A Sarnia couple who was quarantined in Quito, Ecuador, and had tried repeatedly to get out of the South American country, is back home.
Randy Reiss said by text Thursday, March 26 that he and his wife Irene are relieved after getting two seats on the first repatriation flight out of Ecuador.
The couple left March 7 for the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, and had tickets to fly home from Quito March 14 or 15.
Randy told Sue Storr, in an interview on CHOK radio (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Monday March 23, that their flights were cancelled in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of a nationwide quarantine and travel restrictions.
"We're hanging in here from Quito, Ecuador, hopefully waiting for some flights to get us home," said Reiss, who sounded calm in the midst of their ordeal. "We get a call from our desk saying, 'get to the airport, they're closing the airport.' We scramble to the airport, there's four of us at that point in time, and they basically had international departures shut down, they cancelled the flight."
He said it appeared they might get out on Saturday, March 21 on Air Canada but that too, fell through.
"They were actually issuing boarding passes, we were on a waitlist, we had an agent in Sarnia trying to help us, we were trying to get on it from here. I mean, they'd get you boarding passes, then boom, cancel the flight. We also had a flight booked on [March] 28 with Air Canada and that was cancelled as well."
Reiss said he sent an email to Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu and they're registered with Canadian Foreign Affairs.
"We've ticked off all of the boxes and that's what you need to do and that's what they advise you do too. I had registered with Canadian Foreign Affairs basically when we got back from the Galápagos," he said. "The city is under curfew and the curfew is from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and then [Sunday] night I received an email saying that they are working with Air Canada to get some flights into Ecuador this week, so the big question is how do we get on those flights. They will inform us about the flight and the process, and hopefully, we can get on them."
Ottawa has said arrangements have been made with Air Canada to bring home Canadians stranded in Peru due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Saturday that negotiations were also underway with other countries that have closed airspace and borders to try to bring Canadians home.
Reiss said he and his wife are trying to take it all in stride.
"It's strange and yes, it is scary. If you're doing social distancing at home, you're a lot more comfortable then you are in a foreign country where you don't really speak the language either. We're secure in our little hotel here called Cruz Loma, they've kept the restaurant opened for us -- there's only six of us here, there's five Canadians and one German lady. We've had to make a couple trips to the pharmacy, because my wife has several medications and we want to make sure, if we're here for the long-term, that she has enough meds. And unfortunately, there's a couple that she just cannot get."
-With files from Sue Storr
