We're Back to Normal!

By noon yesterday everything seemed, for all practical purposes, back to normal on the streets of Quito. My morning classes were cancelled because no one knew what the situation was going to be when the city got moving. But when we turned on the news around 10, telenovelas were back on. We took that as a clear sign that the country had recovered. No more 24 hour news coverage. At noon, when I called my 1pm student, he confirmed that yes, we were indeed having classes today.

On my way from home to class I couldn't help but be super observant. I only saw 5 police officers the whole way there. My class is at Naciones Unidas y Amazonas, two of the biggest streets in Quito. Plus, I have to pass Naciones Unidas y 6 de Deciembre, another one of the largest intersections in Quito. I usually see between 40-50 policia and yesterday, no more than 5.



I also noticed that there were HUGE lines at every bank that I passed. Now, I'm attributing that to the fact that it was the last day of the month. But I can't help but think that a percentage of people thought they best get all their money out before anything crazier happens.

Lastly, I walk past a very large school that lets its students out at about 12:45 and so I'm always wading through small children on my way to this 1pm class. But today, no small children. School had been cancelled. I later learned that it was because school starts so early here (kids get on the bus between 6 and 6:30 usually) that no one knew what was happening that early in the morning.

Other than that, things were normal. Weird, I thought. I kept thinking that if something like this had happened in the USA it would take weeks and probably months for things to even appear normal. But people were out, going about their business.

During my class, Kevin told me his version of the events. I could tell that he really didn't want to talk about it. Probably because everyone had incessantly been talking about it since it started, but I didn't really care. I wanted to hear an Ecua's version. More on his version later.

I read a BBC article this morning that was very insightful and concise. I'm linking it here, so you can read it for yourself. It's got the facts pretty much correct as far as we can tell. A lot of theories have developed as to who is behind 'the coup,' if we can call it that. Maybe no one was behind it. Who really knows?

I'm most excited, if you'll allow me to use that word, to see what happens next. I mean, this is what I studied at LFC. Not particularly in South America but it doesn't really matter. I find it really fascinating to be living it right now. Like really fascinating. I know all of you history majors out there understand that. Definitely there will be trials and investigations. All of the police officers and military personnel that participated in the uprising will be fired and tried, possibly sent to jail. There's still talk of Correa disbanding the National Assembly. WHAT?!&*#? How does that even work? Can you imagine if during the healthcare debate, Obama made a televised address saying 'I'm sorry but because we can't come to an agreement on this issue, I am going to disband Congress and make all of the decisions myself.'

Anyways, we'll see and I'll make sure to keep everyone posted. We'll try to vary the posts, so it's not all news, as to keep all parties interested!

Hope all is well at home!
MULUB,
Taylor

PS. Don't forget: Anyone can comment now.
Click Comment
Type your comment in the box
Click Name/URL
Type your name in the box
Click Post