Mixed Emotions

Here we are, fourteen months later, on a Delta flight from Atlanta Georgia, at 9:00pm getting ready to land in Quito Ecuador. We were thrilled to be arriving in Quito only 5 hours and 25 minutes after we left! We found a great airfare on a non-stop flight. Now this is the life! Despite the good feelings about the easy flight, Ken and I were both experiencing mixed emotions about this trip back to Ecuador. For me, the realization that this would be the longest separation from the kids and grandchildren was weighing on me heavily, and was impacting Ken some too. After the long time away, was the bloom off the rose for us in Ecuador? We were dreading the thought of having to deal with immigration again in our effort to obtain our cedula, the national ID card. We were headed to the Hotel Bonanza, home to Nora, the facilitator we hired to complete our visa, and her husband Patrick. Dealing with Patrick via email over the past few months had not always been easy, and at times, down right bewildering. To their credit, Nora and Patrick seemed to have done the impossible, completed our visa. Now, we were dependent on them again to get this last step finished. We determined to be pleasant and cordial no matter what the circumstances. Ken's back was in bad shape, and I primarily was handling the carry-ons and the four overweight suitcases while he was being escorted in a wheelchair. We burst through the doors after going through immigration, relieved that our residency visa allowed us to move ahead through the resident's line. Standing there holding a sign that said "Leanne" was a pleasant looking man with a big smile. It was Patrick standing next to his wife's cousin, Ishmael. Patrick is from the US, and his wife Nora, is originally from Ecuador. They met and married in Florida, and returned to Ecuador 8 years ago with their young son Nicholas. Patrick was pleasant, helpful, and wouldn't let Ken or I touch a piece of luggage. It was surprisingly warm for an Andean evening and we learned we were their first guests to ride in their new, large, VW van. We chatted easily and arrived at the hotel about 15 minutes later. The large doors surrounding the hotel opened to reveal a large, lovely garden area,easy to distinguish despite the darkness. We were led to an outside room off the porch and gulped when the door opened to reveal a double bed. This was going to be a loonnnng night! Surprisingly, despite the undersized bed, we slept fairly well, at least for a little while. Right on cue, the Ecuadorian sun rose at 6:10am, and much to our surprise, shone down on us, startlingly us awake. Over our bed was a large, and I mean large skylight! We looked at each other and wondered aloud how long was this cedula process going to take?!