We arrived in Cuenca on December 10, 2019 and were able to stay as tourists, on ultimately a visa that expired due to Covid-19, until flights could be arranged on July 10/11th. Our next trip to Cuenca will be to pursue a temporary residency visa, and eventually a permanent residency visa.
A big thanks to our friends that hosted us for the first week back in December (you know who you are) and to Chris and Lisa at CasaTierraCuenca.com for our stay over seven months. Casa Tierra Cuenca, on Hermano Miguel, is central to the historic district and has easy access to El Vergel, Parque de Madre, SuperMaxi, and other areas. Our stay was comfortable, quiet, and reasonably priced.
Covid-19 continues, and we have returned to a storm in the Portland, Oregon area and USA. That said, here is a brief update on the process and return flights to the USA. First, it took some coordination of flights between LATAM and the airline flying from Quito back to the USA; Most of the airlines are NOT partners with LATAM, so we had to make the two reservations separately. The most challenging part of this was coupling the arrival time of the LATAM flight in Quito with the Departure time of the flight leaving Quito to the USA. For us, this was much preferable to the 8-10 hour bus/taxi ride from Cuenca, as well as turning out to be the lesser expensive option.
On the day before the flight, we went to GM Laboratories and got tested for COVID. We’ve never been happier to receive a failing result: Negative! However, at no time during the exposure to airports, flights, or transport from Cuenca to Portland, were we asked for our Covid testing information. Still, we are glad we had the tests for our own peace of mind.
On flight day, we went to the Cuenca airport two hours before the flight. The experience at the airport was uneventful and professionally handled with COVID protocols. The flight was crowded and mostly full. We arrived to Quito and were ultimately able to re-check our baggage for the United Airlines flight. As in Cuenca, the experience at the Quito airport was uneventful and professionally handled with COVID protocols. We had our temperatures taken several times, as well as hand sanitizer; This was our longest layover. In Houston, the handling was less rigorous in comparison to those in Ecuador. That said, collecting our baggage, going through immigration, rechecking our bags, and boarding our connecting flight to Portland was uneventful. All of the plane boarding loaded the back of the plane first toward the front; de-boarding was done in the reverse, reducing exposure to others and keeping with social distancing. However, the professionalism was inconsistent and people in several cases did not follow the suggested process, rushing to get off the plane.
David and Sally
David: davidmcdevitt@hotmail.com .
City: Cuenca
