Last Bag

We're now in Lima -- made it here about 4:30pm local time this afternoon. We cut it suuuuuper close getting to the Guayaquil Airport earlier today. 

We exited our Guayaquil hotel about 11:30am; the hotel shuttle wasn't around, and so we opted to take a taxi to the airport. But, you know, it takes a little while to find a taxi willing to throw an extremely large board bag on its roof. We managed to find one, and Tim quickly tied his board bag on.

We got to the airport, and were reminded by LatAm staff that we needed to complete a health authorization form before getting on the plane to Peru. Ugh! Completing that dang form took us longer than it should have -- and we had to complete a form for all four of us. At one point, a LatAm employee came over to us and said, "You have to be done. We have to process you now." Once we had electronic copies of the completed health form, we could move through the ticketing process.

We got our boarding passes and a ticket agent printed our bag tags. The agent tied a 'Last Bag' sticker onto our blue duffel bag (gulp -- just made it). As we've discovered during our Ecuador airport visits, Tim has to go to a separate cashier line to pay for his board bag. Once he did that, we could finally enter the security line.

We passed through Migration and then security, and then we were spit out right at our gate. Although people were already boarding, I took our remaining Ecuadorian coins and ran to find some food for us. A can of Pringles chips and small bites from Cinnabon later (I'm not proud), and we were boarding the plane.

*****

Our alarms are set for 3am tomorrow. Our flight takes off from Lima to Iquitos at 5:30am -- and we're not taking any chances with that flight. Iquitos is the gateway to Peru's Amazon; it's the largest city in the world not accessible by road -- you can only get there via plane or boat. 

From Iquitos, we'll take a four-hour boat ride to the Tahuayo Lodge, an eco-lodge deep in the Amazon Rainforest. 

Here's what I know about the Tahuayo Lodge so far:

• There are no hot showers, only cold showers. Evidently, in the Amazon rainforest, water heated to 30-33 degrees Centigrade would become a soup of mycobacteria. If aerosolized by a shower head, the bacteria can be inhaled into the lungs and cause a serious, tubucular-like pulmonary infection. (I mean, who knew?)
• If we request laundry service, our clothes will be laundered in a traditional jungle fashion, beaten on logs, and then hung out to dry by the sun (maybe it'll do wonders for my running clothes?)
• There's no air conditioning
• The biodiversity will be stunning

We're pumped! Can't wait to get out there and see it all. We're fairly certain we won't have WiFi out in the jungle, so we'll post again once we re-emerge from rainforest living. 

The Galapagos: A Post by Taylor

My favorite part about the Galapagos was all the sea lions. The sea lions were all over town. They would sleep by curbs and on benches and they would sometimes block the bridge so we had to go down on the sand. One time, there was this crazy sea lion who would not let anybody cross the bridge. We tried to get up, but he started chasing us down. When other people wanted to get up, he would chase them away. He would chase other people away and wouldn't let them cross the bridge, until finally he gave up.

There also was another time where a sea lion we named Magical Houdini got on a bridge that wasn't connected to anything, so even humans couldn't get on. We never saw him get on or off, so we still don't know how he did it.

At the beach, we could go swimming with the sea lions. They would play in the water and brush up against humans. They had pups all season long, so there were a lot of baby sea lions trailing behind their moms. 

The Galapagos will probably be one of my favorite memories from our trip.

A group of sea lions sleeping together by the bridge.

The Galapagos: A Post by Wyatt

My favorite part of the Galapagos was my birthday. I loved the sea lions! A sea lion touched me in the water. I saw a blue-footed booby, sea lions, nazca booby, a red-footed booby, hammerhead shark, giant sea turtles, and a marine iguana. I loved the Galapagos and didn't want to leave.

Mr. Books

When we arrived in Guayaquil yesterday from the Galápagos, I had one mission: Find Mr. Books. Mr. Books is the Ecuadorian equivalent of Barnes & Noble. 

Here's the deal: My Kindle died on January 3 -- the first full day of our trip. I had charged that sucker before we left and loaded a few new books on it. And it crapped out on me in Quito. I should have seen it coming; I'd had the device for close to 10 years and it was running more and more slowly. But go figure that this most important possession would bite the dust on the first day.

I definitely freaked out in our Quito hotel. "Ohmygosh! What am I going to do??!! Can I find another Kindle here? Could I get Amazon to deliver?" You would have thought my world was ending. It's just that I HAVE to read, and I have to read especially before falling asleep at night. Tim told me to chill, and we left the hotel to walk around Old Town Quito.

Well, the book gods were looking out for me that day, because as we walked around Old Town Quito, we walked right by the English Bookstore. It's a bookstore that literally sells English books -- all used. I bought myself Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses (highly recommend) and we went on our way. In hindsight, I should've bought myself a few books...but I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Cut to Taylor. This girl reads. She packed three fairly thick books for the trip, and she read them all in the span of two weeks. Then she started on Wyatt's books, and while we were on San Cristóbal Island, she finished those. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree: "What am I supposed to read now? I don't have anything to read!" 

So by the time we landed in Guayaquil yesterday, Taylor and I were itching to get ourselves some new books. Lucky us, our hotel was right across the street from Mall del Sol, a huge shopping mall, and there was a Mr. Books inside! We chose Mr. Books because we knew there was an English section, and that section did not disappoint. There were even children's and young reader books in English.

Sweet, sweet victory. We all got ourselves some new books -- Wyatt, too; and Tim bought a Lonely Planet Peru book -- and left very happy campers/readers. Fingers crossed we'll be set for the next 26 days.

Galápagos Islands: Part Dos

I'm writing this post from Guayaquil, which feels quite grungy after our time on San Cristóbal Island -- and I think it's just a grungy city in general. We're all in a bit of a post-Galápagos funk. Wyatt curled up in bed this morning at our Airbnb apartment back on the island -- and just did not want to pack his bag or leave all the sea lions. But leave we did, after one more breakfast of fresh bread, hard-boiled eggs, some instant coffee, and orange juice.

Umm, can we keep this view somehow?

We so enjoyed our last couple of days on San Cristóbal. A swell came in and Tim caught some excellent waves on Friday and Saturday. Tim and Wyatt rented snorkeling gear from our buddy Junior at Scuba Eden and went snorkeling. Taylor and I went on a walk and found a new ice cream shop (priorities). We went swimming off Playa Mann. We watched more sea lions, which never gets tiring. And we celebrated Wyatt's 9th birthday on Saturday!  

Nine!

We had hoped to visit at least one other island while we were in the Galápagos. But it didn't happen, and we're ok with that. Had we taken the ferry to Santa Cruz, which has about 30,000 residents, we felt like we would've walked through all the tourist traps in town, and it would have looked like a souped-up version of San Cristóbal. Some of the islands are best known for their dive spots, and we don't dive. We could've visited Espanola (a two-hour boat ride away) on Saturday, but that was Wyatt's birthday and he wanted to spend his day at the beach.

But we got to live on San Cristóbal for over a week, and for that, we are immensely grateful. We got to know the town, we got to see the same people over and over again (a great study in human behavior 😉), we made friends with Junior, we got to know some of the sea lions -- I mean, it really was perfection. The kids completely relaxed -- no more big city anxieties to deal with on a remote and not-well-populated island.

Hi. I'll just be here forever.

We loved, loved, loved the Galápagos. It is a magical place on earth, and we will treasure our memories and photos from there.

So, now, we're in Guayaquil for one night. Tomorrow, we head to Lima -- again for one night. And then Tuesday, we go to Peru's Amazon. We don't anticipate having internet access in the Amazon, so you might not hear from us for a week. No doubt we'll have lots to share after February 8.

Climbing on the rocks at Playa Mann.

Just swingin' at The Pier, a restaurant where we had a Saturday afternoon snack.

Busy writing and drawing at The Pier.

After The Pier, we had to hit the playground.

More sea lions! Do we have to leave them?!! Here, a mother feeds her youngster.

Our home while on the island. Our apartment is the door on the far right.

Galápagos Islands: Part One

We're staying in the Galápagos for nine days -- it's our longest stretch in one place over the course of our 55-day trip. We figured if we were going to plop down for a while somewhere, this would be the best place to do it -- and it really has been incredible.

The Galápagos Islands, known as the Enchanted Islands, are an archipelago of volcanic islands 600 miles off the west coast of Ecuador. There are 15 main islands, three smaller islands, and numerous rocks and islets. Only five of the islands are populated: Baltra, Floreana, Isabela, Santa Cruz, and San Cristóbal (total population of all five: 50,000). We're staying on San Cristóbal Island (population 8,000), in one of the very few Airbnbs here. 

About 97% of the Galápagos' land area has been designated a national park, and the 27,000 square miles of ocean surrounding the islands has been declared a marine reserve (second in size only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef). 

And I just have to say -- this part of the world lives up to its hype.

But first, let's talk about how we got here. Upon arrival at the Guayaquil Airport, we had to show proof of vaccination and negative COVID tests. We also had to purchase a Transit Control Card, on which we would provide details of our visit to San Cristóbal. All of our bags had to pass a biosecurity screening to make sure we weren't bringing any harmful organisms; the food I had purchased from the Guayaquil grocery store was flagged and inspected by hand. After all of this 'special' stuff, we made our way through the regular airport screening.

The flight itself was almost two hours. Upon landing at the San Cristóbal Airport (which is very small), we had to turn in our Transit Control Card and pay the National Park entry fee -- $300 for all of us ($100 for adult foreigners, $50 for child foreigners). Once again, we had to send our bags through a biosecurity screening. After that, we were home free!

We were picked up at the airport by our Airbnb hosts; five minutes later, we'd reached the Galeodan Suites. We highly, highly recommend staying at the Galeodan Suites if you ever visit San Cristóbal: www.galeodan.com. A family built and runs these Suites; mom is from the Galápagos, and dad is from Ireland. The family lives here, too, and makes sure all of us guests are comfortable. We have a two-bedroom apartment for our stay -- and it feels great to have a little more space for a while (and a dedicated clothesline!). We are staying in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the main port of San Cristóbal and the provincial capital of Galápagos.

After receiving our Galeodan orientation, we changed out of our shoes and put on flip flops -- and took a five-minute walk to Playa Mann, the closest beach. And...wow, just wow. There were sea lions ALL OVER. Sea lions in the water, on the rocks, on the sand. Adult females, adult males, youngsters, and pups. They. Were. Everywhere. It was the coolest, and the kids basically lost their minds (Taylor and Wyatt are animal crazy, and Wyatt's favorite animals are sea lions). From Playa Mann, we walked to another nearby beach -- Punta Carola. More sea lions, plus marine iguanas. 

Sea lions! Everywhere!

At Playa Mann

The next day, Saturday, on a walk into town, we saw a blue-footed booby. And we stopped several times to watch the sea lions -- they're enthralling to watch.

On Sunday, we took a taxi (here, they're actually taxi trucks) inland. We wanted to drive across the southern part of San Cristóbal and get a feel for a different area of the island. The landscape changes dramatically as you drive up; down by the ocean, it's like a desert -- quite arid and brown. But up just 200-300 meters, green takes over and the temperatures drop. We drove up to El Junco, the only freshwater lagoon on any island in the Galápagos and the main water source on San Cristóbal. Because it was morning, it was foggy and we didn't have great visibility at El Junco, but we appreciated not having to hike up in the heat.

Hiking up to El Junco

El Junco

From El Junco, we drove to the Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado, the Galápagos tortoise breeding center. It's free to enter, and you follow an 800-meter path through the center, seeing baby tortoises and the super big guys along the way.

All of these pens hold the baby turtles.

Here's a big guy. These tortoises can live up to 200 years.

After getting our fill of tortoises, we drove a few more minutes to Puerto Chino, a beautiful white-sand beach with, yes, lots of sea lions. Unfortunately, this beach also had insane horse flies, and my legs got mauled right and left. From Puerto Chino, we drove back home, and then walked over to Playa Mann for a lazy afternoon at the beach -- with all the sea lions.

Monday was a quiet, gray day. We went for walks, visited Playa Mann, watched sea lions, did laundry, and conquered some schoolwork.

And then Tuesday, we took the famous 360 tour around San Cristóbal. We booked this tour through an agency, Scuba Eden, which we would highly recommend (talk to Junior and Ramiro!). Scuba Eden gave us snorkeling equipment, and we met our National Park naturalist guide (a must when going on any tour) at the pier about 7:30am. From the pier, we took a water taxi to our boat -- the Don Wacho. Our family and three other couples would be taking the tour together. 

The first stop on the tour was Kicker Rock, known locally as Leon Dormido, or the sleeping lion -- because from a certain angle it looks like a sleeping lion. Our guide told us to suit up so we could get in the water and snorkel. Our family was the last to get in the water. Tim went first, followed by Wyatt, me, and then Taylor. We were way out in the ocean, and the water was choppy and about 200 meters deep. Taylor had issues breathing with her mask, and wanted to get back into the boat. I was totally fine to oblige, and so she and I swam back to the boat. We watched as the snorkelers looked at fish AND a hammerhead shark (which I kind of wanted to see, and kind of didn't want to see). We also watched as one poor soul in our group got sick in the choppy water -- this guy continued to be sick throughout the day (#myworstnightmare).   

Leon Dormido

Hanging on the Don Wacho

Can you spot Tim and Wyatt by Kicker Rock? (Me neither.)

From Leon Dormido, we zoomed to Punta Pitt and saw blue- and red-footed boobies and other birds. We then visited another white-sand beach to snorkel and walk around. There, we saw more fish and a ray. After that beach, we motored around the island some more, and stopped in shallow water for lunch. Following lunch, we took the dinghy to the beach and then hiked over volcanic rock to a lagoon where we jumped in for more snorkeling. We saw a giant sea tortoise and several white tipped reef sharks. I was cool after seeing just one shark -- I was set, didn't need to see anymore (#notasharkperson). We got back to Don Wacho and motored the rest of the way around the island, getting back to the port about 4:30pm. It was a very cool day.

Tim was hoping for lots of surf while we were here...but no such luck. Finally, on Wednesday, there were some waves at La Loberia, just outside of the main town. He cabbed over to that beach and caught a few small waves. He went back Thursday for a few more small waves.

Junior from Scuba Eden set us up with a fishing trip on Thursday afternoon. Again, we needed a guide to go with us. Ramiro was our guide, and we went out on the Star Fisher. For the first couple hours, we caught nada. And then, success! We caught three fish -- a barracuda, tuna, and something else.

Fish = caught. You can see Five Fingers in the background -- a large rock that looks like, well, five fingers.

Wyatt reeled this one in. We have no idea what it is.

The pace of this week has been quite slow, but we're good with it. And as I mentioned, this apartment has been a plus. We've been able to have breakfast at home, and not be on top of one another. It is funny though -- it's such a small town, and we keep seeing the same people over and over and over again (namely, this one college student from Michigan who's here on study abroad...along with probably a few dozen other American students).

We're not done with San Cristóbal yet -- we're here till Sunday morning. Gotta get our sea lion fill before moving on. ;)

p.s. -- It took me about three hours (seriously) to upload all these dang photos in this post. The Internet on this island is not the best, you could say. I'll post Part Two about the Galápagos from Guayaquil, where the connection will definitely be better.

A sunset view from our Airbnb

A sea lion on a bench in town.

Sea lions covering a street and sidewalk at night.

A sea lion in front of homes.

Another sea lion on another bench in town.

More sea lions on a walking path. They. Are. Literally. Everywhere. And it's SO cool!

On Hygiene

Yes, we're still in the Galápagos Islands, and will be writing with an update on our time here soon, but I thought you might want to read a post on...hygiene!

We've been on the road now for 24 days, and we already know there will be clothes we'll throw out before heading back to California. Take, for instance, my running clothes. I brought three shorts and three tank tops for our two-month journey -- and each set smells absolutely awful at this point. I just keep wearing and washing, wearing and washing (and it shows). 

I also am always wearing my Athleta clothes: tank tops, long-sleeved shirts, shorts, and leggings. I dig these clothes because they're comfy, they wick away sweat, and after I wash them in the shower, they tend to dry fairly quickly. But these shower washings are getting old (how did -- and do -- people hand-wash ALL their clothes ALL the time?; clearly, I'm a first-world wimp), and honestly, I'm not sure how really clean everything is getting in the shower.

As for the kids, I take their clothes to a lavanderia about once a week or so. Taylor always gives me a good amount of her clothes to get washed...and Wyatt -- well, Wyatt says his clothes are clean and don't need a wash. I had to tussle with him to give me the Eagles sweatshirt he wore every day for the first two weeks of our trip. He obliged, the sweatshirt was washed and dried, and then it went right back on his little body.

These lavanderias are fantastic because they wash, dry, and fold your clothes -- for about $1 per kilo of clothing. But we've learned that the clothes are dried on extreme heat, and Tim and I both don't want that for our clothes. So, I'll stick with the shower washing.

An Ecuadorian lavanderia

Since we've been at the beach for the past week plus, I really couldn't tell you the last time our kids took a shower and washed their hair. When I brought up showers yesterday, Tim told me to chill and "embrace Jersey," a reference to all of his childhood summers spent in the ocean (not in the shower) off New Jersey. I'm embracing as best I can, but dammit, there will be soap and shampoo soon.

We're glad for this stretch of time in the Galápagos, since we can empty out our bags a bit and let our clothes air out. We've appreciated, too, the opportunity to ditch our pants and jackets for a while -- although once we reach the highlands of Peru, those pants and jackets will come right back on. 

All in all, we're mostly kinda clean. And there will be scrubbing of all kinds once we return to California...

16 Hours in Guayaquil

We left Montañita on Thursday afternoon to head back to Guayaquil. We were relieved that our taxi driver drove an SUV – with working air conditioning. Jackpot! Close to three hours later, we arrived at the Courtyard Marriott, where we had stayed overnight just four days prior before driving to the coast.

After checking in to our hotel, I ran across four lanes of traffic – just like the locals – to the grocery store across the street. I loaded up on some snacks for our time in the Galapagos, since we knew that prices in the Galapagos were 2x to 3x more than what they were on the mainland.

Back in our hotel room, the kids begged to go to the gym. Who knew treadmills were so entertaining? We had a quick treadmill sesh and then walked two blocks to dinner. 

The gym at the Guayaquil Courtyard Marriott.

Knowing that parts of Guayaquil just aren’t safe, we made sure to reach our restaurant while it was still light out. The restaurant door was closed, and the chef opened it ever so slightly to douse us with hand sanitizer; then he let us in and closed the door firmly again. 

We were the only patrons in the restaurant the entire time we were there. Tim wasn't sure what he ordered; I ordered what I thought was pork but turned out to be beef; and the kids played it cool with the usual chicken and fries.

Success on the order!

We ate our meal, paid our bill, and the chef escorted us to the front door. Once again, he opened the door just enough for us to slip through. On our way out, he said, "Be careful." 

Our hotel was two blocks away, and we walked in the street -- briskly -- on the way back. 

The next morning, we didn't feel like paying for the Courtyard Marriott breakfast, so we ran across those four lanes of traffic to hit up the nearby gas station convenience shop, which held a Sweet and Coffee, Ecuador's version of a Starbucks. After breakfast, we ran back to our hotel, fired off some homework (albeit with a LOT of complaints), and packed up.

Next stop: Guayaquil Airport --> Galapagos Islands!!

Montanita

After working our way through Ecuador’s mountains, we had to hit the beach! Tim loves incorporating surfing into our family trips, so he booked us a few days in Montañita, a surf town along Ecuador’s coast. Once again, he found us a hotel that did not disappoint: Kundalini Beach Hotel (hostalkundalini.com.ec). We were thankful that Kundalini was a five-minute walk from the main town, because Montañita can get a little cray-cray, especially at night. Case in point: In about five town blocks, there must have been four discotecas (our favorite was Alcatraz – looked to be a few stories high with lots of wire fencing and ‘danger’ signs).

I mean, would YOU want to go dancing here?

We embraced our downtime at the beach. The water was warm, so Tim got to surf and the kids and I played in the waves near shore. We did laundry and restocked on snacks. We played cards. We drank all the delicious Ecuadorian fruit juice.

We also:

1. Visited the local pharmacy to buy more sunscreen. We handed over a $20 to pay. The pharmacist didn’t have enough change, so she gave us 600mg of ibuprofen. Not sure when we’re going to need that big pill, but we’re carting it around nonetheless.

2. Scheduled our COVID tests for entry into the Galapagos via WhatsApp. On the appointed day at the appointed time, a guy in scrubs came to the reception area of our hotel. We paid him cash and spoke through his translator app. He gave us all the saliva test and promised results by 3pm the next day. We weren’t sure what was going to come back, but I’m happy to report by 5:30pm the following day, we had four negative test results.

3. Ate lunch one day off the main street, and were accompanied by a stray cat. The table next to us cut up some fish and put it on a napkin for the cat to eat. We watched the cat suck up all the fish – and the napkin.

Cat just hanging out under our table.

Cat guzzling up its food -- and soon, the napkin.

4. Ate at a ceviche cart (well, Tim did) – one of dozens that littered the Montañita beach. Once again, how do these people make money?! There must have been 25 ceviche carts in a 1200-meter stretch.

Looking over the menu.

Most delicious!

5. Saw cows enter the restaurant attached to our hotel. Yep, hungry cows walked into the restaurant to munch on the decorative plants. Restaurant staff had to keep shooing them away. 

A herd of cows munching on the grass outside the hotel restaurant.

A cow is now in the restaurant. Just another night in Montanita.

Three days was the perfect amount of time in Montañita. I don’t think I could’ve taken the town any more than that – it was kind of like Las Vegas-lite. We got used to it, but it just wasn’t our jam. We learned from our hotel owner that there’s a concerted effort to clean up Montañita (remove trash, plant trees – that sort of thing) and make it more attractive to tourists and beach-goers. Hopefully the clean-up effort is successful, because the area is so beautiful.

Our room at Kundalini. 

Sunset outside Kundalini.

Homework at the beach!

Breakfast on the beach...not too shabby.

El Perro

Our first full day in the surf/beach town of Montañita started out with so much promise. Tim went out for an early morning surf, Taylor slept in, and Wyatt and I read. 

We ate breakfast (included in our nightly fee -- I can't stop talking about this, I love it so much) at our hotel, overlooking the ocean. 

After breakfast, Tim took the kids for a walk along the beach, and I went out for a run. I was pumped up about this run; for the first time since we left Costa Mesa, I'd be running at sea level and (hopefully) not wheezing my way along.

I ran on the packed sand toward the rocks where Tim and the kids were. Then I turned around, and started coming back down the beach. Suddenly, three dogs ran after me. I looked, and saw that all three were wearing collars. I could hear their owner -- a woman standing on a restaurant patio -- yelling for them. Two of the dogs turned back, but one kept after me. I should have stopped and yelled at the dog. But I kept running. And then, damn it, that dog bit me on my left upper thigh, just below my butt. I immediately stopped and shouted, "Go!" at the dog. The dog looked at me, and then ran back to its owner. I twisted for a look at my shorts -- did the dog rip them with its bite? No rip. The spot where the dog bit me kind of hurt, but I could still run. In hindsight, I should have run to the woman and asked her if the dog was vaccinated, but she was already moving back into the restaurant, and I just didn't think that quickly.

Further down the beach, I came across a man with three small dogs. These dogs started chasing me. Even though they were small, I had learned my lesson and stopped running. Thankfully, the owner quickly acted to put the dogs on a leash. I didn't start running again until all three were leashed.

No más, por favor.

Back at the hotel, Tim and I talked. He had seen me get bitten, as had the kids. I showed him the bite -- it was small and just barely grazed my skin. That was good. But we were a little freaked about rabies (okay, I was freaked about rabies). Tim headed out for more surfing, and I did some googling about dogs and rabies in Ecuador. That wasn't good; my anxiety level started climbing. I went to our hotel reception to seek some advice. I was told that there was a hospital about a five minute drive away, but a similar incident happened to a hotel guest last year, and the hospital told hotel staff it wasn't worth the guest coming in -- just clean the wound and put some antiseptic on it.

While Tim was surfing, I decided I'd see if I could find the dog owner and ask her about vaccination status. I dragged the kids back along the beach, and tried to remember where I saw the woman. I was about 90% sure I saw her at a restaurant with a green roof, so we went there. I had typed onto my phone: "Do you have dogs? I was running on the beach earlier and got bit by a dog. Is this dog vaccinated?" I showed my translated message to a couple women working at the restaurant, but they shook their heads; no dogs. From what I could gather, they suggested that it was probably a woman from the community who had walked through the restaurant to access the beach. The kids and I nosed around that area of the beach a bit more, but didn't see any dog like the one that got me. Back to the hotel.

When Tim returned from surfing, we weighed our options. Go to the hospital, and have a doctor take a look, even though it's probably fine? Or just keep it clean and covered in Neosporin? 

We opted for the hospital visit, mostly for peace of mind. We took a taxi from our hotel to the hospital, which was more like a local clinic. And our taxi driver was beyond kind; he could speak some English, so he served as my translator. I did have to wait a bit to be seen, as some of the hospital staff were at lunch. But once I was seen, it was fairly quick. The doctor had me lie down on a hospital bed (no bed linens or paper) and he cleaned the bite, then put a bandage over it. The doctor told the taxi driver what medications were needed, and the driver went outside to tell Tim what to do. Tim purchased the medications ($10 total) at the pharmacy next door, and gave them to the taxi driver, who gave the bag to the doctor. 

The doctor is giving me instructions on the antibiotics when I see a nurse coming at my left arm with a needle. "Uh, what is this?" I ask the doctor, pointing to the needle. I'm told it's a tetanus shot. "Ok, ok," I say. Tim had actually purchased the tetanus shot at the pharmacy.

After my shot, I'm all done. I don't sign one paper and I don't hand over any money; healthcare in Ecuador is completely free.

I walk out of the hospital and into the taxi with Tim and the kids. We come back to the hotel tired. We go back out on the beach to look for a late lunch -- and we avoid all dogs.

Getting my vitals checked outside the hospital.

Waiting, waiting.

The local ambulance, parked at the hospital.

The entrance and exit to the hospital.