The Trip

     We started our travel shortly after receiving our 12-IX Business visas. We left Calgary on Tuesday morning January 31st bright and early. The flight was bright and early with a departure time of 6:27 AM so we felt it best to rent a room at the Delta next to the airport so that we could easily get all of our bags into the terminal in the morning.
     We woke up at 3:00 AM after getting back to our room around 11:30 PM. We enjoyed our time in the lounge that night just a little later then we really wanted too. It was nice of the Delta staff to put all of our checked bags into security for the night. One less thing to haul around. The staff were even kind enough to put it all on a trolley and also push that trolley from the hotel all the way to our check in at arrivals and even load them on to the weigh scale while we were working with the American Airlines attendant. Worthy of a good tip.

     We ended up checking in 10 bags and a few of them were 70 pounds or very close. We were flying business class so the first two bags were free for each of us. The 3rd bag was $150 and the rest were $200 each. Total to get them from Calgary to Guayaquil $1100.00 plus tax. I believe there was also a fee for any baggage flying to Quito or Guayaquil that helped to bring the total up to $1100.00.

     We arrived in Houston a few minutes early. Then headed to the baggage carousel to await our bags. We waited for about 15 minutes before I wondered off to look for a large cart to carry them all. I found about three of them and they were all tied off with chain or cable so I went to the AA desk in the baggage area to enquire about a cart that I could get and a kind gentlemen said that he would bring it over for me. He just wanted to know if the bags were already coming in along with the flight number. So I headed back to meet with Claudette who was looking out for our bags. Still nothing. Then the attendant came over to see about the bags and suggested that I go back over to the office and check on them once he seen that nothing was pulled off yet.
     The attendant at the desk looked into our bags. It took him a little while as there were 10 tags to confirm. He confirmed that our bags had not made the flight but that there were 4 more flights that evening. So they should be in sometime during the evening. This worked out great for us as we didn't have to haul them all over to the hotel for the night. My back was happy again!
     We then headed over to the car rental area via the buses that run over there regularly and rented a car. Took them a little while to find the reservation. Once all of the paperwork was signed off on, we headed over to pick it up.
     As soon as we were in the vehicle and the gps was set up, we headed over to the hotel to check in and get our room key. We weren't staying as we had plans to head to Tommy and Donna's for a quick visit and to also pick up some items that I had shipped to them as they would not ship to Canada. The drive was about 3 hours and then the gps managed to get us lost, but not far from their house. So it was down to the old fashioned way of talking our way to their location.
     We had a great 2-3 hour visit before jumping back into the car and driving back to Houston. We got to the hotel by 2:30 AM and got up around 6:30 AM as our flight was at 9:50 AM. We left the hotel without enjoying their complimentary breakfast as we wanted to make sure we got the car back and located our bags that were hopefully there.
     We dropped the car off and then raced to the bus to catch our ride to the terminal. Once at the terminal we walked over to the American Airlines counter and there sitting just outside their office was a nice big cart all loaded with all 10 bags. The attendant from the day before was standing there and noticed us and offered to take them to the departures gate. Once at the departure gate, he even loaded them all into the belts while we checked in. Worthy of a good tip and my back was pleased again.
     As we were there and had our boarding passes with time to spare, we went back downstairs to tip the gentleman as he couldn't accept anything in the open, policy you know. He was happy to see us. Then it was back upstairs and off to the gate. We had to fly to Miami and then from there to Guayaquil. Once in Miami, we had a few hours layover so headed over to the Admirals lounge and enjoyed some complimentary beverages and comfortable seating. This was a bonus for flying business class and international travel during the same day.
     When it was time to board our flight, we headed back to our gate and after getting our boarding passes, we were both pulled aside and asked about our plans and how much cash we were travelling with. After explaining our plans to them and advising how much cash we had, they decided to count it all along with scour through our bags. They counted pretty much exactly what we had told them and then we had to sign some document that we agreed that the amount was correct and that they had given it back to us. So now we were the last ones boarding the plane and everyone that was already boarded would have witnessed us with the border control officers counting all of our cash. Not exactly something that we wanted anyone to see, but thanks to them.
     Our flight was delayed by an hour and a half over a flap seal, or so they said. Both Claudette and I felt they were probably taking our checked bags off of the flight and examining each of them and that's what was causing the delay. Either way, after the delay, we were off and flying. The seating on this flight was above and beyond.

     We arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador in the early morning around 12:30 AM rather than the 10:30 PM arrival time that was scheduled. It was fun gathering all of our bags as they came by. We were distracted as we were also purchasing these wifi anywhere things at the same time so I was running back and forth and trying to keep an eye on the bags coming around. Then I grabbed one of these trolleys like you see in the hotels that can hold plenty and started loading all of what I had snagged so far on one and after I had about six of them on the trolley a fella came by and told me that those were only for VIP's and I asked what then should I use for all of my bags, and he pointed to one of those little ones like you see at every airport. I was like, are you kidding me! And of course, each one cost $2 for renting. So after about 20 minutes of rounding up all of our bags we managed to squeeze them onto two of the trolleys and we could barely see over them to steer them through the inspection area. I got pulled aside to open one of them to show my Solo drone which was inside the case. He was asking about a camera, so I showed him the GoPro camera mounted underneath the drone on a gimble and he was happy. So was I as I sure didn't want hassles. They were kind enough to reload everything back onto the carts after it went through the xray.

     We were then headed out to the receiving area and a couple of gentlemen assisted us and took us over to Jorge's van. I had lined this up a week earlier. Jorge was there to receive us and take us over to his B&B which was a really short drive. That made it nice as we were dead tired after a couple of days of little sleep. We had the master room on the main floor. Room to swing a cat in there. 

http://www.ecuavantransportation.com/

You can visit his website as he is a great resource for those coming into Guayaquil as he did for us. We stayed in the best room and he also toured us around Guayaquil the following day and showed us a few of the sights.

https://vimeo.com/204091848

Then we spent the evening relaxing and hit the sack early so that the next day we would be ready for the road trip to Salinas.

     We woke up to Jorge's breakfast and then loaded what we had taken out back into his van and headed off to Salinas. We arrived in Salinas a couple of hours later and then met with one of our realtors staff who assisted with getting our luggage to our condo suite. It was nice to call this place home for 6 months.

The Visa

     We started our communication with the consular for Ecuador in Vancouver back in late November. It's probably a good thing that we started the process back then as we found that each time we submitted anything to him, it was not good enough.
     We started by sending our birth certificates and found out that they were not sufficient. What was required were birth certificates that also included our parents names etc. My wife had to get hers from Scotland and I had to get mine from Alberta Vital Statistics. The first one that I received back was a 3 x 5 plastic one like one of our bills and when I scanned and sent it to the consular he called back and told me that it was no good as he would not be able to stamp it. So then I ordered another one, more like the original typed up one that had my Mother's signature on it from 1962. It was exciting to receive it and open the envelope to see the hand writing on the bottom of the page. There was my mother's signature, something I hadn't seen in over 40 years as she died in a car accident in 1981. I then scanned it and sent it to the consular and he called back to tell me that it was also no good as the stamp on it did not say "Alberta" anywhere in the stamp and the signature inside the stamp did not have any name associated with it. He said that he would only accept it if it was notarized and then certified by the Alberta Law Society.
     I asked him then about the marriage certificate that I had sent him a couple of weeks earlier and he also told me that it was no good. I asked him "So you mean to tell me, that for the last 26 years I have not been legally married?" He was not impressed. "Don't you understand that I am trying to help you" Yes. yes yes, I replied. "What is wrong with the one I sent you?". "For starters, it is not large enough for a stamp" "And it needs to show your parents" "Okay" I said. So in the next couple of days I went off and ordered another one. The new one arrived 2 weeks later.
     A couple of days later we decided to go to the RCMP to get our background checks done. Once we arrived we found out that they no longer do the finger printing and referred us to Legal-Ease in Calgary. We went straight there and submitted our information along with finger prints and they were sent digitally to Ottawa and we received the final documents in the mail within 10 days. A few days later we had everything notarized by an attorney who even scanned his card showing he was in good standing with the Alberta Law Society. I scanned everything and sent it off to the consular and asked if we still needed to send them all to Edmonton to be approved by the Alberta Law Society and have not heard back after 3 days. So on Monday, it's off to Edmonton.
     It only took about 30 minutes to get all of our documents signed, sealed with pretty ribbons and hand delivered to us while we waited. We submitted our birth certificates, marriage certificate and police reports. Then it was off to Vancouver. We chose to drive as it was much cheaper than flying so it's off to Jasper and then Kamloops for the night. The Best Western king size bed was welcome as I had been driving well into the night on snowy slushy roads.
     We then drove to Burnaby the next day and met with the Consular General. He was very friendly and helpful. We had to have passport photos so we had to skip out and get them along with a money order to pay for the visas. Money Orders have to be in US dollars. It only took about an hour or less once we got back with the photos and money. He would only start on everything once he had the money and photos. He was kind and explained everything once it was complete, Claudette made sure to thank him and let him know how much his services were appreciated. We were out of there by 6:00 pm.
    Then it was off to Carl and Christine's in rush hour traffic. They live on Sumas Prairie near Abbotsford. I tried calling them a couple of times and when we arrived, the home was dark and quiet so we decided to head to Kamloops for the night. We arrived in the city just after 10:00 pm. The next day, Claudette took over the driving. My neck and shoulders were tense and this was a treat. She got us back into Calgary by dinner time.
https://vimeo.com/204038212