May 10, 2021: Equator Tour with Happy Gringo (Author: J)

The day after our flight, we did not have anything planned until the afternoon.  I assumed that, after our late arrival, we would want to sleep in.  Unfortunately, my body did not cooperate.  I was up before 7 and feeling a bit headachey given the altitude.  Swissotel had provided us with several large bottles of drinking water, so I did my best to hydrate and caffeinate (using the in-room espresso maker, which is always a highlight of any hotel stay for me).  P woke up shortly after I did and we spent time reading and enjoying the views from the room.

When D woke up, we headed down to breakfast, which was included in our room rate.  After a quick temperature check, we were shown to a table in Café Quito.  I was happy to see that the Swissotel was still serving a buffet-style breakfast despite the pandemic.  To prevent contamination of food items, most of the cold items were individually wrapped, while a staff member served the hot items.  There was a really nice assortment of items, including standard fare like eggs and some local specialties.  I remember that I tried a seasoned corn cake along with my eggs, fruit, yogurt, and breakfast pastries. 

After breakfast, we had some time to kill before our appointment at the pool.  During Covid, Swissotel requires guests to reserve time to use the pool.  This turned out to be the only day we were able to get a spot due to a combination of low capacity restrictions and the fact that residents of the neighboring condo tower can also reserve swim slots.  We spent the time between breakfast and our swim watching soccer on the in-room television.  When our swim appointment arrived, we headed down to the pool area.  D then had to run back up to the lobby to get towels and bathing caps, which the hotel inexplicably requires guests wear in the pool. 

Once we were properly attired, we headed to the pool area, which was full of lap-swimmers from the condo tower.  We chose a corner of the pool where we thought we would be out of the way and jumped in.  The pool was a pleasant temperature and offered the opportunity to swim through a tunnel to an outdoor courtyard.  We decided to do so, carefully timing things to avoid interfering with those swimming laps.  As soon as we were away from the wall, P started floundering.  “You can swim,” I reminded him.  “No! I’m drowning,” he screamed as he clutched at me.  Somehow, we made it outside, which we immediately deemed much too cold. And so, we turned around to head in.  This time, P crossed the pool by crab-walking along the wall since he still would not admit that he knew how to swim. 

We spent about an hour swimming, including a chunk of time that P swam on his own (having somehow regained his ability to do so once mom and dad were not in the pool).  Between my headache, shortness of breath from the altitude, and the pinchiness of the hotel swim cap, I was ready to leave when the hour was over.  As always, we had to pry P out of the pool with (what would be unfulfilled) promises to return at a later date. 

After our swim, we cleaned up and then had lunch at the Quito Deli, another of the restaurants at the hotel.  We then planned to head up to our room to pack for our afternoon tour.  We stepped off the elevator to the sight of housekeeping in our room; too late, we realized that the do not disturb sign would have come in handy.  In broken Spanish, we attempted to ask how long it would be and were told an hour, so we headed back down to the lobby.  After 30 minutes, we went back upstairs and found no one in our room.   

We quickly packed our day bag and headed back downstairs where we met Jose Luis, our tour guide from Happy Gringo, in the hotel lobby for our equator tour.  The equator turned out to be much farther from Quito than I had anticipated, but Jose provided interesting narration about the city and life in Ecuador as we drove.  Since we hadn’t planned much time to actually see Quito, it was nice to get a sense of the neighborhoods as we made our way to our first stop.

One of the nice things about using a local tour guide is that they almost always show you sights that you would not have picked on your own, but which turn out to be highlights.  Such was the case with Pululahua volcano, a volcanic crater filled with farms.  We stopped to peek down into the crater from the scenic overlook and were lucky to get there just before the afternoon clouds rolled in.  The crater was incredibly peaceful and seeing homes inside a volcanic crater was a novelty.  On the way back to the car, I stopped to use the restroom, where I learned a lesson that I would keep failing to heed: many public restrooms in Ecuador do not have toilet paper. 

Our next stop was the Inti Ñan museum.  This is a small museum about local indigenous cultures that P was interested in visiting because he wanted to try out some of the equator science experiments — like seeing how water drains in different hemispheres and trying to walk along the equator — advertised on the museum website.  While the museum grounds are beautiful and some of exhibits are interesting, this stop was something of a bust for us.  That is because you cannot explore on your own and our guide (the museum guide, not Jose Luis, who had to wait in the parking area) marched us through the exhibits at a rapid pace, barking at us to hurry when we spent too long looking at any particular item.  I would be curious to hear whether the issue was covid crowd control, or if the museum always rushes guests through. 

Our final stop was Mitad del Mundo, a touristic complex at the location identified as the equator by a 1736 French scientific expedition.  The expedition is the subject of The Mapmaker’s Wife, a non-fiction book that I started reading on the plane ride to Quito, but would not finish until several days after our return to the U.S.  We started our time at Mitad by climbing the monument tower.  Unfortunately, the exertion of climbing stairs before we had adjusted to Quito’s altitude just about did P and I in and we were not able to enjoy any of Jose Luis’s narration.  D did his best to listen, while I took P right back down the stairs (at his request).  From there, we were supposed to have free time to explore, but after eating popsicles, which, incidentally, did wonders for our headaches, we were too exhausted for further exploration.  Thus, my dream of drinking a cocktail on the equator was crushed, but it was probably for the best given the aforementioned headache.  As soon as we were outside the complex, we realized that we had left P’s sunhat inside.  D ran back in while P and I did our best to avoid making eye contact with the creepy Mickey Mouse trying to entice tourists for photos.  (He was about as endearing as a Times Square Elmo, but you had to admire the zeal with which courted the few tourists who wandered by).

We headed back to the Swissotel by a slightly more direct route, arriving in time for an early dinner at Sports Planet, a sports bar connected to the hotel.  The food was rather uninspired Tex-Mex, but P was excited to watch soccer while he ate.  After dinner, we went up to the room where we read before going to bed early.  I was happy that I was finally starting to feel better, having realized that much of my “altitude-sickness” was actually dehydration. 

May 9, 2021 (Author: J).

I was able to use miles to book our flight to Ecuador on one of my favorite airlines: JetBlue.  Our flight left from Boston at 2 p.m. and had us arriving in Quito after 10 p.m.  This made for a long travel day, but everything went fairly smoothly.

Although we were not leaving until the afternoon, we still set our alarms so that we could drop our dog and cat off at the pet sitter’s condo by 10 a.m.  The early drop-off worked to our advantage because our airport pickup (booked through Boston Airport Express) arrived early.  Our driver explained that he had another pickup right after us and was worried about the timing.  Since we were all packed and ready to go, we did not mind leaving early. 

Because it was a Sunday morning, there was no traffic on our way to Logan.  We wound up arriving before noon, which gave us more than 2 hours to clear security and make it to our gate.  With no bags to check and no lines at security, all of that time was unnecessary.  After a leisurely lunch at the Mexican restaurant at the airport, we still had more than an hour until boarding.  The airport was not crowded, but we did see many people disregarding mask requirements.  We did our best to give those folks a wide-berth and crossed our fingers that no one was contagious.  We passed the time until boarding looking at the planes, playing cards, and pacing around in the boarding area.  Inevitably, P got antsy, but the excitement of finally going somewhere outweighed his annoyance at having to wait.

Our first flight boarded on time.  Despite reminders to social distance, people still crowded the gate once the first boarding group was called.  Not wanting to be left out of the fun, we stood up and milled about until our group was called.  Once on the plane, I was excited to see that it had features like cabin humidification and touch-screen entertainment.  (I hate the trend towards requiring me to lug multiple devices on a trip so that everyone in the family can be entertained on the flight).  The JetBlue experience was much like it was pre-Covid.  There were still complementary snacks and drinks, as well as food available for purchase.  However, fresh items have been temporarily removed from the menu.  The biggest surprise for me was that I did not have my usual pre-take-off panic attack.  I am usually terrified to fly, but I only felt excitement during this trip.  Perhaps all of the stress of the pandemic used up my reserve of fear.  After a somewhat bumpy flight, we touched down in Fort Lauderdale ahead of schedule.

While Boston had been quiet, Fort Lauderdale was a zoo.  People were packed into the waiting areas and many were not abiding by distancing and mask guidelines.  In fairness, the percentage of non-compliant people was not any higher than in Boston.  It was simply much more crowded, making it hard to avoid all the people wearing their masks on their chins or around their necks.  After about 2 hours, a gate agent called our names and asked us to approach the podium.  When we did so, it was quickly apparent that something was wrong.  The process of checking our passports and Covid documentation took much longer than it should have, leading P to panic that we might be left behind.  (With more than half the passengers queued up behind us, there was no chance of that).  Eventually, the gate agent was able to get our information into the system and we were allowed to board.  But the issues that we experienced were not unique to us.  It turned out that JetBlue’s computers were not working properly, causing a big delay in the boarding process.  Those passengers with proper documentation were all eventually boarded (and those without the required documentation were turned away in tears). 

After the boarding fiasco, we enjoyed a smooth and pleasant flight to Quito.  The captain did his best to make up for some of the lost time in flight and we touched down sometime before 11 p.m.  Customs was painless.  We had to show our Covid documentation again upon arrival and we were then directed to passport control.  In my exhaustion, my DuoLingo Spanish failed me and I started blankly at the passport control agent when she asked how I was doing.  Fortunately, she did not hold it against me and proceeded to stamp our passports and welcome us to Ecuador.

Once we were through customs, we quickly found the driver that I had prebooked through the hotel.  While he spoke limited English, he happily chatted with us in Spanglish throughout the 45 minute drive to the hotel.  P was exhausted by this point and spent the drive snoozing with his face smooshed uncomfortably against the car window.

There was some confusion on arrival because I thought that the hotel would bill us for the ride, while the driver was expecting a payment in cash.  Once that was sorted out, we checked in to our room.  I was pleased to be upgraded to a higher floor, which meant we had views of the surrounding mountains from our window.  After figuring out how to work the blinds, we collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. 

In May 2021, we took a family trip to mainland Ecuador. In this post, we provide an overview of that trip along with tips for visiting Ecuador and traveling during Covid-19. (Author: J).

About The Trip

This trip replaced a long-planned trip to Borneo that was originally scheduled for 2020, then rescheduled for 2021, and is now set for 2022. Once it was clear that Malaysia would not be admitting foreigners this spring, I started researching which destinations were admitting US tourists without a quarantine and also had wild monkeys. The choices were fairly limited and Ecuador ultimately won out over Colombia because it had fancy lodges in its Amazon region. Once it was clear that D and I would be vaccinated by May, we booked the trip. Unfortunately, Ecuador experienced a spike in Covid cases in April and imposed various new restrictions that remained in place for most of our trip.

Itinerary

Because we needed to be in Quito for flights and transfers to the destinations we planned to visit, I designed the trip using Quito as our hub. We started and ended there and returned to Quito in between visiting other destinations. Our 13-night itinerary was:

4 nights in Quito with day trips to sights in the Andes. We stayed at the Swissotel in the La Floresta neighborhood.

4 nights at Napo Wildlife Center in Yasuni National Park in the Amazon region.

1 night old town Quito at Casa Gangotena.

3 nights at in the cloud forest outside Quito. We stayed at Mashpi Lodge.

1 night in Quito. We returned to Swissotel.

Covid Information

Entry to Ecuador: D and I both received 2 doses of the Moderna vaccine before travelling to Ecuador and we had no issue using our vaccine cards to gain entry. Be aware that the cards will be checked both in the US and upon arrival in Ecuador. P, who was 8 at the time of the trip, was not eligible for vaccination. I took him for a rapid antigen test two days before flying to Quito. The test results were also checked in both the US and Ecuador. The officials in Ecuador kept a copy of the test results, but returned our vaccine cards. (Be sure to bring paper copies of all travel documents, with an electronic copy for backup).

Return to US: In order to return to the US, we were required to obtain Covid tests in Ecuador. We used the Medical VIP location at Mariscal Sucre airport (across the street from the airport on the 2nd floor). We arrived 5 hours before our flight to be sure we were able to check in 3 hours before our flight time. The testing process at Medical VIP took about 40 minutes from start to finish and cost $40 per person. They accepted credit cards. American Airlines checked our test results and had us fill in an affidavit before they would issue our boarding passes. (This meant that we could not check in online, something I was unaware of before the trip).

Covid Restrictions: Shortly before our trip, Ecuador announced new Covid restrictions including curfews in certain provinces. We were nervous about how this would impact our trip, but the overall impact turned out to be minimal. We were fortunate to arrive in Quito late on Sunday night, so we missed the weekend curfew. The evening curfew wound up being a nonissue for us because we were so tired after touring that we were always back at our hotel long before 8 pm. The only night where I felt any impact at all was at Mashpi lodge. We did a night hike one evening and had dinner after; since it was after 8 pm, I could not order a glass of wine. (The fact that I even asked about wine at that hour shows how little the restrictions crossed my mind throughout the trip).

Ecuadorians seemed to do a much better job of following mask and social distance rules than what we have experienced here in the U.S. The only time I felt nervous about Covid was in the airport in Fort Lauderdale during our layover on the way to Ecuador. The airport was crowded and there were many people disregarding the mask rules with no apparent consequences.

Health and Safety

Crime: Before travelling, we read a number of alarming reports of crime in Quito. Statistics show that there is a much higher rate of property crime (like theft and mugging) in Ecuador than in the U.S., but a much lower rate of violent crime (like random shootings). For that reason, we did not carry bags when walking around Quito and kept our money in an inconspicuous location (inside raincoat pocket).

Stomach Bugs: Before our trip, I read in various travel guides that the water is safe to drink in Quito. However, our hotels advised against doing so because the mineral content can cause stomach upset. We were not careful about avoiding drinks mixed with water or drinks with ice and that did eventually cause us some issues. I would advise avoiding drinking anything made with water in Quito unless you are sure the water is filtered.

Altitude: Quito is one of the highest capital cities in the world, sitting at around 9,000 feet above sea level. It makes for some beautiful views, but also creates the risk of altitude sickness. We all did feel the altitude. D and P, who ignored advice to keep hydrated, had a more difficult time than I did.

Overall Rating for Ecuador

We absolutely loved Ecuador. I will honestly admit that we would not have visited but for the pandemic. It is not a destination that was even on our travel radar and the mainland seems to be somewhat underrated as a travel destination. (People within Ecuador seemed very surprised that we were not visiting the Galapagos — almost like it was unheard of to only visit the mainland). But everywhere we went we found beautiful landscapes, friendly people, and great food. Plus the tour providers and hotels went out of their way to make sure P was included and having a good time, down to details like making sure he had his own robe and slippers in every hotel room and recruiting an extra guide to help him locate frogs at Mashpi.