Travel Day

Wednesday was a long day. We got up at 4:00 a.m. central time to catch a 6:45 a.m. flight to Houston. We got to the airport early in case there were long lines, but of course we flew right through and ended up waiting forever in the lounge. It's a five hour flight to Houston from Quito and they showed a couple of movies, Marley and Me and Yes Man. Neither of them were great movies, but at least Marley was a cute dog, Jim Carrey was just a dog. After Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I have come to expect a lot more of him than falling down and stupid faces. The one bright spot in Yes Man was Zooey Deschanel, who is too cute and funny to fall for Carey's lame character. When we got to Houston we had a four hour layover that was partially consumed with a trip to Pappadeux's restaurant for great gumbo and Cajun food. This has got to be some of the best airport food around. On the four and half hour flight from Houston to Portland we had satellite TV which was great, I watched the first half of the Cavs game and if I had been smart I could have found out who won American Idol on the east coast broadcast.

When I got back to Portland I couldn't help but feel that my trip to Ecuador had flown by. It was like I had bungee jumped into the rain forest; as soon as we got there and got used to the noises and the slower pace, we were snapped back to reality. That said, I think I learned a lot and there is no doubt that the Ashaur have as much, if not more, to teach us about how to live harmoniously with our surroundings as we have to teach them about running an Eco-lodge.