Pam's Blog

It took Delta a couple of tries to get Flight 680 from Quito to Atlanta and in the end, we arrived safely and very tired (mucho cansada). It’s taken me a couple of days to catch up on my sleep, go through the mail, and feel grounded on US soil. My stomach still isn’t quite right, although it’s getting better. It feels good to be home, to be welcomed home, and to have a fresh appreciation of my country and my great life.

Thanks to all of you who shared my journey and for such a warm welcome back.

The banner across all the screens in the airport announced that the airport was closed because of weather. That didn’t stop the Delta folks from checking us in, putting us through security, and letting us sit at the gate for hours. The fog was dense and the flight from Guayaquil that we were supposed to catch, “tried” to land but couldn’t get clearance.

About 3:30 AM the gate crew made it official by canceling the flight, taking our names, and loading us in shuttles to spend the night. Apparently Delta told Swiss Hotel fifteen rooms were needed and the woman behind the desk was overwhelmed with just the first shuttle showing up, saying that we had to share rooms. That got a strong negative response from the group. There were at least 25 people at the gate and as far as I could tell, there were only about three couples, the rest of us traveling alone.

I’m not sure why, but Clara, a woman who lives at the Swiss Hotel in a suite, told me I could share a room with her and then she would check into her suite, leaving me in the room by myself. That’s an act of kindness from a stranger I haven’t witnessed here in Ecuador.

The hotel desk personnel struggled to get this group rooms. We all made it clear we didn’t want to share. When the guy behind the desk gave me my first key to a room, I clearly and specifically asked if it was a single room and he said, clearly and specifically ‘yes’. When I got to the room, there was already someone in it. Culturally, this act of telling people what they want to hear/lying is a problem. Over and over and over in Ecuador people have told me what they think I want to hear instead of the truth. “Mentira” is the word for lie and I thought it odd that was included in the vocabulary during my Spanish lessons. Maybe now I know why.

We drove a couple of hours of the winding narrow mountain roads towards Puerto Quito to tour a cacao plantation. The tour was set up as a part of a day of learning for a student writing her thesis. The student, Michelle, talked with Barbara, took the tour of the chocolate making operation, and then we all hopped in the truck to see Pedro, the farmer.

He walked us around his property and as we went he picked other fruits that grow on his land. Pedro not only grows cacao, but oranges, bananas and pina. His is a sort of full forest approach, letting all of the plants grow together rather than clear the land and plant things separately. I liked that organic feel of the place. Being in the rain/cloud forest is like being at Jurassic Park (without the dinosaurs) … all the plants grow like they are on steriods.

Pedro is also a doctor and a flutist … as well as a flute maker. A river runs by his property and a stream runs through it. It’s a 20 minute ride on a very bumpy dirt road to his house so it’s an isolated feel. The house has a tin roof, an open kitchen/dining room area (and when I say “open” I mean there are no screens or glass in the walls, and one wall is done in bamboo. It feels like a very organic life in a very organic place, one more in tune with the cycle of the day and the cycle of the land instead of the clock.