February 4th, 2006

Today was the end of the trip. Sadly, we did not get to se one last bit of scenery or beach, as the people on the Wednesday to Wednesday trip had done. But then, we were farther from the airport. So after packing up the last of our stuff and saying good-byes and thank-yous to the crew, we headed to shore in Puerto Ayora. Janine and Rob had lost their printed tickets, so they went straight to the TAME office to get them reprinted, only a bit nervous. Erica and I took the ½ hour to finally attempt to buy souveniers for ourselves and to take home. Since it was early and not much was open, we went into the first shop we saw, were indecisive for about 20 minutes, then settled on a couple of t-shirts and such. We felt justified when we noticed that all the shops had the same items. From Puerto Ayora we took a taxi to the bus stop, then a bus to the Baltra Airport. We met Rob and Janine at the boat transfer to Baltra, since their tickets had taken a while to print so they had to take a taxi – they beat us there. In the airport, Daphnie got her passport back, and all five of us waited for the plane together. We said good-byes there, since Erica and I were the only ones going to Quito.
Once in Quito there was only a bit of confusion as apparently Zenith Travel had decide to book us a hotel for the night, even though we had a reservation at the hostel we had stayed in before. IT was sorted out and we checked into Posada del Maple before dark, switched our flights to return to Miami tomorrow rather than Sunday, and went out for a bit to check email and get dinner.
Both of us decided today that it was now time to go home. I realized I had the same feeling all of the other trips for the “one extra day” I was going to spend somewhere. Erica pointed out that it was just because there was only a day. If we had planned to spend a chunk of time in Quito (or wherever) it would be like starting another trip, and maybe feel less like we were ready to be home. A note for future travel, I suppose.