Before beginning my new adventure to Ecuador, I decided to visit friends near Orlando. It was a great time, had by all, until I received an email notice from Delta that my flight to Miama had been canceled. In order to catch my flight to Ecuador, I ended up renting a car to drive to the Miami airport having to spend the night. I met Ryan at the airport where we struggled with our many bags, all packed for the up-coming year. Surprisingly, we packed fairly light considering it was for a year in the jungle, but the bags were still cumbersome and heavy. We both had tickets to Quito with Santa Barbara airlines, a Venezuelan company. After standing in line for two hours, we finally arrived at the counter where we found out that the second leg to Quito had been canceled. We had a choice..either to stay one more night in Miama, or stay in Venezuela and catch the next flight the following day to Quito. We were both ready to move forward on our international adventure..so we decided to take the flight and deal with what Caracas had to offer when we landed. Having another stamp on the passport seemed the right thing to do...besides, the Miami hotels are expensive.
Our hotel near the Caracas airport turned out to be clean and cheap..only $55.00/night for both of us. The fish dinner was cheap and delicious, and the locals were welcoming. The hotel sported a nice little bar where the clientele treated us to great Venezuelan beer called Polar Ice. Yum. I was impressed with everyone's friendliness. I certainly was glad the Ryan was with me..and we seemed to weather whatever was thrown at us. He was a trooper as far as being positive and super easy going..I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner.
We headed out to the airport the following afternoon, about 12:00, to catch our flight at 5:00....but no. It was another hurry up and wait. We didn't get to leave Venezuela until about 8:30, arriving in Quito about 10:30. Ryan had made hostel reservations in Quito in the Mariscal and we took a taxi from the airport, anxiously looking forward to some rest after the long waits we had experienced with the Santa Barbara airlines... The hostel turned out to be quite an experience for me...it was a hostel geared toward young 20 somethings....My room was a shared dorm for 6 people, mixed gals and guys, with a shared bathroom. I was exhausted and found it difficult to fall asleep with one of my roomies snoring loudly most of the night. Loud laughter and light filtered into my open window which made it especially difficult for me to fall asleep....but all in all, it was an experience I wouldn't have given up for anything. I met some absolutely fascinating people. Many of the young people were spending a year traveling around the world. Helen, a young Swedish woman, joined us when we visited La Capilla de Hombre which housed Guaysamin's art. I recommend anyone to visit and view his work..his art with indigenous themes was more than powerful..it was magnetic..it pulled you from the inside...La capilla de hombre was also designed by the artist...and he wanted it to be a place of reflection.
After two days in Quito, spending a big bulk of time trying to get my volunteer visa, I was ready to head out to Yachana. The other visiting teachers drove out 6 hours, but I flew. It was 30 minutes from Quito to Coca..and then 3 hours by boat, upstream, to my new home, the Yachana Lodge...a place of learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment