Friday, July 15, 2011

We’re sitting in the Houston Intercontinental Airport waiting for our connecting flight to Huntsville so, now that I have access to a wall plug for our laptop, I can begin on our final blog entry.  I hope those of you who have followed us have enjoyed reading about our adventure; I know you haven’t enjoyed the adventure as much as we have!  Oh, our last taxi ride confirmed what expats have said over and over and taught us a lesson about dealing with people.  When I talked to the folks at the Travellers Inn last night about scheduling a taxi to pick us up, I was told that the fee would be $5.00.  So, I did not mention the cost before getting into the taxi.  When we got to the airport, I gave the driver $5.00; he said that was not enough, the cost was $8.00!  Since we were there, I had to pay so a lesson learned – always know what you’re paying before you ride!  It does not dampen my spirit about the Ecuadorian people, it’s just the way to do business.  Of course, had I taken the total advice of expats, I would have gotten a cab with a meter and probably paid around or less than $4.00, but what would be the fun in that??  J

We left Quito as scheduled.  I had no problem getting our extra bag on the flight so I’m going to write the president of Continental when I get home and question their website that states NO excess or overweight baggage allowed to/from Ecuador, and why their customer service deemed it unnecessary to respond to my emails.  Since their merger with United, Continental has steadily declined; if I have a choice, I’d prefer another airline.  Of course, all of them are probably going downhill due to loss of revenue – they don’t get it that the loss of revenue is due to the unpleasantness of flying! 

After checking in at Quito airport and going through security, we reported to the Continental gate.  On the way, we stopped for a snack so while there, Jenny got a bottle of water.  When we got to the gate, Continental had their own security check; opening luggage and making everyone dispose of any water in their possession!  Jenny had some books on South America and Ecuador; the guy fanned through it – I don’t have a clue why!  One would have thought that one security checkpoint would have been sufficient.  I know it’s a minor irritant but the water thing really is stupid, since we would have already had to discard liquids at the first checkpoint.  Oh well, welcome to the ‘American’ way of doing things.

The flight from Quito to Houston was okay; they actually served us breakfast – on the way to Ecuador, we got nothing!  Of course, no music or movies, unless we paid – another sign of declining customer satisfaction goals.

When we arrived in Houston, we went through immigration without a problem and, even though we had not left the secured area, we had to go through the whole thing again.  This time, it made some sort of sense because we did have access to our checked luggage and could have, theoretically, taken something prohibited from them and placed it in a carry on bag.  Okay, I’ll buy that.  Jenny was afraid she’d have to go through one of their full body scanners but we were cleared and only went through the standard detector. 

After arriving at our departure gate, I called my brother, who works at the airport and had visited us on our way to EC.  He is off today so we weren’t able to hook up.  Also called two of my sisters and was able to talk to a third – she was at the second sister’s house.  Wanda (sister) said she really liked our blog but was afraid, after reading some of the negative entries that we may not want to retire there any longer.  If we do retire there, she’ll probably be the first to visit!  I explained to her that our consideration to retire that has not changed; if anything, only grown stronger – that made her happy! ;-)

Bill & Betty Pyne will be picking us up in Huntsville; we’ll get something to eat, then to the house.   Not looking forward to the heat, after being in Ecuador (the land of eternal spring!)  We’ll also pick up the dogs tomorrow; we’ll spend almost as much on their boarding that ours!

Now that Jenny is back in the States, she’s wearing earrings; a pair she bought at the Indian Market on Thursday.

It’s Saturday morning; we’ve been busy unpacking – that’s more difficult than packing!  We had surprise visitors at the airport when we arrived – Charlie & Kathy Belcher!  We enjoyed seeing them, even if Kathy was there to make sure Jenny  was okay and ready to go back to work! LOL! We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home from the airport last night and had a nice meal with Bill & Betty. 

We received about four inches of rain while we were gone and things around here are still fairly green (surprising, at least to me, for this time of year).   The lawn isn’t as bad as I thought it would be but I’ll cut it this afternoon.  Jenny will cut my hair in the morning, since it grew twice as long as it usually does!

For those of you who have followed our blog, we hope you’ve found it informative and at least somewhat interesting.  To those expats and others we met, you made our trip more positive than you know!  Special thanks to Gerard Tretton, Diane & Juan Moreno, Jeff & Deanne Davoll (and their children), Mike Bullock and Abby, and Patrick Bullock and his family.  I may have discussed some negatives about our trip and experiences but they were just to balance the awesome positives!  There are valleys in our lives but most are mountain top experiences, certainly so true about our trip to Ecuador.  We were encouraged by the beauty of God’s creation in Ecuador and by the people.   Do we still plan to pursue retirement in Ecuador?  Yes, depending upon God for His direction.  Do we plan to return on another fact finding and vacation trip?  Yes!

If any of you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.  We certainly cannot express all of our feelings or emotions by writing.  I have hundreds of pictures (maybe over a thousand!) and a few videos, but it will take some time to get them downloaded and available.  When available, I will post a message on facebook or via personal emails.

God bless each and every one of you!

Larry and Jenny