Our day started early. We woke up at 3 a.m., got in the cab at 4:15 a.m. and we were at the airport by 4:30 a.m.
Amazingly, no line at the AA counter. I guess traveling on a week day in February is cheap and peaceful. TIme to check-in, I'm in charge. I take the passports out of my bag and right then my heart stops beating...4 passports, I should have four passports, why is there only 3 in this damn bag??? We look everywhere and I quickly have to admit that Emilie's passport is missing. I see bzzalment in Galo's eyes. My brain quickly put my memories together...the passport has to be by the printer. I made copies of all our passports last night, and I must have forgotten it there. I order Galo to grab a cab "right now" and to go home. Galo doesn't have time to ask questions. 10 mns later he phones me and my heart starts beating again. He found it inside the printer...classic! 15 mns later is back and in the meantime we have checked our bags and are ready to go thru security. It's 5:00 a.m. Our flight to Miami leaves at 6:40 a.m.
The plane is half full. We get two seats each, including Zoila :) It's luxury. Zoila and Emilie sleep for a little while and we spend the rest of the flight playing and entertaining Zoila. She is good, very happy to be with all of us. The flight lasts only 5 hours but the last hour is still unbearable. We arrive at Miami at 11:30 a.m.
Warm, it is so nice to finally feel warm. We are hungry. They didn't serve any food in the plane and our snacks are almost all gone. We have about 2 hours to kill. It takes us already 1 hour to walk from our arrival terminal to our departure terminal and it's nice to just walk and hang out a little bit before another long flight . Emilie and Zoila are still having a good time. It makes everyone happy.
We board in the plane and look for our seats. Once again, the plane is half full and we are given 2 full rows for ourselves. Suddenly I see a young lady jumping out of her seat into Nana Celia's arms! It's Paulina, Galo's cousin who lives in New York. She is going back to Ecuador for La Fiesta de La Fruta as well. The funny story is that she recognized me from Facebook. I didn't because she doesn't have a profile picture, and we had never met before in person.
Our 4 hour-flight to Quito was supposed to leave at 5:30 a.m. but a big thunderstorm just hit Miami and the driveway is flooded. We have to wait for an hour in the plane before it finally takes off. Long wait, but Zoila and Emilie were very kind to fall asleep for almost 2 hours!.
The rest of the flight is smooth. Zoila's lucky to have plenty of arms to carry her and Emilie is happy to be served a meal, finally. Emilie left San Francisco sick. She is already feeling better.
We get to Quito at 11:00 p.m. Our plan was to find an hotel to spend the night, and get a taxi to Ambato the next morning. But Paulina's family is waiting for her at the airport, and they are all surprise to see us coming out with her! And of course, we are invited to stay at Meri's house, another cousin of Galo.
We grab a mini van because no one's car is big enough for us 5 (Galo, the girls, Nana and me) and our 5 luggage. We are in Quito. It's hard to believe that we made it to Quito. Emilie is in trance and Zoila is very excited. It's warm, at least 20 degrees. But I can already smell the smog. It's so easy to forget that smell when you live in our windy Bay Area. We get to Meri's beautiful house located in the "Residencias de los Eucaliptos". We are exhausted. We settle the girls into their beds. The happily fall asleep. It's a little past midnight. This was a long day. Good night Ecuador.
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