I remember when I booked my trip I thought that taking multiple airplanes to get here was a great idea partly due to my paranoia of a DVT (blood clot). However, after sitting next to this crazy weird man on the first leg that was rude to me when I had to go to the bathroom…I take my decision back! The six hour flight from Houston to Panama was for lack of better term, “interesting”…I was between a large Asian man who cleared his throat every three minutes (I counted) and three Hasidic children that thought it was mucho fun to play in the aisles of the plane….no rest here!!!!! I think at one point during the flight I had a vision of tying the children down by their own tzitzit!
Arriving in Panama was hot…the local temperature at 2000 was over 90F and humid! The airport was super confusing but I made it to my gate with three minutes to spare on a two hour layover…I arrived here in Ecuador around 2300 and headed to immigration…
My first encounter with the people of Ecuador was fantastic, even at customs. They make you go through immigration before you can get your bags from baggage claim. They kind of just let me through immigration when the officer realized that my Spanish sucks and I could only say “I am a graduate student from the United States, I will be here for four weeks and I am going to Ayampe”. I guess since it was the middle of “carnival” which judging by the people dressed in black paint and pelting the car with water balloons, is equivalent to American Halloween, he didn’t think it was strange that I was going to the beach….
As I approached security, which is nothing more than a man in a pair of shorts and flip flops, I didn’t have some paper that I was supposed to get on the airplane he said “no worry, have nice day”. Guess he didn’t think I needed to declare my Clorox wipes, water bottle, medicine and enough bug spray to deter any mosquito from dinning on my skin…
I made it to the hostel in Guayaquil around midnight or so…it was so beautiful on top of the mountain. My room was situated in the lower portion of the hostel and it had air conditioning…something that seems like a faint memory. The owner of the hostel was a nice woman who jumped at the chance to practice her English with me. When I had problems connecting to the internet she said “I have MAC, it work great”…so once again, I am contemplating buying a MAC…
Two things that I have learned so far….
Cash is king in Ecuador (thanks David for telling me to go and get some cash before I got here, the hostel in Guayaquil only takes “effectivo, no puedo payar con trajeta de credito”)…..only cash, you can’t pay with a debit card
Everyone is so nice, even the damn mosquitoes who want to give you Malaria
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