The Andes from above are remarkable, jagged lower picks, volcanic, strewn with ravines and above the clouds several huge peaks are visible.
we are currently in Guyaquille, in a lay over, this is end of flight 3, where next leg is hopefully heading north west.
yesterday, a minute after finishing the rant blog. the agent came with great news, she had found our bags. joyously we picked them, moved some items to our day packs and that moved on to the check in counter.
the united drop off, told us to go to the special services, to allow pulling the bags in quito. in the line, one agent told us, to pull in quito, we would have to repay, another line agent wanted to send us to the drop off where we just came from. the level of incompetent is sky rocketing. Alla insisted of talking to another agent, that looked more knowledgable. soon we earned that you have to pull in the bags in quito anyway for immigration and you simply dont put them back. no need to pay extra.
we now checked if the flight direct to quito opened up, and luckily someone cancelled and we got the last two sits!!, good news back to back. this flight would leave Houston 2 hours later. it was 11:30 am and now baggage free and somewhat worry free, we hopped on a bus to downtown after strongly considering going to Uncle julio's our favorite Mexican place, but it was a bit far and pricy with the cabs. cool day in Houston, 91 degrees. we asked round and locals pointed us to main street and to a local place, the moonshiners. i had some meal with plantain and some strange thing i don't want to know what it was.
Alla had tacos and bear. this was a southern place, and ha good quality. recharged, we decided to battle the heat. Alla , due to affect of the bear was barely walking, 2 blocks later we stopped at a place with ice cream , i had some while she napped. main street is nice, but not beyond that, we took some photos of a few sculptures and the biggest wizard hat looking sculpture you have ever seen. on the walk back in the next street we saw a crowd in front of a hotel, clearly waiting for some celeb. the crowd had basket balls , posters and other stuff ot sign on. apparently the US olympic team is scheduled to arrive!!, we waited for the bus at the station right next to the waiting people, hoping for star luck. a bus came, all cameras were pointing, signs in the air, us chants an then a short bold white guy leaves the fancy bus, clearly not a players, a few other staffers leave to the the disappointment of the crowd. we were sweating in the shade, these people are waiting for hours in the scorching sun. finally our bus came and we missed out, but the AC in the bus was perfect. back to the airport, quickly through security, my 6th time i think raising my hands up for the scan machine this trip alone. as we walked to our gate, we passed by a panama city flight delayed for two hours, this was out previous flight, had we not grabbed the last seats, we would have miss the panama to quito connection. real OMG moment. we boarded and 5 hours later landed for the 1st time on south american soil. i was excited, my 6th continent!
At this point i get a notification from United. one of our 4 suitcases did not arrive. most odd since we only checked in two pieces...
it was close to 11, we quickly passed through customs and Alla was shocked to find out that there is no local currency , they use us$ , and US outlets. since these are the types of things i usually forget or have issues with, it was great, to not need to worry. our bags did wait for us, no issues, not sure what was wrong with that text message.
we got a nearby hotel and went to sleep just after midnight. wake up call at 5:30.
we landed last night and could not see the mountains well, but now they towered above the city, all around, blue skies and a bit chill morning air, felt great. we came for the 6: am shuttle, which was full, we took a cab instead of waiting, stood in line for the galapagos taxes fee. 20$ each, filled the form and had the biological bag scan.
we now tried to get on an earlier flight, since our fellow group travelers will be enjoying a hike in lava tunnels very soon. no luck here. we tried with our own company, the one that flies the other earlier flight, but we gave up on trying with an unrelated company.
after security , no raise your hands machine here. we went by a place called the guacamole grill and sat for breakfast.
the super yummi shake came first, heaven. then cream of potatoes soup, very rich and then some big ball made of plantain, stuffed with cheese with some spicy sauce resembling chimi churry , but not quite. a perfect meal to start the south american adventure.
we then board the flight to Guayaqulle. the site of the mountains was divine.
we are now close to 40-50 minutes on the plane,
take off damn you...
we hope to make it in time for the kayaking trip...
cheers from seat 22A.
No comments:
Post a Comment