(backstory)
We planned this big trip to Ecuador back in January 2017, slated to leave at the end of June. There were a number of factors driving Ecuador as a choice. Alli grew up reading Elisabeth Elliot's telling of her husband Jim Elliot and 4 other missionaries who worked to spread the gospel to unreached indigenous people (the Auca, now known as the Waorani) and were killed in the process (but their efforts ultimately succeeded), and she maintained an interest in Ecuador from these stories. Neither of us had been anywhere in South America, and Ecuador is often presented as one of the easiest entries into SA. It's an easy ~5 hour flight from Atlanta with no time change, they use US money, the same voltage, and it's generally considered a pretty safe place to go. We briefly considered this for our 10 year anniversary, but couldn't make it all work; then, a home exchange in Cuenca made itself available, some credit card miles worked in our favor, and we geared up for a major trip.
Between January and June of 2017, we steadily made progress in preparation. We sketched out a timeline of events, planned (and purchased) a big side trip into the Amazon rain forest, got an airbnb in Quito, purchased jungle-appropriate clothing and bug spray, binoculars, and some new luggage, increased the children's capacity for hiking with regular training, got yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations, watched programs on Ecuador we could find, and checked out a guidebook from the library and read through it at least twice.
We were just about ready to go! ... and, also, a little scared. The travel clinic visit, working from a template, made things sound so much worse. Don't drink the water, ever. Don't swim in any water, ever. Look out for rabid dogs. Here's your malaria pill prescription. High altitude can be very dangerous, especially for young children. Some of that was easy to blow off-- we've traveled pretty well, we've never gotten too scared about anywhere we've gone, but, it was definitely a little different this time with the kids. Manimal had also developed some asthma-like symptoms associated primarily with seasonal changes, one more factor for something that could go wrong (so we made sure to get all prescriptions ready). Then I took the terrible step of reading up on various forums about some of the precautions. Don't do this. Americans (and maybe Europeans?) sometimes act as though it's 3rd world everywhere outside our borders. The advice was to never ever eat any seafood anywhere in Ecuador, matter of fact, maybe just stick to the rice, reaffirmed don't drink the water, people suggested even if you feel fine when you leave Ecuador, go ahead and pop into a clinic and have yourself tested for parasites. That's all to say that there was a big mix of excitement and fear about the trip. Still, we were packing suitcases.
Me and the kids were out for a training hike in full gear when Alli sent me a text indicating that nobody had been in touch with her dad in a couple of days. Not long after, the sheriff was sent to his home, his cell phone was heard inside ringing, and his dog was inside. His door had to be kicked in, and he was barely conscious. He spent several days in the hospital, mostly getting worse. We were told a few days after he went in that he was not going to survive, but thank God, a nurse had noticed a spot consistent with a tick bite, an infectious disease consultant had confirmed the diagnosis (rocky mountain spotted fever), and the appropriate antibiotic started doing its work. A week after he went in, he was showing solid improvement. A few days later he was moved to rehab. Even at this point, though, he was showing stroke-like symptoms, and we were not hearing good prognosis. It was not known if he would truly recover. The timing was such that the day after he entered rehab was the day for us to leave for Ecuador. We'd already made the decision by this time to cancel/reschedule. Luckily, our credit card included trip cancellation insurance, and we were able to make use of this. The airlines waived change fees and held our tickets open. Our jungle lodge had a date change fee, which the credit card reimbursed us for. And ultimately our trip was placed on indeterminate hold (though we believed at the time we could bounce it to the next summer). Alli's dad getting RMSF actually had a kind of strange side effect concerning the fears I had about Ecuador. I was spending time reading about what could go wrong (malaria, dengue, etc.), and here a terrible, life-threatening tick-borne disease presented itself right in our back yard. Not that this made probabilities even, but it was just a reminder that we didn't have to travel to encounter dangers.
A few months down the road, Alli's dad defied all the experts and was his normal self, and we were ready to think about this trip again. Our first thought was to push it to the following summer, but as it turned out, our home exchange was not available for the following summer, and Delta had misinformed me about the longevity of our open tickets (needed to be physically *used* 1 year from purchase date, by January 2018, whereas they initially told me (after repeated questioning) that I needed to rebook by Jan 2018, but the travel could be in June 2018). We also had a school schedule to contend with, and thus we ultimately booked our summer vacation over Christmas. I shouldn't gloss over how non-trivial this was. The dates we initially wanted were +$4000 for the flights- $4000 more than the value that we already held. We ultimately found flights that involved missing a little bit of school and only cost a little bit more than original. Then the Ecuador local airline carrier (Tame) said they couldn't issue new tickets without my physically presenting myself in NYC. We actually looked at the cost of flying me up there to complete this transaction-- but ultimately another call on another day, presented appropriately, gained more traction. I only had to fax them copies of my credit card, passport, drivers license, signed forms... I guess I was desperate, this does not sound like a good idea. So far I haven't noticed anything funny on our credit report...
And so our summer vacation was finally booked for December.
Some of the fears about Ecuador subsided, but we were a little bit over all the planning. We'd kind of ramped all up to go and weren't ready to do the preparation all over again. Still, we went for a few hikes, we bought some more clothes, better hiking shoes, and we also tried not to sweat it too much-- it will be educational and fun even if we just go to another country where they speak Spanish all day.
Finally, the day came.
December 12:
The kids went to school so we could wrap up all the last minute details. We got the house clean and all the last bits packed. When we were ready, Alli went to get Hamish, and I went to get Manimal. Our neighbor Gary rode with us to the airport and took our minivan back home.
We were off!
Sort of.
The first flight was less than an hour. There was a lot of anticipation about flying, but before we knew it, we were back in an airport.
Our flight to Quito boarded normally, but as we were taxiing to the runway, we got word that there was a mechanical issue. Four hours later, we had deplaned, changed gates, grabbed some food, and boarded a new aircraft. We felt kinda like this:
The flight itself was only about four and a half hours, but it felt much longer after the delay.
The kids were truly awesome. Everyone carried their own bag (two large suitcases were checked). They held hands when needed. We ran a bit during the delay, but no tears and no fussing. They both fell sound asleep after takeoff and missed the meal service. Manimal slept straight through, waking up when we landed in Ecuador.
Hamish slept until about an hour before we landed, woke up, and watched some TV.
Manimal cried when he woke up, insisting that we hadn’t flown at all.
"Really we didn’t!"