Samuel and Ben are here!!

Susan and I were quite worried last night because we had not heard from the boys since they left Las Cruces on Tuesday afternoon. During that time they were supposed to have arrived in Albuquerque [where we had reports of icy roads], gone to a hotel [with wi-fi], and then flown from Albuquerque to Quito, via Dallas and Miami. Then today they were supposed to travel on to Cuenca where we are.

Along the way there should have been several places where they could have sent an e-mail via Ben’s laptop, but we received no messages whatsoever. Finally, this morning I went to a commercial phone place and called the Quality Inn in Albuquerque to see if the boys had checked in there on Tuesday. They said that they had checked in, and then checked out the next morning. This made me feel a lot better, because I felt that the trip from Las Cruces to Albuquerque was the riskiest part of the trip, at least as far as safety goes.

Still, they should have been able to e-mail us from the hotel in Quito where I had made reservations for them, and we didn’t receive anything this morning. Finally, about 1:00 p.m. today the phone rang, and it was Samuel, in a taxi with Ben, looking for our apartment. I waited on the corner, and a few minutes later they showed up. It turned out that they made all their flights, but had never gotten to the hotel in Quito. Samuel had written down all the information for the trip, then left it in the pickup in Albuquerque. Fortunately he had our phone number and address in more than one place [in an e-mail, which he was barely able to access this morning], and they were able to find our apartment.

It was such a relief to us for them to arrive, especially after so much uncertainty. Thanks to Samuel’s Spanish skills, they found a different hotel last night and then flew on down to Cuenca today. I should note here that Samuel and Ben were also very relieved to find US. They felt that last night in Quito was a lot more risky than the drive to Albuquerque, but we are glad that we had no clue what problems they were dealing with there. Samuel talked to several cab drivers and was taken to a hotel that met their needs, although the beds were not comfortable, and a dog started screaming about 4:30 this morning. Samuel said that it was several minutes before he was sure that it was a dog and not a person. I hope that they are tired enough to go to bed early and adjust quickly to this time zone.

On a different note, here are a couple more pictures from our apartment. This one is looking east and a little south from our apartment.

And this one is looking to the west, up into the mountains where our water comes from.

Although we are at 8400 feet of elevation here, Cuenca is the local low spot, with mountains most of the way around us.