Our Arrival and First Day

Finally, the big day, Thursday, May 15th arrived!

We arrived in Quito at 11:05 p.m. local time. The first thing we learned about Quito is that it runs on Texas time, which is one hour behind Virginia time. Jonah fell asleep about halfway through The Bucket List and was stone cold asleep when we landed, so I carried him, car seat and all, through customs and baggage claim. He woke up just as we pulled into the parking garage for our apartment. Maya had a nap on the VA to TX portion of the journey so managed to stay awake the whole 4 plus hours of the Ecuador leg. This was not as painful as it sounds. She was mostly very well-behaved. Actually, both Maya and Jonah behaved well during the entire trip, making the long day go a lot smoother than I anticipated. It’s one of those things, I’m sure, that is just meant to lull me and Rebecca into planning something a little longer next time. Silly us.

Anyway, we arrived at National Airport at 10:30ish on Thursday only to find that our 12:30 flight to Houston wasn’t leaving until 2:30 due to mechanical problems. Ugh! On top of that, the airline had some problem with giving a boarding pass to Jonah, so Rebecca had to give them a piece of her mind, and also some credit card information, before it was sorted out. Meanwhile, the kids had fun playing with Jonah’s Trunki suitcase and watching a bird fly back and forth in the terminal.

After Rebecca handled the airline on the boarding pass, she scored us some meal vouchers due to the mechanical delay and we dined in style (I mean, for free) at Cosi. I bring my lunch to work with me everyday (remember, I’m a cheap one) but apparently, Cosi is a well-known sandwich shop. Try the pizza, it was free.

Both kids fell asleep on the flight to Houston. So Rebecca and I adjourned to the restroom for a quickie. I'm just kidding. we did visit the restrooms, but separately. Then we watched the movie; but we didn't have ear phones, so we couldn't hear it. So, in 28 Dresses, I can tell you that the one sister messes up the wedding of her other sister, but I can't tell you how. Because of the delay from VA we didn’t have as much layover in Houston as Rebecca planned, so the kids didn’t get to run off any energy. We did go on the moving sidewalk a few times, though.

The flight from Houston to Quito was long and uneventful. The first movie, P.S. I Love You, seemed about five hours long, despite all the skimpy outfits Hillary Swank manages to squeeze into. Jonah fell asleep near the end of the second movie. So did Rebecca.

Carmen, the woman we are renting the apartment from, met us at the airport. Since we had never met her before, she had a sign that said Rebecca Eichler. I forgot to ask Rebecca if that made her feel important. We arrived at the apartment building – called the Torres San Isidro – shortly after midnight. Streets around are all deserted and it almost looks like the apartment is not in the fanciest part of town. But inside it is clean and I have a feeling that it is going to draw all of us closer together this summer, if only because it is pretty small. It’s essentially a hallway leading to three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

[Here's our spacious living room.]

Carmen came by this morning and showed us around the neighborhood. Walking around the gated compound confirmed our suspicions that our apartment building is not in the fanciest part of town. But, there is a playground on the premises with an old school see-saw where Maya got her first Ecuador-bruise,

a basketball court with a shortened hoop that Jonah was real excited about (as soon as he saw it he wanted to play), a large, flat paved area for scooter-riding, and all the shopping amenities one could want – a chicken place that has a gumball machine (as an example of the cheaper cost of living, TWO gumballs cost a dime), an ice cream place, and a liquor store. I mean, really, it’s like a resort. The kids and I never need to leave the complex.

After lunch at the chicken place (another example of the cost of living – the whole chicken with papas (that means potatoes) and rice and soup for less than 10 bucks) Carmen took us for a ride by some of the sights. We drove by Parque Carolina, which is exactly like Central Park Quito, don’t go there after dark. It’s close by our apartment, has lots of trails and ballfields and a lake. Conveniently, Maya and Jonah both fell asleep as we drove past the park, so Carmen took us into the Old Town where we did a drive-by of many of the churches, plazas and stores that the Spanish Conquistadores had built. I distinctly recall seeing a KFC and a laundromat. No Starbucks though. Those must have been built during the Independence movement.

We then went to Parque Metropolitano, which is also near our apartment. Conveniently again, Maya and Jonah both woke up, so we were able to get out and play around a little bit. This park has a couple of playgrounds where the swinging and climbing things are all made out of wood, lots of soccer fields, lots of trees and walking trails, and a juice and ice cream place that also sells cocunuts. The park is on a hill in a eucalyptus forest in the east of the city (the city runs north-south on a ridge with mountains and volcanoes in the west and hills and valleys in the east) and commands stunning views of the city and mountains. It wasn’t a particularly clear day, but was still breath-taking. Well, that may have been the altitude - we are around 10,000 feet up. Anyway, I picture myself carrying Maya and Jonah around this park quite a bit this summer.

On our way back to the apartment, we asked Maya and Jonah how they liked Ecuador so far (good!) and what they liked about it. Maya said she liked the playground. Jonah said he liked going to sleep.

When we got back to the apartment around 4 p.m., I started this blog entry and Rebecca started dinner. Maya and Jonah were doing something that required Jonah to run around naked and everything seemed to be fine. Next thing, Maya informs us that she’s locked Jonah in his room. We have a key to the apartment and the various gates around the place, but not to the bedrooms. So, Jonah is in there crying, our omelet is burning and we are all kind of standing around wondering what to do. That’s when the leader in me took over. After calmly asking Jonah to move away from the door, I smashed it down with my foot. Right away, before she even comforts Jonah, Rebecca has me sit down on the couch, gets me a beer and starts rubbing my shoulders. She hadn’t seen that animal side of me in awhile, I guess. So, even though we are going to be out a couple hundred bucks for a new door and installation, it was worth it. Plus, Jonah was freed. As he is apt to do, he recovered quickly - helping me dismantle the door handle before we sat down for our omelets and toast.

We duct-taped the rest of the doors so no one will get locked in anywhere again.