TAME to the Galapagos
 

We bicycled in the highland of Ecuador and then cruised the Galapagos. Only TAME flies to the Galapagos -- round trip report:

"Both flights were Boeing 272-100's. This is a plane from the era when passengers
wore suites or dresses and only took hats and coats on board. It is so old that the
overhead racks do not have doors. Everything has to go under the seat. On both
flights, the meals are better than you get on some semi-monopoly segments in the
U.S."

Flights from LAX/MIA to Quito business class on AA were uneventful.

Full story at http://www.lpf.com/adventure/ecuador/

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When I flew to the Galapagos from Quito in '80 they were using Lockheed Electra's, I was able to get a ride back in a Air Force (Ecuadorian) C-130 to Guyaquil for half the cost.

We were told that TAME stands for something like Tansport Aviation Military Ecuador. All of the planes we saw were clearly civilian. And, TAME has a monopoly on the Galapapgos.

Hal

Is the runway at Baltra still unpaved?

They have a single runway (there are only a couple of flights a day and all by the same airline) but it is paved. They have a nice airport with a small restaurant, gift shops, waiting room, etc. Xray for outbound passenger luggage and a fairly thorough bag check for inbound -- they are trying very hard to keep foreign bugs, etc., off the islands. No Red Carpet or Admirals club, but ...

TAME runs a shuttle bus to the port where the tour boats pick you up and drop you off.

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Sounds like a different airport, the one I remember looked like it hadn't changed since it was built by the US Air Force during the Second World War. A couple of old buildings, dirt airstrip, a couple of old vans shuttled the passengers to the boats.

At the time it was impossible to buy a advance ticket for the one daily TAME flight. All the seats were reserved by the tour agencies, you had to go to the airport and go stand-by, the flight I was on had only about 15 passengers, picked up a couple more in Guayaquil.

I'll have to go find my photos from that trip an see if I have one of the "Airport"

Hey Hal, nice to see you back on Flyertalk!

Craig (in Placencia, Belize)

"Aspirina" is actually more like "Anacin" in that it is aspirin/caffeine. It is (was) a Bayer product. I bought some in Lima--although there it was in a 10-tablet blister pack, sold to me unboxed, no instructions, with a cute little plastic bag to place it in. As I recall it was about $1 as well.

I'm always fascinated by OTC drugs in various countries--and what's available and not. E.g.--in Britain, OTC analgesics (Aspirin/ASA, acetaminophen, etc) can't be sold in large quantities OTC (max quantity is 25, as I recall), where in the US anything goes. In Canada, "Aspirin" is a brand name, where in the US it is the generic term for acetylsalicylic acid. Etc, etc. Very interesting to me!

JL