An 18-year-old who worked as a maid in a seaside hotel in Panama happily took up an offer by two friends to join them on a fishing trip and earn some extra cash.

Twenty-eight days later, Adrian Vasquez was found drifting alone in the 10-foot fishing boat. He was in the waters off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, more than 600 miles from where the trio had set out to fish.

His two friends had died, and he likely owed his survival to a sudden rainstorm, the Ecuadorean coast guard captain who helped nurse Vasquez back to health said Monday, speaking by phone from San Cristobal island.

Vasquez was flown Monday to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorean mainland, to be turned over to the Panamanian consul, and was not immediately reachable for comment.

Capt. Hugo Espinosa's patrol boat picked up Vasquez early Sunday from commercial fishermen who had stumbled across the Panamanian drifting in the Pacific on Friday.