A Winnipeg couple stranded in an airport hotel in Ecuador is desperately awaiting help from the federal government to flee the central American nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ecuador imposed sweeping measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19, barring international flights March 14, then declaring a state of emergency March 18.
The couple, Lynda and Louis Richard, long dreamed of visiting the Galápagos Islands — they usually take a trip every year, in hopes of seeing the world in their retirement. “I’m feeling helpless,” Lynda Richard said in a video chat interview. “This is not a holiday, we are trapped here, we are stranded and we would like to come.