January 25 – We’ve got birds here

Our last night in South America was quiet. Kathleen and I had our room in Hotel Sebastian, Quito until 2pm check-out time. I worked on the blog while Kathleen re-organized our belongings for the flights back to the U.S. We would fly out of Quito to Panama City, and then on to Los Angeles.

Around noon, Kathleen and I went to a restaurant for our last meal in South America. As we ate we looked outside and saw a couple with their backpacks walking down the sidewalk hand-in-hand. They were looking about with faces of awe. They were just starting out. Good for them!

By 1:30pm we were checking out. We were only charged $104 for our palatial suite! Actually, the room was $75; the taxes jacked the price to $104.

In the air terminal we had little effort with security and noticed the waiting area was full of English-speakers heading home as we were. We boarded our first leg of the trip and backed out of the gate spot on time.

Our flight into Panama City was ordinary. Fortunately, we exited the plane at one gate and only had to walk across the waiting area to our next gate. However, here was where Kathleen and I knew we were bound for the U.S. We had our bags searched and received a pat-down frisking.

Panama City to Los Angeles was another uneventful flight. We arrived in LAX where the Customs officer asked why we were in South America. “To look at birds”. “We’ve got birds here” was his reply. To that, Kathleen and I almost responded harmoniously, “Not like anything down there”. The grandfatherly gentleman smiled and nodded in agreement as he handed back out passports.

We stepped outside the LAX terminal and noticed the stark difference in temperature. Only 10-hours earlier we had been experiencing equatorial temperatures in the 80’s. Now, at 12:30am on January 26th, we in the lower 50’s waiting for a shuttle to Kathleen’s mothers’ house. Our trip was over.