Says a lot about Ecuadorian politics...
I took this picture from school. It is smoke rising up into the sky from burning garbage and tires in the streets...
Today I was sitting in math class, bored as usual, and I decided that I wanted to go outside and get some fresh air, so I took a stroll to the bathroom. When I got back, the teacher stopped teaching and said that all the police in the country are protesting and basically that all hell broke loose.
The police throughout the entire country are protesting because they do not agree with a new law that takes away some of their benefits so to show how important they are for the country, they decided to see what it is like without any police officers for a while, and just as they expected, there is chaos. The president in Quito said that it was an "attempted coup" and people tried to attack him, so he fled to a hospital. The main airport in Quito was closed down, roads entering the major cities are closed down, all stores and commercial centers are closed. Basically, Ecuador is going crazy, everything's closed down, and people are trapped in their houses. FUN!
Anyways, when I got back from the bathroom, the teacher started explaining what was happening and she said that we were in danger in school because people were raiding other schools and colleges throughout Portoviejo and that robbers could come to our school. After this, the kids started to freak out a little. A lot ran to the windows of the classroom to see if anything was going on outside, everyone started packing up their backpacks, and everyone started frantically calling their parents to find out how they would be getting rides home, since we all had to leave school at around 11:00 am. Luckily, my host sister came to get my in my classroom and I left. Before I left school though, I looked back and there was a huge black cloud of smoke from where people were burning garbage and car tires.
The same thing that is happening in Portoviejo is happening all over the country. It is very unsafe here in Ecuador right now, and I can’t even leave my house, not that I would want to. All the stores and places around town are closed, there are a LOT of robberies, even car robberies, and there have been more kidnappings than normal in the center of town. Luckily, Portoviejo isn't as big of a city as Guayaquil or Quito, where the majority of the problems are.
To everyone reading at home, I am 10000% ok. I left school early, I am in my house, I am safe, and nothing will happen to me. So nobody should worry. This whole thing is really not affecting me. Yes, I had to leave school early, but that was it.
Click here for a video and article explaining what is going on here:
edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/30/ecuador.violence/index.html
Love and prayers Kelsey Pat! <3
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