I finally landed in UIO just after midnight and walked off the plane exhausted, frustrated, and mumbling many words I dare not repeat! Making my way through customs was a breeze and I immediately headed for the American Airlines customer service desk to find out when my suitcase would be coming in. Since I had snagged the last seat on the earlier flight when I was still in MIA, my bag would be expected to arrive after 1:00AM on the next flight. However, due to the departure delays on the flight I took, the next flight (with my bag on it) was also delayed leaving MIA. I decided I didn’t want to wait around another airport for several more hours and looked into having my bag shuttled to my next destination when it arrived. The lady at the baggage claim counter didn’t speak much English, so I had a hard time trying to explain that I wanted my bag sent to the hotel in Tena where I would be staying for the next two days. I will never know if my words were fully understood but I’d like to think I did good job explaining it using the little Spanish I learned in college, my travel itinerary, and several diagrams I drew on a blank piece of paper!
At this point, I figured I had done all I could do and left the airport to hail a cab. After a 40min drive, I rolled up to Hostal De La Mancha. As I entered the building, I was greeted by Nigel, Aliya, David, Erica, and Elliot with a couple peanut butter whiskey shots. These guys knew how to make the situation better! They were also the only ones who were still up at 2:00AM after their first day exploring downtown Quito. After a few brief introductions I wouldn’t remember and would have to chat about again in the “morning”, Nigel, my roomie for the trip, showed me our room and I immediately dropped off my bag and booked it for the shower to wash off 2 days of travel grime and whatever else was on those couches in the Wilmington Airport!
Just before I dozed off for bed at 2:30AM, Nigel informed me that we needed to be in the lobby by 6:00AM for mandatory Covid testing. So I slept for three and half hours and made my way to the lobby at 6:00AM on the dot since I didn’t have a suitcase to pack up. After having the inside of my brain swabbed for the sample collection, I grabbed breakfast and introduced myself to everyone. We boarded the bus at 8:00AM and Esteban, our tour leader, mentioned we would be making a slight detour back to the airport to grab my suitcase! I was speechless and so very grateful! Esteban walked with me inside the airport as we made our way through some executive offices to a meeting room in the far corner of the third floor. Once my suitcase was handed to me, Esteban and I walked out of the airport, back to the bus, and we made our way towards Tena! It seems the crudely drawn diagrams I used to explain to the baggage claim lady weren’t needed after all!
En route to Tena, I pulled out some playing cards and we got blackjack going in the back of the bus! About halfway between Quito and Tena, we stopped in a little town for lunch. The place we ate at gave us all a free shot of rattlesnake tequila which hit harder than anything I had ever had before. It went down easy, but man did it burn up the insides worse than the cinnamon challenge! We finished the remainder of the bus ride to our hotel in Tena, dropped our bags off, and headed over to the launch area for white water rafting on the Rio Jatunyacu! I hopped in the raft with Aliya, Samantha W, Sarah S, Chelsea, and Shelby! The 6 of us along with our rafting guide led the charge down the river from our starting point. Navigating past multiple large boulders jutting out well above the water’s surface and around some rather tight turns, only one person fell in along the way! With Sarah safe and secure back in the raft, we finished off our ride with a rendition of “We Will Rock You” by Queen using our oars to show the other rafters our might! We made to a muddy bank after just over an hour of rafting through class 4 rapids! Just before we banked our rafts, we all hopped in the river to cool off as a reward!
After drying off and heading back to the hotel, we all got ready and headed out for our
No Regrets: The Only Way To Live 