A Digital Nomad's Life - 2021 Edition

As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be fun to share photos of all of the places that have served as my "office" during 2021. Call this "A View from My Laptop" if you will.

January

I rang in the New Year in Puyo, in the Amazonia region of Ecuador. My soon-to-be husband and I stayed at his brother and sister-in-law's home, and I worked at their dining table on the second floor with a view of the neighbor's chickens below, the main cemetery on a nearby hilltop, and the Andes Mountains on the horizon.

Working from home in Puyo.

We then spent a few weeks in Guayaquil, finalizing all the documents and legal processes required for us to get married. We stayed at Hotel 9 de Octubre, where I worked at the desk in our standard hotel room. As per the name, the hotel fronts the busy main thoroughfare in the city center, and you never know what you might see on the sidewalk and street below.

Avenida 9 de Octubre in Guayaquil's historic city center.

We flew home to San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos in late January. We initially stayed at my husband's tiny ground-floor apartment, which did not have a suitable place for me to work. Thus I spent most days at CiberMarcus, a basic internet cafe run by the resident computer expert. Their 1024 Kbps download speed (yes, you read that right, that’s only 1 Mbps!) was the fastest publicly accessible internet on the island.

I trekked across town to work here most days.

February

We moved into our new third-floor apartment on February 5 but it did not have a pre-existing internet connection. After researching options for setting up service, installation was projected for early March. In the meantime, I tethered my laptop to my phone’s T-Mobile service, and made almost-daily trips to CiberMarcus. We also bought new furniture, including a proper desk and chair so I could, eventually, work from home.

The view from my desk at our new apartment.

March to Mid-August

Our new fiber optic line was installed on March 5, but for $150/month iFotoncorp only provided 768 Kbps download speed. Remember, all internet on the islands comes from satellites, and if it’s a particularly overcast or windy day, you will probably lose the connection entirely. I found myself working twice as long to do the same work I could do, with better/faster internet, in half the time. There were too many days when I screamed, cried, and literally was pulling my hair out because I lost hours of work when the connection failed and whatever I was working on didn’t save or upload properly. At least I had a beautiful view from my desk in Barrio Peñas Bajas!

Sunset in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

Mid-August through September

Due to some new, concerning health issues with my husband, and an upcoming work project that would require far better internet than exists in Galápagos, we flew to the mainland on August 18. We spent the first month and a half (until October 4) in a third-floor apartment in Manglaralto, a small community on the coast, three hours northeast from Guayaquil. The apartment had a sizeable balcony with unobstructed ocean views, however the weather was not often amenable to sitting outside. Thus I spent way too many hours working from a table squeezed into the cramped kitchen area.

A rare sunny day in Manglaralto in September.

October to Mid-November

We returned to Guayaquil at the beginning of the month to seek medical treatment for my husband and, not knowing exactly what that would entail, we booked two weeks in a sprawling 4-bedroom, 5-bath sixth-floor apartment in the city center. I set up my office at the dining table in the main living room, where I had an expansive view of the cityscape and the Carmen and Santa Ana hills in the distance.

A desk with a view is always desirable!

Unfortunately, the apartment was already booked beyond our stay, so we were forced to move again on October 16. This time we rented a 2-bedroom third-floor apartment in the Nueva Kennedy neighborhood of north Guayaquil. The second bedroom, modified to include a plastic folding table and chair, served as my office. It came with a view of the neighboring houses, the planes departing from Guayaquil airport (the apartment was directly in the flight path), and San Eduardo hill in the distance.

Watching World Cup qualifying games in November.

The last two weeks of November

After an extremely difficult month of medical interventions and insurance drama, we decided to take a break from the stress of the city and returned to the coast on November 17. We rented a small, 2-bedroom house in Olón for two weeks. I set up my office at the dining table in the main living room and, while there were a couple of windows, there was no view to speak of because of the cinder block wall and fencing that surrounds the house.

When the chairs don't match the height of the table...

December

With no definite plans for further medical treatment due to ongoing insurance issues, we decided to stay on the coast a bit longer. The house in Olón was too closed-in for my taste and was also expensive by Ecuador standards, so on December 1 we moved yet again, this time to a third-floor mini-suite (i.e. a basic hotel room with an outdoor kitchen) on a hillside in the La Punta area of Montañita. My office was primarily the outdoor dining table, as the only other alternative was the bed. Due to the trees, I didn't have a great view of the ocean, but at least I could hear the surf and observe lots of birds, other wildlife (squirrels, iguanas) and the free range cattle that roam this part of the coast.

My outdoor office in Montañita.

On December 20, we returned to Guayaquil to get our required PCR tests before flying home to Galápagos for the holidays. We spent two nights in our go-to hotel, 9 de Octubre.

Sunset from Room 523.

Thus, for the last week of the year, I actually got to use my own desk again, and am better equipped to work from home using the Claro SIM card I picked up on the mainland. I still only average around 2 Mbps download speed, but so far it has been enough to work (and write this blog post!), so I'm good with that.

Happy Holidays from Galápagos!!!