Papa Francisco 5k

After we landed in Guayaquil Friday we learned that Pope Francisco (Papa Francisco) was landing in Guayaquil Monday morning. In South America the Pope is a Big Deal. They were projecting 1.2 million people in Guayaquil trying to see the Pope. That’s kinda cool except when it affects your travel plans. We were scheduled to leave Guayaquil for the Galapagos Islands on Monday morning.

We confirmed that our flight hadn’t been cancelled or rescheduled. We contacted our landlord via email (they weren’t answering our calls) and asked for help arranging a cab. She said she would and she did. We did our best to confirm that the roads were open but had little success. Sunday night we noticed that the streets were strangely empty and quiet. Shortly after that the landlord emailed us that the cab driver had cancelled because the roads were closed.

We had Internet access so we fired up trusty Google Maps and figured out how to walk to the airport. Turns out it was going to be a little over 5k to get to the airport. We thought that would not be a problem since the boys had recently completed their first Half Marathon. We called it the Papa Francisco 5k and were having some fun with it.

Meanwhile, we slept restlessly knowing we had to get up early and navigate our way to the airport. We weren’t sure with all of the extra Papal security that we would even be able to walk to the airport. It was a stressful evening after the cab driver cancelled.

In the morning we got up at the appointed hour, said a prayer, and headed for the airport. We chose a main thoroughfare for the start of our 5k thinking that just maybe it would be open and maybe there would be a cab passing by. We hadn’t gone 50 yards when we spotted and hailed a cab that took us to the airport. We were several hours early but at least we were there and we made it to Galapagos! And that is the story of the Papa Francisco 5k.