THE DAY BEFORE ECUADOR

My traveling companion was my friend, Rose. She is probably the smartest woman God ever created!  If we could find a way to get her elected President, Rose would probably solve all our country’s problems in just one term! (I still can’t figure out why she wants to hang around with me.) Anyway, Rose put our entire trip together herself. She even speaks a little Spanish.

We ended up leaving a day before our original schedule. The airline had cancelled our flight messing up our reservations!  Now we had an extra day up in the Andes, which was OK with me.

The first weekend in August 2015, I was stressed and busy with last minute packing, frantic that I’d forgotten something.

Around 4:00 PM Sun. Aug 2, Rose phoned to say she was on her way to my house.  We had a long drive ahead to the hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Outside it was storming!  I ran out with an umbrella to quickly shut off the water to my home. Getting drenched and stuck in mud, I realized I needed both hands to do it.  I came back and slipped on my hooded rain poncho.

Outside, I noticed the fan on my air-conditioner wasn’t moving!!!

The Friday before, it made a bizarre shrill noise as I was preparing a late afternoon meal. I turned it off until I became too sweaty.  When I switched it back on, everything seemed to be working fine.  I phoned the A. C. Company and inquired if I had a problem.  I was told that a twig or reptile may have been caught and it was probably OK now, but to watch it.  Saturday, my house was comfortably cool, so I didn’t worry.

But now, I realized I had a big problem and Rose was on her way!  I would be coming home to a sweltering and moldy house!

When she arrived, Brian, (Rose’s husband) was following behind in his car. Thankfully, he agreed to find someone to repair my A.C. before my return.  He followed us to Fort Pierce where he treated us to a big delicious dinner as a send-off.

Afterward, we said good-bye to Brian before heading south to Fort Lauderdale in the pouring rain. Traffic was heavy and it was getting dark.  We were relieved to finally reach our hotel.  The next morning would be the beginning of several 4:00 AM starts!