While the pictures load at the bottom of the page, I hope you enjoy reading Part X of my journal of our trip to Ecuador.

My Journal of Our 1997 Trip to Ecuador
-- by Donna R. Carter

---

~*~ Part X ~*~

The Final Chapter: The Trip Home
Thursday/Friday, January 1-2, 1998

As we stepped out on the tarmac to board the plane, I looked to my right and Cotopaxi was clear and watching me with it's crocodile eye. I was humming "Jet Plane" ... and choking up with tears.

I walked up the steps as I said "goodbye" to Pichincha, and Cotopaxi. The other mountains were clouded in. Smoke was still pretty thick in the air over the city from the viejos burning the night before. I wondered which direction we would take off and if I would be able to see Pichincha from the plane or not.

We took off toward Cotopaxi and swung around to the left... I was sitting on the right side of the plane and I bit my lip, mentally saying "Goodbye" as I watched Pichincha rush past while the plane took off... then we circled to where I could see Cotopaxi ... and I thought "Goodbye" again ... tears were clouding my vision a bit ... I wiped them away. A lump that felt like the size of Punta Súa was in my throat. We rose above the clouds and swung around to the left ...

and, by God, if I didn't start crying then for real... There before me Antisana was sticking out above the clouds .... and Cayambe too .... !! I felt like they got up to say "goodbye" to me... I felt like I was being ripped from my home. I ached to stop the plane and get off ... I wanted desperately to grab them and take them with me ... but instead, I watched them and sniffled and gazed at them until I got a crick in my neck from twisting to see them out the tiny plane window as we left them behind and the tail of the plane got in the way and I could see them no longer.

By that time the only "goodbye" I could say was in a whisper, and Melissa reached over and patted me on the arm and said, "It's okay, mom ... you'll be okay... I'm going to miss Ecuador too!" and her eyes filled with tears as well.

Jeff gently reminded me that I wouldn't have to wait another 18 years before we'd come back again -- we plan to go back in just a few years next time around.
....
The plane stopped in Bogota and everyone had to disembark. We sat in Bogota for about half an hour (if that) and then re-boarded the plane and flew on to Newark, NJ where the first item on the agenda was to get to the bathroom ... (and what a difference those bathrooms were!! {grin} Melissa asked me if it really was okay to throw the toilet paper in the toilet now ... and it flushed all by itself ... ALL THE WAY DOWN! {laugh}

Walking back into the baggage claim ... everyone spoke English!

Jeff got our baggage (on two big carts) while I took Melissa to the bathroom, and when we wheeled the carts toward customs, we were waved through without a glance. (Gee, I could have kept those beautiful roses whole! {sigh})

We had no American money, so Jeff had to find an ATM machine. It was about 3:30 when we got off the plane, by now it was 4:30 or 5:00. Melissa and I sat down while he went to the ATM machine and found two cabs to take us to the hotel we had to stay in overnight since there were no connecting flights to Grand Rapids that day.

Once we arrived at the Airport Days Inn ... we had supper in their dining room ... and we all commented about how light pink the tomatoes were, and how white the potatoes were and how bland the food tasted and how polluted the air smelled and how flat everything was and how brown and drab things looked in the winter after having been immersed in Ecuadorian food and air and lush green mountains...

Our flight left at 6 the next morning, so we had to be up early and get to the airport in time. The hotel van took us to the airport and we checked in without much ado. We got on the plane and watched, wincing, while they WHACKED our luggage onto the ramp to load it onto the plane.... [Several of the pottery pieces ended up broken, but I was able to mend most of them (even invisibly) without too much trouble... however, there were a few pieces we had to count as lost, which was a disappointment.]

We connected in Cleveland to another flight -- not quite the little puddle jumper we'd been on going to Cleveland from Grand Rapids on the way out, but still pretty small. It didn't take long to get to Grand Rapids and as we landed, the scenery was all white and brown and I noticed the difference in how they farm: In Ecuador, they have small lots of different crops and they rotate crops... in the U.S. they have huge long lots and they always plant the same crop and they don't rotate ... I wondered allowed if they couldn't use some re-learning to go back to the old ways and rotate crops and allow some fallow land to get the minerals back into the soil... and I betted the food would taste better.

We got off the plane in Grand Rapids and it wasn't as cold as we had expected it to be. We picked up our luggage and Jeff went out to get the car which he'd parked at the far lot for the duration. He brought the car back and after a few attempts, we realized there was no way we could fit all the stuff *and* ourselves into the car... so we hired a taxi, put some of our stuff in it, and Melissa and I went home in the taxi while Jeff drove home in the car, loaded to the gills with our bags.

By the time the cab got home, Jeff had unloaded much of the car into the livingroom already, and before I went inside, the cab driver and he finished unloading the cab and putting it in the livingroom as well ... needless to say, the livingroom was full.

We paid the cabby, and went inside. Yeah, it was nice to be home ... but what a job to try to get everything back to some semblance of normalcy!!

...so, now we're back to the mundane of life, getting re-settled and looking forward to our next big trip to Japan ... next year? ... but what will we do with all the stuff we bring back from THERE??????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ fín ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---

Goodbye!!!

---

Thanks for reading my trip journal -- I hope you've enjoyed it. I tried to give you the full picture of what we saw and how it went. I know I've probably left parts of the trip out and forgotten more than I wish I had already ... but it has been nice for me to go through it all again for/with you all.

-- Donna (Cole) Carter
MK - HCJB - Ecuador
1964-1979
AA '80

---

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Lindo Quito de mi vida, luz divina sin querer~
~Es la tierra mas querida donde sue~a la mujer~

~Lindo Quito de mi vida, yo te canto con amor~
~Lindo Quito de mi vida, yo te canto con amor~

~Es la tierra de mi vida donde llora el rondador~
~Es la tierra bendecida, Capital del Ecuador~

~Es todo lo que quiero en mi presente,~
~No tenga ocaso el sol de tus amores~
~Y cual es un cordero seguirte dulcemente~
~por esa senda de estrellas y de flores.~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Back to my Main Ecuador Page

---