Day 10

I was taken to the Cuenca airport around 8am. It was just me and Eduardo on this cold Tuesday morning. Before he dropped me off he told me a man named Wilson Botista would be picking me up at the San Cristobal airport. I asked what he looked like and he said he is a short Ecuadorian that drives a Harley moped. When we arrived to the Cuenca airport he gave me Wilson’s number and said a prayer for me. I hugged him and thanked him for all he had blessed me with.
(Overview of Ecuador)

I arrived in Guayaquil in about 45 minutes. I had about an hour and a half layover before my next flight. Around 11:15am, my second flight took off for Island San Cristobal in the Galapagos. I landed in the Galapagos around 1pm on Denver’s time. As soon as we landed our bags were checked at the airport. My stomach dropped instantly when they asked for the payment to get on the island. It was $100 for US citizens and I had only $63 in cash. I knew it cost to get on the island I just thought I had more cash then that. The lady took my passport and told me to come back tomorrow when I had the money.

My palms began to sweat knowing that I just gave my passport to a lady who doesn’t even speak English. My knees then began to tremble when I walked out of the airport and saw about 40 different short Ecuadorians. Walking around frantically, I just hoped to here someone call out my name in the crowd.

50 minutes went by and the airport began to close down for the day. Everyone had left except 3 workers at the airport bar. For the first time in my life I felt completely alone. Without a phone, without a passport, and without knowing anyone on the island except a guy named Wilson who I don’t even know what he looks like.

Finally when one of the workers was walking to his car I noticed he had a cell phone. I motioned to see if I could use his phone. I called the number Eduardo had given me and was answered by a Spanish accent on the other line.

“Hola,” he answered.

“Hey Wilson this is Daniel,” I spurted out.

“Who?”

“Daniel, I’m Eduardo’s friend.”

“Ohhhhhh”

“Hey I’m at the airport!”

After that he responded with a long Spanish sentence and then hung up.

I wasn’t sure what to do so I sat down on the curb and waited. Sure enough 5 minutes later a little Ecuadorian pulled up on a little Harley moped and shouted “Daniel!”

I got up and ran over to him and gave him a big hug. It was such a relief. He began apologizing for being late but I acted cool like it was no big deal. He explained how he speaks very little English and I explained how I spoke very little Spanish. He motioned for me to hop on the back of his moped. Without knowing what to say since we both spoke different languages it was a quiet ride. With a 6 foot gringo riding on the back of a 5’4” Ecuadorians Harley moped made it quite an awkward ride.

(Wilson and his Harley Dayton Moped)

I realized how nice Wilson was when he took me to his place and made me a ham sandwich and gave me some Oreos. While I was sitting there stuffing myself an Ecuadorian girl in the house asked where I was from. With 2 Oreos in my mouth I muffled out, “The States.”

She replied, “I figured that out but what state?”

I almost choked and responded, “You speak English…like actually good English!”

(Mika and Me)

She laughed and explained how she was going to school for English and then asked if I wanted to go for a walk. She introduced herself as Mikasha but said I could call her Mika. Her English wasn’t that great but I was so excited just to have someone I could actually talk to so we walked for about a mile down to the pier. The pier was beautiful and filled with iguanas, turtles, and sea lions.

(We share a lot in common...)

As soon as we walked back Wilson said he would have breakfast ready at 6am, so I went straight to bed when the sun set. It was a long day.

(San Cristobal)