Our Flight to Ecuador

We woke up at 4:30 to head to the Phoenix airport for a quick flight to LA on March 8, 2014.  Our dear friends, Ellison and Cynthia Acosta, volunteered to take us to the airport.  We arrived with plenty of time to take a nap.

Our long layover in LA went by faster by eating breakfast and people watching.  It was kinda funny boarding the plane to San Salvador because everyone now was speaking Spanish.  The Avianca plane had decent leg and width room.  It was an Airbus 419.  They served us a small, but satisfying lunch (chicken breast with gravy and veggies) and had free entertainment of our choice on the seat back in front of us (10 points to the person that can identify the movie I was watching).  This flight was well over 4 hours long, but not terrible.

The flight from San Salvador to Guayaquil, Ecuador was just a few minutes to take off after we landed.  We worried that our luggage would not make it, but the airport was tiny and the ground crew efficient.  On this Avianca flight we had a small dinner about the Ebraer 190.  Before we knew it we were on the ground.  Immigration was a breeze!  We both received our first passport stamp and our bags were x-rayed without problem.

As we left the secure area, we laughed to see the crowd of anxious families waiting for their loved ones to arrived.  We pretended they were all there for us and waved to the crowd (at least in our minds) as we passed by.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of the crowd - young and old - with balloons in hand at nearly one in the morning.  I guess it was a testament to the close family ties the Latin culture nurtures.

At that point our driver arrived and whisked us away to our hotel, Casa de Romero.  It basically is two large apartments in a city building.  One on the third floor and the other on the 7th.  The 7th floor is set up as the reception area with a dining room where the serve breakfast, a kitchen and TV/computer room.  What would have been the bedrooms then are set up as guest rooms.  We are in the third floor apartment with our own bathroom (shower stall) and air conditioner.  There is also a balcony to people watch during the day.