ECUADOR (AND PANAMA): MARCH 2022

 March 16-17, 2022

Background:

Back in 2019, Bob began planning a trip for the members of his law firm and their spouses to the Galapagos Islands in March 2021. Bob booked a yacht that would hold eight couples. Five of the rooms would be taken by the attorneys and spouses, and we found three other couples to join us, including some close friends of ours, so that we could fill all the rooms. Then Covid-19 hit in March 2020, and after it became apparent that travel would not be possible in March 2021, the trip was postponed. 

Over the ensuing year, Bob's partners dropped out one-by-one for various reasons, as did our friends. However, Bob would not be deterred. We cast about among our other friends who enjoy travel and came up with two new couples, and one of those couples had friends who wanted to join us, making four couples total. For several months at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, we bounced back and forth as to whether or not we should commit to the trip, knowing that we stood the risk of losing a substantial downpayment. We had been badly burned in 2020 by our aborted trip to Argentina and another trip to Indonesia that we had fully booked. (Trip insurance, which we had, did not cover any of it.)

We finally closed our eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped. Although we ended up filling only four of the eight cabins on the yacht with our own group, everything turned out just fine. The other four cabins were all filled with people we grew to really like, and the trip was a blast.

One of the couples in our group, Terry and Geneil, planned to be with us for the whole trip, while the other two couples planned to join us in Galapagos. Before we got to the Galapagos Islands, Terry, Geneil, Bob, and I had day of sightseeing in Panama and a few days in mainland Ecuador planned. (We had an 8-hour layover in Panama City, and Bob is not one to let an opportunity like that pass by. He booked a private guide to show us the sites.) 

But before any of that, Bob and I both spent a full day at work on Wednesday, March 16. In fact, Bob worked late, getting home after 7:00 PM. We were both scrambling to tie up loose ends. Terry and Geneil picked us up at 8:00 PM, and three years after Bob started planning the trip, we were finally on our way. We made it to LAX in good time and had a couple of hours to spare before the flight left at 1:03 AM. 

In theory, that seems like a good time to take off, right? I thought so. I was exhausted and expected to fall asleep quickly with the aid of two Benadryl. However, during our 6 1/2 hour flight to Panama City, I only slept (according to my watch) for 2 hours 46 minutes. Ugh. Maybe it was the stress of the day preceding the flight. 

I can't complain, however, because to drive the distance would have taken almost 80 hours on 3,882 miles of roads.

We flew on Copa Airlines, which is based in Panama, a first for us, and overall it was a positive experience, in spite of my sleeplessness. I actually liked my breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and churros in a thick caramel sauce. Especially the churros.

Some day in the future when I come back to read these posts about our trip, I want to remember what happened to travel in March 2020. I include the graph below from Wikipedia that shows the massive hit to air travel caused by Covid. This particular graph is for the Tocumen International Airport in Panama, our first stop on this trip, and I'm sure it is typical of most airports.

We passed easily through customs and were met by our local guide, Vincent Scott, at about 10:00 AM. We were off on the first part of our adventure!