Just a note to say that I’ve arrived safely and quickly in Quito on Saturday evening. The flights to Panamá and then to Quito were about half full, no lines, everything clean and it all moved quickly and smoothly. I arrived about 3 hours early for my departure from Boston, but I could have arrived an hour later without any problem! Probably because of much lower volume of flights and passengers, there were no delays - everything moved faster than it usually would have before the pandemic. However, I noticed that while Terminal C at Logan was jammed with flights, Terminal E (which is dedicated to international travel) showed only 2 before 1pm! :
There was contactless checking of boarding passes and social distancing, and everyone’s temperature was checked before boarding. Everyone had masks of course.
I had to fill out a testimony of my health (including an address in Ecuador for contact) while on the flight from Panama to Quito, for the Ecuadorian government. Overall, my covid test documentation was reviewed twice: by the agent at check-in in Boston, and by a nurse immediately after arrival in Quito. Upon leaving the plane in Quito, we were guided into a cordoned off part of the terminal and lined up where a hoard of folks in PPE paired up with each person one-on-one to check documents. They kept the health testimony form, and checked the covid test docs. In any case, in both Boston and Quito, the person just looked over the summary cover page of the covid test, nothing else. There’s really nothing else they could do. As I could have just created and printed those documents myself, it makes me think that it would be very easy to falsify documents!
The approach into Quito around sunset is still one of the most difficult landing patterns for pilots in the world, even with the new airport outside the city limits. But it is always a stunning view, as the clouds settle on and around the Andes mountains that surround Quito, which is held in the valley like in a crib:
I’m well and staying at Vida Verde . Rosa, the owner, is from Chontal and has been a friend and support since my very first solo visit to Ecuador in 2010. I getting to see first hand how things are here and making plans for next steps. I’m also considering getting a covid test again on Wednesday to help give everyone confidence. There’s apparently a lab about a 10-minute walk away where you can get a covid pcr test with 1 to 2-day turnaround for about $65.
Anyway, God bless you, and I’ll add more as things go along!
