Culture SHOCK!

href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CCONFIG%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">

I´ll start off by saying I know the pictures of the new house and Sanquolqui market are unrelated, I just wanted to share them with you all.

What seemed to be a seemingly normal, well to do week, ended as one of the craziest weeks in my 20+ year existence. As I’m sure many of you know we were in the midst of a governmental overthrow. Quite the shock, it’s something you don’t experience within the U.S., and on top of this our fearless leader (our boss and go to persona within Ecuador) was in Nashville, TN attending a conference.

We were first caught wind of this early Thursday morning when one of our partner organizations got in contact with us via my phone (which Sam answered) telling us not to leave the confines of our house. Confused by this, we sought more information. The initial report is that the police were on strike i.e. no police force in Quito and the surrounding valley (where we live). Because of this and being inhertinley Gringo (i.e. targeted because the belief is we have more money), it was presumably unsafe for us to leave our house. This proved true when we found out that both of the local grocery stores (just down the road from us) were looted and 3 banks in Quito were robbed before noon.

Later that evening we contacted some friends who informed us of the complexity of the situation partaking around us. I’ll explain the situation as best I can, although I undoubtedly cannot truly understand or portray the intricacy and governmental turmoil this country has struggled with for years. It in fact was not just a police strike but a political move inspired by the opposing political party. This political party misinformed the police on a new policy regarding the benefits and compensation of the police force. They convinced the police department that they were receiving pay cuts and their benefits were being eliminated. However this was not the case, as the president, Rafael Correa, tried to explain in a speech to the police. The police berated the president with words, bottles, and tear gas. Due to the injuries received during his speech, the president was forced to receive medical care at a hospital in Quito. It was here that the police kidnapped the Ecuadorian president in hopes of forcing him to sign a new agreement with the police. His savoir came in the form of the military. The military was forced into a shootout with the police, which resulted in two dead officers and the freeing of the president.

I wasn’t quite sure how to feel while all of this was taking place. I’ve never been in such a precarious, unsettling situation, especially one in which I truly did not understand. Was the overthrow going to succeed? Were we going to have to be evacuated? Were looters going to try and rob our house because the police force were on strike? (although Brock and I had adrenaline pumping through our veins, a sledgehammer, and a large pick axe, all in all a pretty good combination to deter intruders).

By the next day, Friday, many things seemed to be back to normal. Some of the police force had returned to work, the city seemed to be unscathed and unaware of the previous day’s events, and we were allowed to walk outside of our doors again. However, we were required to stay in the surrounding Sanquolqui area (the town in which we live).

I guess the good news was that we inherited a 4 day weekend and I acquired an authentic Ecuadorian soccer jersey and a cross necklace by two random people at a bar in Sanquolqui. Apparently they aren’t used to seeing Gringos in the area, for most Gringos are tourists and frequent the Mariscal (gringolandia) in Quito. Oh, and work is going well. Talks of work just happened to be trumped by the events of the week. If you would like more information about the police riot in Ecuador check out this article:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/30/ecuador.violence.archive/index.html?iref=allsearch

Until next time,

Luke