We are still working on two vacation homes in two different states. It usually takes a few days to wrap up a rental, get questions answered, work on pricing, and ensure it has everything we need. Either of these two scenarios will be satisfactory to us but certainly have a bearing on where we’ll fly on December 14, so we’ve yet to book the flight.
Since we decided to fly out of Guayaquil instead of Manta, there are many more options, some with travel times of around ten hours, which works for us. We are so used to long travel times that comparatively ten hours is a piece of cake. Actually, Ecuador isn’t that far from the US, but there are no nonstop flights, which would be ideal if possible.
Packing will be easy here since we didn’t fully unpack our bags. I could do it if I had only two hours to get ready to go. Unfortunately, when we grocery-shopped on Wednesday, we hadn’t even discussed leaving early. I brought it up on the return drive from Manta, and Tom was on board.
As soon as we returned to the house, after finding out from Fybeca Pharmacia in Manta the pills I take for Afib, which are working for me right now, aren’t available in Ecuador. There are only so many drugs that work for Afib, and this was the only one that worked for me after trying others unsuccessfully. I’ll be running out of my current supply by December 18, so we need to get to the US in time to get more.
That was the biggest motivator for us to leave Ecuador earlier than planned. Ecuador doesn’t allow prescription drugs to be shipped into the country.
I planned to go to an urgent care facility to get a prescription. Still, today, with the prescription the cardiologist wrote, I could purchase a three-month supply, leaving plenty of time for me to see a cardiologist in the US at one of several good cardiac care centers. I need a second opinion and will plan from there.
ProgressiveRX processed my order this morning, and the medication will arrive at our mailing service, which can be sent overnight wherever we land in the US. I couldn’t wait another day to place the order to ensure the order would be waiting for us when we arrived in the US.
We are both doing okay with everything up in the air right now. We know we are doing the right thing by returning to the US to determine our next move. We have no intention of buying a house, furniture, or household goods. We have decided to continue living in holiday homes that supply everything we need. Plus, with our minimal luggage, we don’t mind moving every three months.
Once my health issue is resolved, it will be fun to tour the US, which we’ve talked about doing eventually, anyway. That doesn’t mean we won’t explore outside the US or stop going on cruises. We see cruises in our future, health providing. Of course, everything is predicated on health at this point in our lives. We’ll take one step at a time.
It is also good we’re returning to the US since I need to replace my laptop and most likely will do so using the balance on a gift card we got from Costco for booking a cruise through them. This setup I have with the broken monitor is cumbersome and annoying.
No words can express our gratitude for the many readers who’ve written to us after reading yesterday’s post here. We are so grateful for your thoughtfulness and kindness in taking the time to write. I am responding to the messages one by one, but with so many, it may take a while.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, November 25, 2013:
No photo was posted on this date, but the text may be read here.