Vernon couple stuck in Ecuador for six weeks because of COVID

Photo: Pat Pearce

Pearce and Doug Sinclair were part way through their two-month stay in Ecuador when the COVID-19 outbreak started to ramp up.

Pat Pearce has some advice for anyone travelling: when the Canadian embassy says to go home, go home.

The Vernon woman learned the hard way to heed such advice.

Pearce and Doug Sinclair were partway through a two-month stay in Ecuador when the COVID-19 pandemic started to ramp up.

The embassy told Canadians they should come home, but the first two flights out of the country were booked.

Pearce wasn't too worried, as she felt safe in Ecuador because of its stringent health measures.

“Everyone had masks; they would spray people front and back before going into the grocery store; there was hand sanitizer; only so many people were allowed in the store,” Pearce said of the measures to keep the coronavirus at bay.

“The army was out to keep people off the streets and off the beaches and stuff. But then the numbers started going up, and we thought we had better get home.”

And, as the numbers began to climb, finding a way out became harder.

Pearce said the closest airport to Salina, where they were staying, was in Quito, which she said “was heavily infected.” Even get to the airport required documentation.

By then, Canada no longer had flights leaving Ecuador, so they had to take an American flight.

“Canada was not sending any more repatriation flights, so we got a waiver from the U.S. government to take one of their flights,” said Pearce, who had high praise for Sinclair's tireless work in securing them a flight out of the country. Sinclair also helped a Toronto couple return home.

Once they worked through the red tape to be allowed to leave, they had to hire a driver and pay $750 just to get to the airport.

“With all the roadblocks and security, it was a 12-hour drive,” she said.

“That airport was highly infected, but when we got there it was completely shut down. You couldn't get food, you couldn't get water, even the water taps were shut down.”

Boarding the plane was not the end of the ordeal.

They left Ecuador at 1 a.m. on May 18 and arrived in Vernon at 9 p.m. May 20.

“There was no food on the airplane. We had brought sandwiches, but when we landed at the Houston airport, they took away our ham and cheese sandwiches.”

However, when they arrived in Dallas, it was “like nothing had ever happened. All of restaurants and bars were open. The flight from Houston to Dallas was packed.”

The flight to Vancouver had about 30 people on it.

Happy to be home, Pearce was faced with a new set of challenges. Being away six weeks longer than expected meant a pile of bills were waiting for them.

Fortunately, the cupboards were full thanks to family members who had groceries waiting upon their return.

Ecuador is one of the hardest hit Latin American countries, and while Pearce did not see bodies in the street as some reports have claimed, she did see numerous trucks with coffins in the back.