La Luna de Miel

All the hard parts of getting married are finally behind us: planning (although we had quite a bit of help), writing and delivering vows, dancing,  breaking the piggy bank, and, quite possibly the worst of all, going back to work for a few days between the wedding and the honeymoon.  Throughout all of this, we had been looking forward to 10 days of adventuring and relaxing in Quito and the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador), and the day finally arrived for our honeymoon!  “Luna de Miel” is the literal translation of “Honey Moon” in Spanish.

Chris and Rachel at Terminal E at Boston International Airport

Thursday morning, our chauffeur (thanks, Robin!) picked us up at 6am for an 8:30am departure.  The Copa Airlines ticket line was painfully slow; it seemed there was a problem with every group in front of us.  When it was finally our turn, our check-in went smoothly, but we only had an hour left until departure as we headed to the security line.  It turned out to be a breeze (phew!), and we made it to the gate with enough time for a quick breakfast.

Our first flight lasted 5 hours, terminating in Panama City. We were up late the night before due to last minute packing, so many of those hours on the plane were spent sleeping. Typically, Rachel would do the majority of the sleeping, but the opposite was true in this case, because she needed to finish homework and was hoping to do so before arriving in the Galápagos. :-/

We happily interrupted napping and homework for waffles, yogurt,  bread, juice, and a fruit cup during the first flight.  The second leg of our journey was much shorter, only 2 hours, but that was still enough time for hamburgers and chips.  It felt luxurious compared to the typical in-flight offering of peanuts, pretzels, or cookies!

We landed at 5:30pm then took a 45 minute, $25 taxi to the Holiday Inn Express in Quito.

The view from our window at the Holiday Inn Express
The view from our window at the Holiday Inn Express

After some rest and showers, we were off again: our good friend, Tomas (who is from Quito and went to Union with us), had arranged for a taxi to and dinner at La Belle Époque.  We split a bottle of wine, bread, tuna rolls, duck and pork belly entrees, and finished it off with a chocolate sphere dessert (which they poured alcohol on and lit on fire before serving to us!).   We nearly had the place to ourselves; it was beautiful, with candles to set the mood.  Kudos to Tomas on the fantastic arrangement; we really appreciated it!   The only downside was that we felt slightly under dressed.

Chris with his duck three ways
Chris with his duck three ways – you never know what facial hair you’re going to get
Rachel with her twice cooked pork belly
Rachel (looking really happy and picture-ready) with her twice cooked pork belly

 

8 thoughts on “La Luna de Miel”

  1. I love your thorough descriptions! I just remembered that you said you put some of this info on the site!

  2. Yay, new posts! Those flights sounded really nice!! And that dinner… Yum! Hope Rach got her work done. Can’t wait to hear more details…

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