggage, got a taxi, and were home by 1 o'clock in the morning. |
 Cake for breakfast  Mirador El Pisque  Anna and David at Mirador El Pisque Photo Gallery June 2 |
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 View from Mirador El Pisque |
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