Learning to Let it Go in Quito

There are some things to worry about, and some things to let go. Learning the difference has everything to do with stress.

We were staying with a family in Quito, Ecuador as part of a language school homestay program. We had finished school with mixed results. On the plus side, we acquired sufficient skill and confidence in the language to purchase a return flight to the Galapagos Islands all in Spanish. On the other hand, I experienced a set back at the hair salon where I left behind on the floor much more hair than I had planned for lack of Spanish words like “trim”, “conservative style”, “work with the cow-lick, not against it”. Tired of my rants, Dan suggested, “let it go.’

The night before our departure, I noticed that the airline agent had booked us on different flights departing a few hours apart.

Drying my eyes on the bedspread, I went through the usual sequence of emotions; Culpability. How could I be so stupid not to double check the tickets? Self-pity; Why me? Blame; Dan distracted me. Excuses; I don't understand Spanish well enough for such transactions. Look at my hair!

In the end, the only thing to do was to wake our hosts at 6 a.m. and call for an immediate taxi, abandoning one prescheduled to come later. We would try to change Dan's ticket at the airport to match my earlier one. Failure meant that Dan would have to hang out in the Quito airport an extra four hours until his plane left, and at the other end, I would have to do the same until his arrived. We didn’t have a hotel booked so there would be no place we could meet outside of the airport.

In the end, it all worked out because we learned that agents, as a rule, overbooked flights. In fact, the practice was so common that they recommended you arrive well in advance of your flight, not for lengthy security procedures, rather, to ensure you get a seat. At the check-in counter in Quito, the attendant simply took Dan’s ticket for the later flight, cancelled it, and assigned him a boarding pass for my flight. No fuss. Someone else that morning would arrive at the desk and find out he would have to wait for the later flight.

It was a happy ending for our Galapagos flight but we didn’t internalize the learning as we might have. A month later, we found ourselves on the other end of the stick. Arriving only two hours before our flight to Santiago Chile from Lima Peru, we found ourselves without seats and having to reschedule for a night flight, ten hours later. By then I knew not to sweat it. What goes around, had just come around. (by Carolann Moisse at http://www.maturetraveler.blogspot.com/)

My travel recommendations:


We enrolled by internet in Spanish language school called Amazonas Education and Travel. http://www.eduamazonas.com/SpanishSchool.htm). Tuition for one week was $470 USD per person which included our home-stay accommodation in the comfortable home of a retired doctor, and all meals there. The classes and guided activities of the school occupied us six to eight hours each day. The teachers were helpful and professional. It was an easy twenty minute walk to school each day from our home stay. The special benefit I realized from our home stay is that when I started feeling the effects of altitude sickness, our host, a doctor, administered to my symptoms.


We booked our Galapagos island boat called the Free Enterprise by dropping in a booking agent’s office on the main island. For $540 USD each, this gave us a 9-day trip on the boat which happened to be in the harbour on day 2 of its voyage. The long wooden cruiser motored about at night although it had three large sailing masts. The 20 passengers consisted of couples from Canada, Sweden, France, Britain, Israel, Australia, Italy and some Spaniards. The common language between us was English and we ranged in age from 30 to mid-60s. The boat was not luxurious but it was comfortable like an old recliner chair. The camaraderie made up for engine smells in our cabin. There is a scathing review of this boat on Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294310-i6637-k50567-l375939-Merak_Tour_boat-Galapagos_Islands.html)

but I compare that to other positive reviews from other sites. A key point for us in selection was the size of boat. With 20 passengers, essentially 10 couples, the people make this trip delightful.