Leaving Canada

In preparation for leaving Canada for 3 months, I work my butt off.  I am supposed to be going to Ecuador to relax my brain as I have been suffering with post concussion syndrome for the past year after being rear ended in Ottawa.  I am also trying to heal my shoulder that I dislocated when I fell during a dizzy spell and tore the rotator cuff.  I am actually here now and am so so happy.  I actually have time to sit and write.  That would not have happened at home.

I think I will be packed weeks in advance but no.  I do make some inquiries into what I can take down with me.  I have an old massage table that I think I will take down as I hope to be retiring soon.  Massage is hard on this old body.  I try to get a hold of Air Canada but am put on hold for over an hour and hang up.  I text a friend who works in the Soo at Air Canada and ask her about taking down the massage table and she says it will be fine if it is under 50 pounds and I did weigh it in at 40 pounds so I figure I am good.  I am not taking it down to work and make money but I know me and every other time i am down there, I feel sorry for someone in pain and give them a treatment but it is always on a kitchen counter or a bed and it is really no good for my back. 

The table is all ripped and I call Soo Tent and Awning to buy some fabric to recover it and figure I will trade with and Ecuadorian person who can cover my table and I will massage them.  Soo Tent and Awning is closed. But Deboer Upholstery has taken over the inventory.  So I call and talk to a man and explain what I would like to do and he says, I will cover your table.  My wife needs a massage so this is awesome.  I explain that it will have to wait till i return and he is fine with that.  He does an amazing job.  Looks like new.  And then my table carrying case has a broken zipper and he fixes that.  Wow, loving this guy.  And then my face cradle is broke and he fixes that. He really is perfect.  He tells me that he and his wife are interested in Ecuador and I tell him I will come over when I get back and tell them all about it.  Then I find out his wife is an old high school friend.  Love the coincidences in this world.  Got a feeling they will be joining me down in Ecuador next year.  They lived for awhile in Mexico so already speak Spanish.

Then my physiotherapist friend tells me I really need to take down my bike.  It only costs $50 and I can get a free bike box at the bike stores.  It would be most awesome to have a bike down there. I haven't actually ridden my bike in years but..................... this is a new adventure.  Beventure. So I call Air Canada again and am told that Due to the high quantity of callers, I will  have to wait 2 hours.  No frigging way.  So I text my Air Canada friend and she says she doesn't know but will check it out and get back to me.  She texts me a couple of days before I leave and tells me yes, I can bring it for $50 if it is 50 pounds.  It is only 40 so I load the box up with some other stuff. 

At this point I should mention that my brother Vern is driving me to the airport.  The first time I came to Ecuador was in  and he was with me. We had weighed my luggage the night before with his little weigh machine and I was just a little under. Hes picking me up at 3 in the morning. I had the brilliant idea to go get a few food items to pack in the luggage.  The last trip i had to Cuba with Celia, there was no restaurant open in the town we were in and no place to buy food but I had taken down snacks so we ate all the rest of our food and drank the booze we had left on our balcony and she was thankful that I had brought some food.  Of course, all week she had made fun of me for bringing food. So Vern picks me up, we get to the airport, and I weigh in at 70 pounds.  OMG, Vern is furious.  He is losing his mind.  He had weighed me the night before, what did i do.  So we open my luggage in the middle of the airport and the Air Canada guy is laughing at us and we transfer some over to Vern's luggage as he was under. He still to this day bugs me about this.  I had even brought limes down as I wasn't sure if they would have it for my gin.   Low and behold they grow everywhere there and you can get a huge bag for $2.  I think I paid almost a dollar each.  Oh well, live and learn.  This time everything is weighed in at 50 pounds.

Vern is driving me to the airport , we are almost there, and my phone rings.  It is my friend at Air Canada who apologizes but she has made a mistake.  It is only $50 if it is your 2nd piece of luggage.  If it is your 3rd, it is $235 plus $50.  “What”, I scream, Vern looks at me. “No, my old bike is not even worth that.  And I have a whole bunch of important stuff that I need packed around it.”  I am begging, “please, fix this problem, I will give you a great massage when I get home.  2 massages but this has to work”.  Brother Vern is trying to remain calm driving but is shaking his head.  Omg not again. My friend says, “this is my fault, just get here and I will fix it.  Wait till you see a girl with blonde hair at the counter”.  My friend was working upstairs.  Boy am I glad she is working!!!  We get there and wait and wait and the plane is loading and no blondie.  Then I see her, thank God.  She is talking with the blonde girl and tells me to wait a minute.  They are on the computer at the counter.  Apparently there is a computer glitch going on and they cannot add my bike.  She calls me up and says,” I cannot charge you, we cannot make it work so just go and we will get it on”.  She asks if it is overweight and I joyfully say no, I sure made sure of that at least.  Another disaster has been successfully avoided. 

 

I am not quite sure why I manifest this amount of excitement in my life.  But am really, really happy having my table and my bike down here. That is a whole other story of getting a massage table, a bike, a large suitcase, a small suitcase,  a backpack, and a pillow into those small Ecuadorian taxis.  But they are happy to do it.  No problemo. Everything arrived perfect.  Thank you Air Canada. Or I should say, employees of Air Canada.

Planning the trip to Ecuador

Last year I heard that Air Canada was flying direct into Ecuador.  This was such great news.  On both other trips to Ecuador, we had to fly into either Peru, Columbia, or Houston to get here and it always had long layovers somewhere.  This time it was a direct flight from Toronto to Quito with a short layover from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Toronto. I decided I would go for 3 months.  I have never had 3 months off since I was 20 and went to Europe for a year.  OMG this was so exiting. Air Canada was promoting this new service to Ecuador!! I posted the Air Canada Sale to Ecuador on Facebook.  It was to ending that night.  I received a phone call from a friend whose father was from Ecuador down in the South close to Peru by Loja.  I said I would like to go down to the south of Ecuador and we made a quick decision to travel together.  It was a part of Ecuador that I really wanted to see. I helped her book her flight and get the seat right next to me.  How fun.  The universe does provide in amazing ways.  A couple of hours later another friend called up saying that was an incredible deal for Ecuador and she joins us as well.  The next morning another friend has joined up and we have a whole crew going down but all 3 only booked a week.  One girl wanted to see the mountains, one wanted to see a beach, and one wanted the Amazon.  Wow , that's a little too much to do in a week. We had a little pot luck planning evening and they decided that yes 2 weeks would be better. 

For the next few months, I would alleviate my winter blaws but looking up cool things to do on Google.  Or perhaps I should say looking up warm things to do.  I can't stand winter anymore. But honestly, how did we ever do anything before Google.  I honestly don't know. I had such fun finding places to stay, joining Facebook groups in the area we were planning to go to.  Chatting with people online.  Met a writer who lives in Thunder Bay Ontario and  spends 3 months in Ecuador every winter with his wife  That is the maximum time you can stay in Ecuador 90 days, and then you have to get an extended visa which will cost a minimum of $135. He
had bought some property in Malacatos and was having a house built for him which he hoped would be ready when he got down there.  Pretty exciting.  I learned of a town right beside there that is known to be the sacred Valley of Vilcabamba where everyone lives till 100.  Ok I am in for that.  He told me of a yoga retreat that I should stay in. Yes, sounds awesome and the prices are totally within my meager budget.  This is what gets me though the winter until we go. Remember that winter starts in October sometimes in northern Ontario where I live.

And I have 2 other friends call up and say they want to come down in February to do some serious R& R on the beach.  OK, so I book a 3 bedroom condo in Crucita, the lovely little fishing village that I have stayed in previous visits down.  I am hoping at this time that my children will come down for March break.  So I figure, I get all that Canadian energy out travelling up in the mountains with the first 3 girls for a couple of weeks and then just chill on the beach  with the other 2 girls.  Perfect.

Then the first incident happens.  My very good friend Dar, one of my travelling companions, so I thought, fell speed skating and broke her ankle fairly seriously.  She could not make the decision if she would be able to go for awhile to see if she was going to heal properly. I would seriously miss her.  But everything does happen for a reason, so I continue to plan.  Then my friend Peggy has a serious family situation going on and will have to put off the trip till next year.  Oh my, they are dropping like flies.  And then the last girl cancels as she had thought we were doing a group trip and she was just a little nervous.  She has probably heard about my Beventures, I assume.  I always have fun but things do come up.  Wow now there is only me.  Well, that is what I thought it was going to be when I booked the trip so whatever will be will be. I am still enjoying the planning, but wait a minute.  We had booked in January because my one friend is an accountant and could not go in February as it is her busy season.  But I could indeed go in February.  I was going for 3 months, yippee, so I would rather go February, March, and April and come back in May.  I remember last year it was still snowing May 1st so I do not want to come home to snow after 3 months of warmth.

Now another friend Celia, who is going to retire this year tells me she will join me in April if I have decided to stay that long because she will be finished work then.  Yahoo.  Sure lets do it.  Perfecto.  She wants to see the cloud forest and the bird sanctuary and the Amazon. So my plan is now to go down at the end of January, go to Crucita and relax on the beach till the end of March and then in April travel up the Andes mountains, stopping at the sacred Valley, going to some coffee and chocolate plantations, visiting Loja, and Cuenca which is a UNESCO heritage site known for its amazing Spanish architecture , meet my friend in Quito, go to Mindo and the Amazon and then I will fly back with her. She books her flight on her own and tells me she is staying till May 2nd.  I change my flight to go down January 29th and fly home May 2nd.  Feeling good about this until I realize , oh no, That makes it 94 days.  Shoot, now I will have to pay another $135 US. And the changes to Air Canada are $150.  My cheap trip is adding up.

Now I get a message from my friend Blu from Cincinnati,  who was to join us in February on the beach.  She came down the last time I was here and we had so much fun. She fell over her dog during the night and broke her ankle very bad.  She ended up have pins and plates put in.  What is going on in the Universe now!!!! Enough is enough really. I was so looking forward to dancing on the street with her again.  Argggghh.

At a breakfast club meeting a short time after, people were asking me of the upcoming trip and I was telling them all about the plans when one of the girls said, I would like to come.  I replied, well, come.  She did not want to do the R & R on the beach.  But she loved the idea of hiking in the mountains.  So we had a couple of nights planning over a glass of wine.  We figured out some things we would like to do.  Then she would fly out on the 23rd of April when I was picking up Celia at the Airport.  Perfect again. I had someone to travel with in April.  All is good.
Well not so good, as her very good friend has just dies and she must cancel and is arranging the Celebration of Life. 

Well, that makes 5 people who have cancelled.  But there are still 2 coming and the trip goes on.  Wow. Everything happens for a reason, we just have no idea what that reason is.  But I guess it is not up to us.