Ecuador Day 1: Seattle to Los Angeles to Colombia

I got most of my stuff ready the night before and double checked it because I did not want to be without anything.  I think I double checked it a few times and rearranged it in my pack a few times.  I was really excited but also really nervous about traveling to another country and how long I was going to be on these airplanes.

I got up and went to work.  I knew today was going to be a very very long day.  That morning we did our inactive letters, I got an enrollment packet out the door and all the claims orders printed and prepared all the envelopes to be ready to be mailed out the next day.  I told everyone bye and that I would see them when I got back on the 27th.  They said to have a great time and be safe.  I told them I would try to send them updates when I had available internet.  I left work at 11:30 and was home by noon.  I had Ben make me a sandwich, I changed my clothes, cleaned the cat box, said goodbye to Calvin and I had Ben drive me to Yelm Dental while I ate my food.

Trish called me to wish me happy travels to Ecuador on our way to Yelm.

We got to the office by 12:40 and hung out upstairs until mom was done.  We gathered mom's stuff and headed over to Amy's house, which was right down the road.  Ben dropped us and our bags off.  I told him goodbye, gave him hugs and kisses and he told me to be safe.  I told him that I would talk to him as much as I could while I was gone.  We packed all of our stuff in the back of Amy's SUV.  We piled in and we were on our way to Fort Lewis so we could pick up something from Josh at work.

From the base we got onto I-5 and continued north until we got to the Ajax parking lot, our long term parking arrangement, we paid, parked and got on a shuttle that took us and our baggage to the airport. 

So it begins...

The shuttle dropped us off at the Alaskan Airlines.  We tagged and checked in the zebra bag with our lab coats and toys for the kids inside.  We would see it again when we got to Ecuador.  We printed our boarding passes from Seattle to Los Angeles.  We went through security, which went smoothly since I had been to the airport in the last few months to know what to do with my laptop this time, and hung out at our gate until it was time to go.  Our group gathered snacks, water and used the restroom.  I plugged my stuff in so they were all charged up just in case I wanted to use them during the flight.  Ben called and texted before it was time to board the plane.

Mom, Beth and I sat together further back in the plane.  We chatted about a bunch of stuff on the way to LAX and looked out the window until it got too cloudy to see.

We arrived at LAX early, which in hindsight was a good thing, and found out where we needed to go for our connecting flight to Bogota.  We had to go outside the airport and wait for bus "A" to take us to Terminal C.  There, we waited in a long line that seemed to never move and we were the minorities.  It appeared that they were having trouble with their computers?  When it was our turn it took FOREVER, of course they spoke Spanish so we really didn't know what they were saying.  We thought there was something wrong with one of the passports but they assured us it had to do with keeping our party together for the next flight.  Which didn't really matter to us honestly.

Once we got our boarding passes (to Columbia and Ecuador) we walked back outside and followed the red line to the International Departures building.  There were a lot of Asians. We followed directions to where our information got checked, we were screened by a dog and waited to go through security.  Once we got through security it is way different than domestic flights inside the US.  Your shoes stay on and nothing gets taken out of your bags to be checked further.  All of your belts, pocket contents and cell phone went into your bags.  The only thing you couldn't take with you was beverage liquids but food was okay.

After we got through security, we walked to our gate.  Our flight was running behind so we had to wait a while, plus we were in group E, so we weren't going to be boarding for a while.  We used the restroom, bought some water and snacks since we haven't had dinner yet. 

I was banking on getting some food served to us once we got on the flight.  Our flight was going to be very full and since we were the last group on we really hoped there was room for our bags near our seats. 

When we did get to board, we boarded Avianca, a flight I've never heard of, I found my seat, which was on the left side of the plane next to a teenage Asian girl, I stuffed my bag into the overhead storage bin which was near my seat and got situated.  I turned my phone onto airplane mode which it will remain until I entered the US again on September 25th.  I was the only seat in the area that did not have a blanket. 

After the flight took off I asked the flight attendant if I could get a blanket and she said sorry and that they didn't have any extra and about 90% of the flight got one.  I was so upset!  There was nothing I could do so I sat there trying to figure out how I am going to stay warm and comfortable for a 7 hour flight in the middle of the night.  I thought to myself I should have brought a blanket and one of those travel neck pillows and I now know better for next time.

Day 2: The Red Eye Plane Ride, Our Layover in Colombia and A Night Adventure in Guayaquil

My First Time Out of the Country: Ecuador!

The facts:

Mom and I, over the course of the year, saved money to go to Ecuador.  It was for a dental humanitarian trip through Love Project, a non profit charity organization that was created for the less fortunate children of Ecuador.  This is something she's always wanted to do since she started working for a dentist office.  She said if she ever got the opportunity she was going to take it so she did.

I got my first passport in May.

Mom wanted to take a side trip to the Galapagos Islands since they are owned by Ecuador and you can only fly to them from Ecuador.  They are located about 700 miles off the western coast which is roughly about an hour and a half plane ride.  I don't think I know anyone that has been to the Galapagos Islands.

I had to get travel vaccinations so I didn't pick up anything weird in South America.

I had to make sure I had enough vacation time so I continued getting paid while I was gone.  I had stashed away a lot of vacation time last year which in retrospect was a great move on my part but while it was happening it was hard not taking a vacation last year in the mailroom.  I used 67.5 hours of my over 130 hours I had saved up.

My mom, Amy, Beth, Katie and I traveled together.  Katie had an advantage because she lived in Brazil for a year on her mission and learned how to speak and understand Portuguese, which is similar to Spanish.  This is how we communicated with the locals.

Flights

To Ecuador:

• We left September 14th from SEATAC at 5:05 p.m.
• After a 2 hour and 38 min flight we arrived at LAX for a 2 hour and 37 minute layover.
• My mom and I got on our first international flight (Beth, Amy and Katie have been on many international flights over the years) from LAX to BOG (Bogota, Colombia) which was a 7 hour and 15 minute flight, the longest flight I've ever been on in my life including an east coast trip and Hawaii.
• When we got to BOG, we were there for a 7 hour and 9 minute layover.
• When our wait was finally over, we had a 1 hour and 50 minute flight to GYE, where we finally arrived in Ecuador at 4:34 p.m. local time on September 15th.
• There was a 2 hour time difference from the west coast.  It was like we were in Texas (central time).
• We traveled for 24 straight hours.

From Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands:

• We left our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and had to stand in several lines to get our tickets, check our bags and get our visa so we could enter the Galapagos Islands.
• Our flight left for Santa Cruz at 10:40 a.m. which was a 1 hour and 50 minute flight and we landed at 11:30 a.m. local time.  The Galapagos Islands are only one hour a head of west coast time so we got one of our hours back for a few days.
• We took a water taxi from Baltra Island to Santa Cruz and from there took a bus to Puerto Ayroa where we found our Air BnB.

From the Galapagos Islands back to Ecuador:

• At 10:00 a.m. we were driven by truck taxi to the water taxi to get on a bus to be driven to the airport.
• We got in line and got all checked in and left the Galapagos at 12:30 p.m. to head back to the mainland of Ecuador.  
• We arrived at 3:20 p.m. because of the hour time change mid flight.
• We were picked up and escorted to the apartment in Guayaquil by Dr. Harris' relatives.

To Seattle:

• Left GYE at 5:11 a.m. on September 25th.  We were literally the last group of people on the plane.
• It was a 2 hour and 54 minute flight to SAL (San Salvador, El Salvador) in which we were late and had to run through the airport to get on our next flight which originally had a 40 min layover.  We basically went from one plane to another within a half hour.  I didn't have time to use the restroom or grab a souvenir.  Good thing planes have bathrooms!
• We had a 5 hour and 22 minute flight from SAL to LAX.
• When we finally got back to the states, we had a 2 hour and 13 minute layover at LAX.  We were lucky we had that time because we used all of it going through customs, walking the mazes of LAX, getting our tickets and checking our bags.  We barely got to our gate on time.
• Our final leg, LAX to SEATAC was a 2 hour and 42 minute flight and I could not wait to get home.  We arrived at 5:02 p.m. that same day.
• This time we traveled for 12 straight hours.

We went to three different countries in 12 days and received my first two stamps in my passport for Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. 

I finally got to see a blue footed booby in real life.

Mom and I got colds while in Santa Cruz and I didn't feel good the entire time but with Ecuadorian drugs at the local pharmacies sure knocked us out at night.

We tried a lot of the local cuisine which involved some sort of protein (chicken, pork or fish), rice, potatoes and plantains.  I was not a fan of plantains and found that out quickly.

They do not have dryers in Ecuador and probably none in the rest of South America for that matter.  They have drying rooms and clothes lines.

They have only 12 hours of sunlight each day because of where they are located on the Earth.  Sun rises at 6 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m. They do not have daylight savings time and it does not matter what time of year it is.

They do not have normal septic systems either.  If you used the restroom you do not flush toilet paper down instead you throw it away in their little garbage cans and hope to God that it gets serviced every night.

Showers are cold because not a lot of people can afford a heating element plus most of the time the weather is humid and over 84 degrees.

The places we stayed did not have blankets.  You slept on a bed with a sheet on top of you.

We provided the necessary aid to about 700 children and adults while we were there.

I would probably go again now that I know what to expect.  Here's to the next time!

Next Adventure:  Ecuador Day 1: Seattle to Los Angeles to Colombia

Labor Day: An Ocean Shores Adventure

The day before I asked mom what she wanted to do for Labor Day.  Since Ben and I couldn't do anything this year I stayed home for the majority of the weekend.  We threw around ideas like Mount St. Helens, the beach or waterfalls near the Columbia River.  I said no to the Mount St. Helens idea because we didn't know how the clouds would cooperate, we couldn't go down to the Columbia River because most of it was on fire and smoldering so that leaves the beach!  I asked her which beach she wanted to go to and she said Ocean Shores.  We haven't been there since last December so we were due.

I prepared the night before so I wouldn't have a ton of stuff to do in the morning.  Ben and Erika worked at the farm since it paid time and a half because of the holiday and they really needed the money and dad didn't really want to go so he stayed home doing random things.  I had mom meet me at my house so I didn't have to go clear out to Rainier.

The next morning I got up around 8, got ready, ate some cereal and packed up the Escape before mom showed up in the truck.  She came in, used the bathroom and shoved her stuff into the Escape.  We headed out towards Tumwater and got onto I-5 and then onto Hwy 101 towards Elma, Montesano and Aberdeen.

I noticed the first exit off of Hwy 8 in Elma had changed a lot.  A Burger King popped up over night!  Haha, not literally over night but fairly quickly since I had been here last.  Traffic wasn't that bad even though it was Memorial Day.  I think most people in western Washington head to eastern Washington for the mountains and the nicer weather.

We drove through Brady, Montesano and got to Aberdeen and still not that bad of traffic.  We were getting very lucky.  Sadly when we got past Hoquiam and onto SR 109 we had to follow some slow people who we felt like they were lost.  There really isn't any good places to pass on that road since there were always oncoming cars.

When we got to the turn and followed the road into Ocean Shores.  I asked mom where she wanted to go first and she said she didn't care.  The Jetty it is!  Driving down the peninsula seemed like it took forever.  By the time we got there we were basically in Westport!  You could see Westport from this spot.  We were probably two miles from the jetty across the harbor.  We found a place to park, grabbed the stuff we would need and walked towards the rocks.  We've been coming to this spot for years and you could see the massive erosion of this place since then.

We walked along the top of the massive boulders watching the waves crash against them and several flocks of seagulls and pelicans flying by.  I should have been more careful where I placed my small bucket and shovel because we got a large gust of wind and knocked both into a crevasse I could not get down to.  It was okay because I have several of those small bucket shovel combos from The Rock pizza place.  They serve some of their alcoholic drinks from buckets.

It actually got hot which is very unusual for our coastline.  I actually had to take off my sweatshirt.  We probably spent a good hour walking around, taking pictures and doing some people watching.  I wanted to go find some caches while we were here and there were a bunch of new ones since I was here last.  I checked my phone for the closest one that's been found. We got back in the Escape and drove to a side road off the main drag next to one of the many resorts this town has to offer.  We found a place to park and found the trail that lead us to the beach.  There were two here so we decided to walk to the furthest one first.

A Second Reason (GC7B22K) was on the southern part of the trail that paralleled the ocean.  It was a little more than a quarter of a mile from where we parked.  When I got to ground zero, I knew the cache was going to be by the bench that overlooked the ocean.  I kneeled down to grab the container and got poked in the eye by the long beach grass.  Ugh!  My eye!  I actually thought I poked a chunk of my eyeball out but probably scratched my inner eye lid instead.  It hurt and made everything blurry.  I signed our names and we walked back to the Escape.

I checked where the next one was and I though it was further north up the beach but turned out to be literally next to our vehicle.  When I originally looked it seemed like it was along the beach trail just further north.  Whoops.  Haha. "Private" Beach Approach (GC7AWP7) was one of those caches you stuck a fake washer, nut and bolt on and hid it in a hole.  We had to wait until some muggles walked by before we signed our names and put it back. 

Cache, No Cache, Cache (GC78TDW) was just down the road from where we were.  We followed my phone's directions which led us to some property Ocean Shores owned.  It was a fenced off area and it messed with the GPS on my phone a little bit.  I eventually found the container after a few moments.  I signed it and check to see where the next closest one was.

The next one, Trustee Pole (GC6QN72), was about a quarter of a mile down the road.  I found a place to pull the Escape over and get out.  Mom stayed while watching me run around trying to zero in on it.  I found the spot it was hidden in.  The cache owner had hid it in a hole.  I got a picture of it but it was too blurry when I finally looked back at the pictures.  I was long gone by then.

Mom and I decided to head back north into town because I wanted to make a sandcastle and eat our lunch we brought.  We went to the closest entrance to the beach and we regretted that instantly.  There were SO many people and the "drive way" everyone was using was very soft and people were getting stuck.  Mom and I got too far in and we would have to drive in to turn around.  People were parking in places they shouldn't be in making it really hard for people to get in and out of.  Luckily my Escape had really good tires and high clearance.  We turned around as soon as we could.  We went a couple blocks north to find a section of beach that didn't have morons in it.

We succeeded and found a beach that we could get in and out of easily.  We found a spot away from people, walked around trying to find some cool stuff for my sandcastle.  We ate our sandwiches, chips, apples and veggies and watched the seagulls beg us for food.  There was one seagull who was more focused on keeping al the birds away than eating the food we shared with it.  It would make funny dances and make strange noises to keep them away.  It was very entertaining.

We cleaned up our stuff and walked over to the ocean.  I found a place to start making my sandcastle.  I should have brought a bigger shovel because it took a while to build a moat around the castle.  I was probably out there for a good 45 minutes or so by the time I was done.  It was a masterpiece!  Next time I am bringing a better shovel.

Mom wanted to go check out some of the shops before we left.  I cleaned up my buckets and shovels and made sure I was not going to bring a butt ton of sand into my vehicle with me.  No one wants sand everywhere.  We drove back down to where all the shops were and parked the Escape in the main parking area next to the shopping center.  We walked into each shop.  Mom bought dad some of the saltwater taffy and I just browsed because I had to save money for my upcoming trip in the next 10 days. 

We walked down the street to grab our last cache of the day, CCP on OSB (GC6YATP).  We had to wait until the muggles were not around to grab this one.  It was easy to find, I signed our names and put it back.

We walked over to Sharkey's just to see what was inside.  I had never been inside the building but have always taken pictures in front just because it is a cool building.  My cousin helped construct it many years ago.   We decided to get a picture and it was very windy.  My hair is awesome and my left eye was hurting.

There were a few more shops on this side of the street so we ventured over to check them out.  I have never been inside them before.  One of them was local artists and crafters selling their stuff and a lot of it was really cool.  Mom bought a Seahawks crab mostly because it's something you will never see again unless you bought it now. 

Mom and I were ready to leave Ocean Shores before the traffic got weird plus we had to stop in Aberdeen so mom could pick up a few things at Walmart so it took us a while to actually leave the harbor.  I even told mom about how Connie, one of my co-workers, lives in Montesano and it would be funny if we ran into her at the Walmart.  When we got there I followed mom around for a while grabbing the stuff she and dad were out of.  I found a couple more tank tops for Ecuador since it will be 84 and humid the entire time we were going to be there.

On the way back to Olympia mom wanted pizza for dinner so I asked her what kind.  She didn't care as long as it was pizza.  There really wasn't any close pizza joints where we were as we were driving through Montesano...and mom didn't want to wait a long time.  We headed into Olympia and told her about the Pizza Huts, Dominos, Little Caesars and Brewery City in Tumwater.  Mom picked Brewery City in Tumwater.

We shared a large pizza so mom could have some leftovers for work the next day.  My eye really hurt and became very sensitive to the light.  I kept rubbing it thinking something was going to come out of my eye.  Nothing ever did.  While we ate we watched some of the "predictions" the NFL analysts were discussing on this next weekend's opening day for all 32 teams.  The Seahawks game was a pretty big one since we opened with the Packers.  It could go either way depending on how we showed up.

We got to my house and mom grabbed her stuff, got in the truck and headed home.  I brought my stuff in the house and started getting cleaned up, picked up some stuff around the house and prepared my stuff for the short work week.  I had a lot to do in the next few weeks.

Next Adventure:  My First Time Out of the Country:  Ecuador!