After an intermittent night’s sleep we were up and ready to start a new day. First on the agenda finish yesterdays blog and get it posted. DONE!
Since our flight doesn’t leave until 4 pm we opted for a late check out at the hotel.
Ron is a detail oriented person so we had to go over every aspect of todays flight, arrival in Ecuador and how we are getting to our hotel once in Ecuador.CHECK!
Not sure how the eating issue will play out in a foreign land. (no guinea pigs please!)
Around 10 am we went to the Café for breakfast with Kelly and Patrick.
We walked around the hotel grounds and got a cool picture of a salamander. Small compare to what we will see on Galapagos.
We arrived at the airport around 1:15 pm for our international flight to Ecuador at 4:05 pm. We were checked in quickly and were at the gate by 1:45 pm.
We were flying LAN for the first time and were really surprised at how comfortable the seats were. Lots of room with our own TV and controls to play games, listen to the radio, play movies or just about anything else.
The ticket agent was very nice and went out of her way to get Patrick an exit aisle seat so he would be confortable with his very long legs.
The flight from Miami to Ecuador was 3 hours and fifty minutes. Again we were surprised because we got a meal on this leg of the journey instead of the usual bag of nuts provided by AA in coach.
The landing in Quito was more then rough and a little frightening. I was by the window with the engine just slightly behind and I could see the tops of the buildings. The plane was rocking and it looked like we would be sheering the roofs off of the buildings. I was not the only one nervous because when we finally landed and were on the runway the majority of the passengers were clapping. WHEW!!! It felt good to be safe on the ground.
We were at over 9000 feet above sea level and landed in a high valley with mountains all around us. Can’t wait to see it in the daytime.
We had to go through immigration then through customs. It was a fairly quick process until we got to baggage claim. It took forever to get our luggage and then one of my bags had been crushed and the pull up handle would not work.
Lugging the bag was not easy but doable. We met our travel guide Jorge and he and the driver brought us to the Quito Hotel for our two night stay.
Although we had upgraded our tour package we were more then pleased with the quality of the Quito Hotel. It was very beautiful and the rooms lovely.
After dropping our bags we decided to go to dinner in the hotel. The restaurant was quite impressive with beautiful views over looking the city of Quito. So impressive that we thought the food prices would be exorbitant. Another surprise for us.
Not only was the food great but really cheap. I had a fillet mignon for $13.50 with taxes and tip included. Yes, that is what I said – and it was superb. Believe it or not the other meals were less!
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I don’t usually spend so much time discussing food but overall I would have to say it was four star ****
Although the food was great it took forever to come out. By the time we finished eating it was 10 pm and we were all pretty tired,so after dinner headed to our rooms for a good night of sleep.
We were to be picked up at 9 am for our tour of Quito – so no sleeping in for us. The fun begins!!!!
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