Quito to Panama City - via Miami

Ecuador has been another fantastic country to travel in They're spoiled with so much beautiful nature and wildlife - volcanoes, hot springs, green rolling hills, cloud forests, beaches, lots of coastline and an abundance of wildlife in Galapagos - and the people are also very friendly. We simply loved Galapagos it's definitely a special place, so much wildlife on land and under water - everywhere. There are many more places to see in Ecuador and it's definitely very likely that we'll come back another time to see more of this interesting and lovely country.

The taxi driver who dropped us off at the hostel a couple of days ago kept his promise. His car was parked outside the hostel so when we got out the gate, he woke up and helped us with the luggage. Then we could take a nap as he sped through empty Quito at 5 AM in the morning towards the airport. We made it there in good time, got rid of our big luggage and through security and waited for our flight.

It left on time, our take off and ascend not as turbulent and bumpy as in La Paz but still quite "choppy". Seems to be the case here in South America when you fly out of the airports surrounded by mountains. The rest of the flight was without any other problems and we touched down on time in Miami airport having this weird feeling just having flown straight over Panama City and two hours north. After the mandatory but now automated immigration process we sat down for some lunch and relaxed the rest of the afternoon in the airport buying a few English language books and magazines.

Our flight back to Panama City was slightly delayed and turned out to be really bumpy, our plane constantly changing course trying to steer clear of the most turbulent areas. We arrived an hour later than scheduled in Panama City. There were no problems getting through immigrations even though we had heard a lot of stories about people being denied entry to the country because they didn't have a proof of a return ticket or other means of transportation leaving Panama. The officer at the desk just took our passports, looked at us and stamped them. "Welcome to Panama".

Then we got a taxi to the hostel and were greeted by the owner. Out hostel just informing us a few days earlier about their relocation so everything seemed brand new. A big flat with only seven rooms and dorms. We got an upgrade to our own big private room and went to bed - tired from an early start and travelling all day.

5 AM taxi

Going beyond Panama city - and back

Touchdown Miami

And back to Panama city