Goodbye to Ecuador

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The night of the 13th we stayed one last night in Quito. That was the longest amount of time we actually were in Quito, a full 24 hours! The two previous times in the city we arrive late afternoon and then were picked up the following mornings. This time we had all afternoon/evening, and then half the next day!

Finally ventured outside of the hotel, found a restaurant cross the street to have dinner at. Richard was able to try perfectly cooked Argentina steak (amazing he says!). Also they had the Ecuador beer, Pilsener, on tap. Extra bonus! He even convinced them to let him buy the mug it was served in :)

Got to play in the pool, and he did the steam sauna.

Following morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. Lunch was at the place that we'd eaten dinner at the night before. And then it was time to taxi it to the airport!

Plane left at 4pm or so. Flew to Panama City, where we had an hour to kill. Then boarded the next flight to LAX! Arrived in to Los Angeles around midnight. Went through customs and everything, took the shuttle over to Union Station to see about trains. The one we'd planned on taking was still a ways off (we got in & done with LAX earlier than we thought!), so we got on the Amtrak bus and took that down to the Solana Beach station. Showed up there around 5am, walked to the bus stop, a couple of blocks away. Got the bus from Solana Beach to Del Mar where we showed up and surprised my parents & the little boys :)

We had our own balcony this time overlooking the pool!

Lunch (with big beer) day we flew out of Ecuador)

Early, early morning after VERY little sleep. Waiting in Solana Beach for bus to Del Mar.