Stranded in Ecuador: How a Singaporean couple slowly found their way home
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Stranded in Ecuador: How a Singaporean couple slowly plant their way home
The Galapagos Islands was on Michelle Tan and her husband's bucket list. They never imagined there would be a bigger (and difficult) feel considering of border closures. Here'due south her story as told to CNA Lifestyle.
Michelle Tan (right) and her husband Eugene enjoying Bartolome Island in the Galapagos. Before things got complicated. (Photo: Eugene Tan)
25 Mar 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 11 Jul 2022 01:53AM)
When we booked our trip in mid-February, South America was one of the safest places in the world because the virus hadn't reached there.
During that time, trips to the Galapagos Islands were heavily discounted because the Chinese had been cancelling their travels. The situation seemed under control in Singapore and elsewhere, then we figured information technology was safe to go.
The Galapagos had always been on our saucepan list, merely information technology's expensive. Eugene and I are both in our fifties and we idea, this is the trip we've been waiting for all our lives. It was the right season to get, too, since the seas are calm and at that place's no rain during this time of year.
And then, we left Singapore on Mar 3. We never thought that the situation would plow into a pandemic. We arrived in Quito, the capital of Republic of ecuador a day later and then made our way to Santa Cruz the next day, from which our cruise around the Galapagos would go out. This island-hopping tour stretched over 8 days and seven nights, and we stayed on a small-scale prowl gunkhole along with 12 other tourists.
Viii DAYS IN PARADISE
The Galapagos is made up of nigh a dozen islands. Only three are inhabited by humans and the residual are national parks or nature reserves. Every day we would transfer from the send to a small boat that took us on land excursions with a guide.
Each island has volcanos and is covered in massive lava fields. Nosotros saw rocks blanketed with marine iguanas that wait like mini godzillas, we snorkelled with penguins and sea lions, and nosotros trekked across the lava fields, which was quite gruelling.
The nutrient on the cruise was great – in that location were very fresh fish and prawns, and they served things like sushi and local Ecuadorian cuisine. We had a wonderful time, oblivious to what was happening in the residuum of the globe because nosotros had no Internet connection.
Eight days later, when we returned to the principal town of Santa Cruz, we found out that the virus had turned into a pandemic. We'd booked another scuba diving cruise after this 1, also equally a country tour, both of which were cancelled. At that time, the Galapagos was virus-free, but the Ecuadorian government had close their borders and were eager to get all the tourists out of the country.
THE MADNESS BEGINS
That'southward when the chaos started. We went to the airport to run across how we could leave, simply were told that we had to get to San Cristobal because our flying had been booked out of in that location (that's where our cancelled scuba diving cruise would have ended).
We made our style to San Cristobal by ferry, where we had an outbound flight booked for Mar 23. We managed to alter that flight to the 18th but the twenty-four hour period earlier, nosotros got news that the last flights out of the Galapagos were leaving that day. That'south when we thought, die lah...
Nosotros went immediately to the aerodrome and it was just chaos because everyone was trying to leave, but just people with tickets could go out. There was a lot of shouting and stomping of feet, and in our case, cutting of queues.
We'd been at the top of a waiting list for a flight out and had been waiting all day. Then this local woman comes in front of the states and buys seven tickets and that'south it, we were done. No tickets for u.s.a.!
Over the side by side few days, we went to and from the aerodrome 4 more times, each fourth dimension because we were told that there would exist a flight leaving the next day. Only there never was.
Things became more than organised as the days passed. The municipal regime fix a WhatsApp group for tourists which gave usa updates on flights and the number and nationalities of tourists that remained so that, for case, the Germans could rally their embassy to help get them out of there.
Another chat group was gear up by tourists for European Wedlock citizens and they were kind enough to let united states of america join information technology because we were the only two Singaporeans effectually. Through these chats nosotros received updates on what the municipal government was doing and how they were helping to get tourists out of the province.
STUCK IN SAN CRISTOBAL
Earlier we left Singapore, we'd east-registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so the consulate in Brazil contacted u.s.a.. But information technology was difficult for them to practice anything for u.s. since they were quite far away. Whatsoever news they could give us, we could get quicker since we were there on the ground.
In any example, by this time, we figured nosotros'd be stuck in San Cristobal for at to the lowest degree a fortnight, and so we talked to the hostel we were staying at and they were kind plenty to requite us a discount on our room rates. Hotels at that place but accept cash, and nosotros could only draw Usa$100 (S$145) a twenty-four hours from the ATMs, with expensive fees.
All notifications and updates were fabricated via WhatsApp messaging, so we learnt to exist very alert to messages because the phone would never band. On Mar 20, we received a message at 2pm, telling u.s.a. to go to the mayor's office for a pre-flying medical check at 3pm.
Once we got in that location, nosotros filled up a form which they would later email to the mainland; without it, no one is immune to get on a flight. Nosotros were like, 'Okay, okay, we will do whatever you want'.
The check was thorough – they took our temperature, examined our throats and the md listened advisedly to our breathing through a stethoscope to make sure we didn't take breathing problems. Then we were made to sign a declaration course to say that nosotros didn't endure from specific symptoms.
QUITO TO AMSTERDAM -- HOPEFULLY
That nighttime, at 4am, we received a text message telling u.s. to caput to the airport by 7am to get on a 10am flight to Quito. It's a good thing nosotros woke up to the notification. If nosotros'd missed that message, God knows how long we would have waited to go out of San Cristobal after that.
It turns out the government had arranged two "humanitarian" flights, which got united states of america out of the island for free. To our horror, when we got to the airport, we found out that nosotros were on dissever planes at dissimilar times. Merely I asked the staff nicely if they would permit us go on the same flight, and they said okay.
Our mission, now that nosotros had made it to the upper-case letter metropolis of Quito, was to get air tickets out of there to Amsterdam, where our KLM flying home had been booked for Mar 23. We'd met a Dutchman on our trip, who had returned to Holland and was kind enough to assistance us re-book our Quito-to-Amsterdam tickets from at that place. Thank goodness for him because in Ecuador, the entire system had collapsed from the sheer number of people trying to go in bear on with the airlines.
No 1 picked up the phones, the recorded letters you get are in Castilian so we couldn't understand them anyway, and whenever nosotros tried to book a flight online, we'd get a message at the paywall to telephone call the airline'south hotline, which, of form, was unmanned. The flying schedule showed that there are no flights coming in or out for weeks.
Our friend eventually managed to get us waitlisted on a flying out of Quito on Mar 23 at 5.30pm. Past this time, we could be optimistic because at present we knew how the system works. We knew the all-time positions to stand and wait at and then that nosotros could exist kiasu and cheong in one case the counter opened. Nosotros only worried when the counter staff told us that the priority for KLM was to get Europeans out of Quito, which meant we were depression on the list.
A GUIDE WHO WAS Across HELPFUL
In the meantime, our guide, with whom we'd booked a bout of the Andes (which was also cancelled), helped us use the money from the cancellations to book our hotels and all the other stuff. She was across helpful.
She knew that we were tired from our many trips to the airport so she put us up at this lovely hacienda not far from the airport. It was like paradise afterward all the hostels we'd stayed in throughout our trip. It had a mini botanic garden where we could go birdwatching (my husband and I are wildlife enthusiasts), and then when we were not camped out at the aerodrome, we would go back to that and the view of volcanos and snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Throughout our time in the Galapagos and Ecuador, we felt very condom. When nosotros were there, the Galapagos was virus-free and in the upper-case letter, people were very good about following the rules and sanitising their hands, et cetera.
Considering the circumstances, everyone in Ecuador behaved and then well. We didn't shake hands, we "shook" feet. As in, we'd hit our shoes together rather than hug, and we'd wish each other the best. Every day we saw the same faces, all of us trying to get abode, and at that place was that bonding in adversity and unity in diversity. There was a lot of camaraderie, everyone trying to help one some other as all-time they could. Tourists in Quito would go on in touch with the tourists withal stranded in the Galapagos and give them tips about getting flights out and what to look out for.
Monday night (Mar 23), we finally got on the flying out from Quito to Amsterdam, which means nosotros'll make our flight from Amsterdam back home. What a relief.
We knew this was going to be an unforgettable trip, but nosotros didn't think that information technology would be unforgettable this style. We had a running joke between the people on our cruise that this experience is like Survivor Galapagos and Survivor Ecuador — whoever gets off the island last wins! I gauge we won.
Side by side adventure: Self-quarantine.
(Editor'southward annotation: As of Mar 23, the coronavirus pandemic has reached the Galapagos Islands.)
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/travel/travel-adventure-ecuador-galapagos-islands-coronavirus-259716
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