I’m so Tired, My Thinking is Done.

May 21, 2026

Our 22nd wedding anniversary. And what an adventure it was.

Yesterday we left Longmont after a rather frantic and unsettled partial work week. It was cold and rainy before we left, so we had to protect the garden and quickly uncover it Wednesday morning before the shuttle came for us. As usual, Nathan’s work fires came to a head a day or two before we left, and even from his seat in the airplane, he was taking work calls.

Our Denver to Houston plane boarded on time, but we didn’t take off from the airport timely, eating into our already short Houston layover. At this point in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever flown through Houston with anything resembling a comfortable layover, so what’s one more trip?

We had ~40 – 45 minutes to get to our gate in Houston, and I knew we’d make it, but what about our bags…? We hustled from C to E, thankful that they are right next to each other, used the restroom, and got to the gate right as they were beginning to board.

Seated on our Houston to Quito, Ecuador plane, I relaxed quite a bit when the United app showed our bags had been scanned onto the Quito flight. Nathan’s always oblivious to such things, but if given the opportunity, I will worry about it. I said something out loud about our bags being loaded on board, and the Houstonian woman seated next to us chose that opportunity to start talking to us.

We talked travel, inn-to-inn hiking, and while I was pretty sure I was not gonna like her initially, (you know, her being Texan, and all, plus her whole party was extremely loud in the airport and on the plane) she wasn’t half bad.

The flight to Quito was two movies long, and United’s a little more stingy with the wine pours than Lufthansa, but we arrived, with our bags, a little early, and before midnight. We sailed through immigration and customs, and I took great pride in saying “No” when the immigration officer asked me if it was my first time in Ecuador. (We were here touring the mainland in 2016.)

We were so fast through the airport, that our hotel was not quite ready to pick us up, so we hopped into a taxi.

The taxi driver had never heard of our hotel before (not surprising, it’s small, and I booked it through Whatsapp) but we gave him the address, and he took us there. There were a few moments of unease, fear and panic when we were driving down the hotel’s street, and Google Maps showed us as being right there on top of the hotel, but we were in a very quiet neighborhood, and no hotel. Not the sort of place you’d expect a hotel, but sure enough, a few more feet, and here it was and the hostess was opening the gate for us. I’m certain that all three of us (cabbie, Nathan and I) thought we were going to end up turning around in the taxi to figure out Plan B.

I never did catch her name, but the gal who runs the hotel checked us in, and we determined what time we wanted breakfast and the ride back to the airport in the morning. She walked us to our room, and after 5 minutes of getting settled, we crashed. Nathan set the alarm for 6 am, and we fell asleep.

Six am came way too fast, but we got up, showered, and got ready. It was then that I discovered we’ve come all this way with no Fitbit charger. Mine is nearly dead, and it’s the sort of proprietary item that’s not easily replaced. Fudge.

Breakfast was coffee, fruit juice, a fruit-and-yogurt parfait, eggs, and a ham-and-cheese toastie.  During breakfast, our hostess talked to us about Ecuador, fruits, birds, and things to do and eat in the Galapagos.

After breakfast, the hotel proprietor drove us back to the airport, we cleared all of the migratory controls for the Galapagos, (there are a few!) and walked through security to the domestic terminal. We asked at a few shops, and none had the kind of specialized cord we needed. Our final hope was in Puerto Ayora. Could there be a cell phone shop that carried our Fitbit cord?

Our journey to get from Quito to the Galapagos was a flight from Quito to Baltra Island with a stop in Guayaquil.  In Quayaquil, some passengers got on, and some got off, but we stayed on board.  Once we landed on Baltra Island, we collected our bags, had them both searched (!), bought bus tickets, and got on the bus ($5) for the 5-minute ride to Itabaca Channel.

Once at the Itabaca Channel, we boarded a water taxi ($1) and our bags hopped a ride on a different boat!  Once across the channel, we were hoping to board another $5 bus to Puerto Ayora, and for reasons neither one of us understood, there were no buses, only taxis.  So, a $30 taxi was what we did.  

Our taxi dropped us off at Casa Paloverde after a hard sell to drive us to other touristy spots on the island in Spanish. No gracias.  At this point, we just want to drop our bags and get settled…maybe a shower?

Once we dropped our bags off and changed clothes, we set off into town to, most importantly, try to find a Fitbit charger.

We had no luck. So we resigned ourselves to having dead Fitbits for the remainder of the trip.

We grabbed groceries and brought them back to our Airbnb. Never one to admit or accept defeat, I once again searched the web for ways to charge our Fitbits without the proprietary cord. I found a YouTube video of some guy in quarantine, and he MacGuyver’d a cord with things found in his suitcase.

I showed the video to Nathan, and since I’m more motivated than him, I decided we should try it. I left the Airbnb, bought a new USB cord, and as we speak, have a MacGuyver’d cord charging my Fitbit.