April 26, 2011, Quito Ecuador

Yes, the blog is a week or so late, but better late than never – and I took good notes, so hopefully you won't miss too much!

I left Greenville by car to go to the Charlotte airport. The sky was overcast and threatened rain, but nothing could dampen my spirits on this day when I was leaving on my first ever trip out of the country. Everything went smoothly and on through the checkpoint to find the gate and wait. A couple of bathroom breaks in there and all was well and I was sitting on a 737 anxious for the first leg of the trip.

Waiting in Charlotte
Now, waiting on planes is interesting. The flight attendants have to get a verbal agreement from all the people in the exit row that they will hang out in a burning, drowning, whatever plane, while they help all the other passengers get the heck out of Dodge. All six people agree. I keep wondering if they're lying. Would I wait on the other passengers? Or would I high tail it out of the burning plane? I wasn't on an exit row, so my honesty wasn't tested, but it does make me wonder if they'd slide out of there and leave me to fumble my way around trying to get my seat that can be used as a floatation device out and my fat rear end down a slide by myself. I know, I think weird thoughts. Aren't you glad you're not in here with me ALL the time?

On the Plane
We waited our turn to taxi out to the runway. The captain came on and said it was the result of "sequencing" that they're doing at the Charlotte airport now. Basically it just makes you sit out on the runway longer I think waiting for your turn and stop and start a lot -- kind of like rush hour traffic. I'm not really sure what the whole idea is, but I hope it works for them. The plane creaked and moaned and groaned and finally the roar of the engines got louder and louder and we were speeding down the runway for a one hour and 35 minute flight time (ticket says about 2 hours, but some of that is loading the plane and waiting and all that mess). It is always really weird to me that feeling of weightlessness you get when the gigantic plane with lots of people on it (and it was a full flight) just takes off and is in the air. Your tummy feels funny (well, mine does anyway) and it's just utterly weird feeling.

Clouds
I don't often think about clouds from the other side. We so often look up at them that it becomes our only perspective (unless you're a pilot, I presume). They are maybe even more beautiful when you look down on them. There were some astounding cotton-like puffs interspersed with blue sky and jet streams from my limited view from the center seat. The mountains of cotton were in my sight much of the flight while my ears popped repeatedly as we continued to increase in altitude. As a child, I played the "what do you see in the clouds" game. And on the airplane, I found myself doing the same thing. There were lions, fighting Schnauzers, rams with circled horns and teddy bears that were so much larger than life. While I was enjoying my imagination, the people on either side of me were oblivious to the wonder of it all and were sleeping soundly. How? Why would you want to miss this? Can you get so used to seeing the clouds from the other side that it becomes old hat to you? It's a very sad comment on human nature that we can become so used to amazing things and no longer see them as amazing. Of course, maybe they sleep because of the deafening roar of the plane engines. I don't know.

Through those clouds that I imagined were at least as big as glaciers, I occasionally saw a spot of land, and before too very long, I felt the altitude changing. The descent started about 30 minutes from Miami and seemed to continue forever until I heard the whirr of the hydraulics which I assume were opening the compartment to let the landing gear out. There was a grid like pattern to Miami from the air. I guess there is to many cities. And then, off the US Air plane and onto a LAN Airlines plane. The gates of the two airlines were close, so I had time for lunch – always a good idea for me as I do get motion sickness. Miami got me ready for my trip to Ecuador – I was asked if I was "finito?" when I was done!

LAN Airlines
LAN Airlines is a well-respected South American Airline (at least that's what I was told) and after flying on the airline, I believe them. Boarding was an experience as we boarded by rows and I had to brush up on my Spanish numbers to get it right. I was in Seat 40L – at the very back, so after first class and people with children and the elderly, I was listening really hard for the word 40 in Spanish. I succeeded, obviously, since I made it on board.

The plane was a 767, so it was the largest plane I have ever been on. It had three rows of seats in the back, something I'd only seen in movies. There was a blanket and pillow in the seat waiting for me. Did I mention I really like this airline? There was a screen on the back of the seat ahead that showed a world map and where we were.

I had a window seat this time and after takeoff, I saw many of the orange tile roofs so common in Miami and lots of water. The screen in front of me continued to give me information about our speed and altitude and even the outside temperature – it's no wonder planes are so cold  since the outside temperature for much of the trip was -63 degrees F. Yes, there is a negative sign in front of that number. Of course, we were also at 37,000 feet. There were blue skies above us and scattered clouds below, and no, I won't go into another cloud description, so don't stop reading!

The screen showing the flight information was a touch screen so that you could do a number of other things as well, such as learn about destinations where LAN flies. I read a little bit about Quito and some other areas.

I was a little worried on getting to the Quito Airport. The original plan was that the tour guide would meet each person coming in and ride to the airport. I was on a later flight, so the tour guide called (while I was in Miami) and said everyone was doing okay, so the driver would be there and she wouldn't be meeting me. All I could think of was that she didn't know my ability to get lost and turned around – and in a foreign country no less. No need to get discouraged – only one thing to do – move forward…

Cuba, Panama, Pacific Ocean
The captain came on and spoke to us – for a long time in Spanish and then for a shorter time in English. Have you ever noticed that? When someone is speaking in Spanish it goes on for 10 minutes and then the translation is something like "And they climbed up the mountain." Or something equally short. Makes you wonder what you're missing. I've got to dig Rosetta Stone out and work with it some more.

Anyway, we were out of US airspace pretty quickly and were told we would then be in Cuban airspace, Panama airspace and then over the Pacific Ocean before arriving in Quito. I saw Cuba. It's a very large island with very clear water surrounding it – at least the part I saw. I imagine it would be a beautiful island up close. I didn't see much of Panama – we were still at quite a high altitude, but I saw a bit of land and beach, I think.

On Board Entertainment System
OK, I mentioned the screen that showed the altitude and that sort of thing, right? Well, it also played a short movie (in English and Spanish) about the safety instructions, oxygen, your floating device, all of the normal stuff.

The flight attendants came around with earpieces so that the onboard entertainment system could be used (at no charge), so I started to look at my movie options and settled on "The Fighter" since it was supposed to be such a good movie and I had not yet seen it.

At some point during the movie, I was handed two Immigration Cards to complete.

The on board entertainment system, in addition to the touch screen, had a remote. There were a number of kids of all ages on the flight and they were well-entertained as the system had games. I even played a round or two of Tetris. There were quite a few movies and games (Tetris, Battleship, Sudoku and more) and even TV shows to choose from – usually in Spanish, French or English. The Fighter was in English with Spanish subtitles (because I chose English).

I was surprised when the flight attendants came around not only serving beverages (we had had a beverage on the US Air Flight after all), but also food. They even served complimentary wine on the flight. The food that day was a pasta dish, which I couldn't eat because of my gluten intolerance, but since I wasn't expecting food, I had something with me in case I needed it, plus I'd had lunch in Miami.

After the movie, I still had a bit of time, so I watched most of an episode of Big Bang Theory. There was some turbulence as we got closer to Quito, so we were advised to stay seated and keep our seatbelts on.

Quito
Flying into the Quito airport was interesting. First, there are mountains on either side of you, and then you start seeing buildings on either side of you and you become concerned – or maybe that was just me that was concerned. I'm not really used to airports being in the middle of town, but this one is. I expected we might have to climb stairs down, but we had a jet way. It was all very civilized. We walked for a while and were herded – well, not exactly herded, but there really was no other way to go, into Customs to show passports and such, so I waited in line and read the sign that basically said don't exploit Ecuadorian children.

Okay. I wasn't planning on that, so I guess I have nothing to worry about. I wanted to see Ecuador, certainly NOT the inside of an Ecuadorian jail. It is unfortunate that a sign like that even has to be there. My passport now bears an Ecuador stamp and I was officially in the country and ready to find my driver. (All my luggage going in was carry on, so I didn't even have to deal with baggage claim).

I walked around until I found a young man who looked very much like a Native American, and I guess he was – just he was a Native South American instead of a Native North American, holding a sign with my name. I signed some papers – Lord only knows what – probably something for liability based on the trip to the hotel. So, I unknowingly get into the car and the nice man carries all my luggage – for which I am grateful – my backpack was getting pretty heavy. He put the luggage in the trunk – the car was an older model van playing Ecuadorian (presumably) music. We traveled through Quito right and left and around and around.

We saw areas of Quito that I'm not sure were nice based on the glass attached to the tops of walls – apparently broken glass is as much of a deterrent as barbed wire. Apparently there are only traffic suggestions instead of traffic laws during rush hour in Quito. I stopped looking at where we were going and started looking out the windows to the sides. It seemed more prudent and I decided I really didn't want to know how we were getting there. I don't think I will ever drive in Quito. On the upside, I survived the trip to the hotel and was met by a hotel security guard who took the luggage.

The Hotel
The tour group I was with stayed the first night at Stubel Suites, a nice hotel in Quito. I went to the front desk and was greeted by a desk clerk who spoke perfect English. Like I said, the security guard took the bags – a little odd, but I found out later that one of the others in my group had asked about that – and the other security measures at the hotel (you had to use your key card to move the elevator and open a hallway door and open your room door). Anyway, they were told that we were in a luxurious hotel in a luxurious area of Quito – we had to be protected. I guess we were targets for pickpockets in that area – us being gringos and all. There are the poor in Ecuador, and we must seem awfully rich to so many of them.

View from Stubel Suites - very foggy that night!

The hotel is built on the side of a hill. The lobby is on the 5^th floor. The room was on the 2^nd floor, so it was strange pushing the down elevator button to get to the room. A bellhop carried bags and the room pretty much looked like any nice American hotel compete with soap and shampoo trial sizes. The only exception – no thermostat. A small electric space heater was provided.

Dinner

Dinner at Stubel Suites in Quito

Dinner was in the hotel restaurant where I met a few of my group. Our official tour did not begin until the next morning. My dinner, called Lomo a la Plancha, included two generous portions of grilled steak with chimichurri sauce (kind of a salsa, but in oil), steamed vegetables, a small baked potato with cheese and a Coke. Now, hotel meals are seldom cheap, but that dinner cost around $10, including the Coke. I wasn't too unhappy with that.