This and That from Here and There: The gang's all here!!!!!!

My four visitors arrived on three separate flights, so we spent a bit of time waiting at the airport as May 28 drew to a close and May 29 made its appearance. It was well worth the wait! Katia was the first to arrive. Her flight was scheduled to get in at 9:00, so we planned to get to the airport at 9:30 to give her a chance to go through customs. As soon as we arrived, we made our way to the front of the crowd that was also awaiting beloved family members and friends and began the task of waiting. We waited and waited and waited. Aunt Beth had been scheduled to land at 9:36. However, we had seen that her flight was quite delayed, so we were not expecting to see her come through anytime soon. Finally, we saw that Aunt Beth's plane had landed, and Katia had still not appeared. What could have happened? Did she get stopped for some reason in customs? Did she have missing luggage? Had she just decided to wait inside for Aunt Beth? Where in the world was she? Now our eager eyes searched for both Aunt Beth and Katia every time the door opened from the customs area. Suddenly, I heard someone say my name behind me. It was pronounced in the English way. I turned around, and there was Katia!!! "How in the world did we miss you?" I asked, amazed. Apparently, she had whizzed right through customs and had exited to the main area of the airport before we had even arrived! She hadn't been sure of the arrangements on this end of things, so she just made herself comfortable in a chair somewhere to wait for her mom to get in. I couldn't believe it! I had missed the arrival of my first visitor! "No big deal," declared Katia, and we all turned our attentions on not missing Aunt Beth.

And there she is...

The rest of the airport welcoming crew

After Aunt Beth's arrival, we hopped in the car and headed back to Moisés and María's where we would eventually spend what was left of the night. We dropped off Beth and Katia's luggage and before long headed back to the airport to meet Mom and Laura's plane. This time we needed two vehicles. Thank goodness we have such good and willing friends! Mom and Laura had first landed in Quito, so this would be a domestic flight, and they would have already gone through customs by the time they got to Guayaquil a little after midnight. I hadn't told anyone that I would be at the airport, since I hadn't been completely sure that I would be able to be. So, I decided to hide out until Mom and Laura had greeted the rest of the welcome committee before I made my appearance. There weren't too many options for hiding places, so I ended up quite cramped and uncomfortable by the time I was able to come out into the open. I think I surprised them. :-)