When life gives you a coup, make coup-kies

So after the excitement of the political events of Sept. 30, I figured I should probably fill you in a bit on the perspective of living here! We were actually not to affected by the events here in the more rural Mt. Sinai region, which was a blessing, but it definitely made for an interesting few days!

On the 30th I was working a normal day in my classroom, so I didn't even hear about the ordeal until noon when school ended. Jeff and Jenn came to pick me up at school and explained that there was a "golpe de estado" taking place in Quito. The buses were all shutting down, so we were to pick Becky and Aaron up from their worksites so that we would all be home safe. As I recall the events of that day, I like to envision myself valiently embarking on some wonderful rescue mission through the streets of Ecuador, but it was pretty much like any other day.

As we heard more on the radio and talked to neighbors, we were able to find out that the police had gone on strike throughout Ecuador, which was the reason why it was so dangerous to be out on the streets, especially for us "gringos". Having no idea how long this was going on, we ran to the store quick on our way home and made sure we had enough groceries for atleast a day or two. Our neighbors were so protective and caring, making sure that we were home safe. I went over to watch the news with one of our neighbors, and she wanted us to call her when we got home even though it probably takes a minute to walk home from her house.

That night, we heard that we wouldn't be going to work the next day and it honestly felt like a snowday! No work, we weren't really leaving the house...what was there to do!? Becky and I decided that we needed to do something that was out of the ordinary, as the chances of being in another coup in our lifetime is not incredibly promising (although who knows! it was Aaron's second) so we decided to make some coup-kies. Yes, pun intended. Now that we graduated from college, we have no motivation or incentive to be cool. :) It ended up being a nice time to hang out with community, watch a movie, read a book. The whole situation completely cleared up within a day and a half, so we are back to our normal ecua-lives, what ever "normal" is I suppose. :)