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After a pleasant summer, stretching long into autumn, the weather had turned to face winter. The evenings were darkening and the first night frost had bitten the ground. If we were staying home it would have been time for warm vests and electric blanket.
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With the onset of winter it was time to fly south. Having eaten our way through the fridge and cancelled everything we could we were off. First leg was a 11pm taxi to the bus station for the 11.35 bus to Heathrow. This got us in with plenty of time but the alternative was a 3.30 departure and a short checking in time. By going early we were able to get some sleep rather than having a restless wait and rush.
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Arrived at Heathrow at 1.45 and after a short search found ourselves a quiet spot to spend the rest of the night. Laid out my roll mat and opened up my sleeping bag to get what sleep I could, disturbed by the occasional knock of a wobbly trolley wheel and at one point a school bus unloaded a horde of excited children.
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To my surprise it was soon 5.00 and the check-in desks were opening up.
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Moved through the airport facilities with the usual minor aggravations to reach our gate and get away in reasonable time on the first short leg to Madrid, where we had enough time to comfortably get to the next boarding gate for the 10 hour haul to Quito.
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Our flight was with Iberian Airways and although adequate it wasn't up to the standard we usually experienced. The food was more in line with the quality of a decade ago and the service, except for handing out meals, non existent. There were three films, none of which were of much interest to us, so we passed the time reading and dozing.
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At just before 4pm local time (having put our watches back 5 hours) we arrived, flying in down the foot hills of the Andes over woods and a patchwork of small fields.
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Passed through customs and immigration with the usual formalities and picked up our bags from the carrousel and out into the concourse.
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We were a little early and so we stood around for 10 minutes until Lusmila, from the language school arrived to take us to our accommodation.
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