Part II: the longest tarde of my life...

Whoa! How about that cliffhanger yesterday?!?! Sorry I was running out of time at the cyber and couldn't finish everything. Don't worry I'm safe and everything is fine down here. Here's how the rest of the day went down...

12pm - HIGH NOON. Christina and I get back from the clinic and our house is officially CTU Headquarters. Kipp and Wellington (Rostro de Cristo Head of Security/superhero) are both on the phone, coordinating with our office in the States and our volunteers trapped in Guayaquil (I was going to use the word "stuck" but "trapped" just sounds so much more dramatic). To recap from yesterday's blog, the bridge from Durán to Guayaquil is closed, the police all across the country are on strike, buses aren't running, banks, schools, businesses and anything else that would benefit from a police presence (i.e. the entire country) are closed, and Christina's walking around with an IV bag because the parasite inside her won't let her hold any fluids down. Oh, and our in country director Megan is on a plane to Miami (by now the airport is also shut down, but her flight was literally the last plane they let leave the country), and Celso (aka the only fully bilingual volunteer now that Megan is out of the country) is no where to be found.

Jon and Brendan are at their worksite in Guayaquil, and the plan is for them to spend the night there if the bridge doesn't open. I exlained the worksites in more detail in a previous blog, but Jon and Brendan work at Damien House, a clinic for people suffering from Hanson's disease run by Sr. Annie, a bad ass nun from Brooklyn. Annie's been in Ecuador for 30 years, so even though we're all worried, we know they're in good hands. Tasha and Tierney are also at their Guayaquil worksite, Santiago Apostal, a school for working kids. Their plan is to hold tight there, but if possible rendezvous with Jon and Brendan at Damien house so they can all spend the night at Sr. Annie's.

Jessie and Beth are at their worksite, Chicos de la Calle, in Durán, so Wellington and Kipp take the truck to pick the girls up (buses aren't running).

12:30ishpm - Oh look who it is! Celso casually strolls in. He was just across the street at Jesus' house having lunch and watching the news. We also had the news on, and by now we're starting to hear a little more about this police vs. Correa drama. Aparently it's not just a strike, but an attempted coup. Every channel keeps playing this clip of Correa yelling "If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill me if you want to! Kill me if you are brave, instead of hiding in the crowd like cowards!"

2pmish - The main bridge is still closed, but we get word that the other bridge--an hour out of the way--is open. Kipp and Wellington are back by now with Jessie and Beth, so Celso and Wellington pick up Isidro (another guard, who brings a shotgun just in case) and the three of them set off for Guayaquil to rescue Jon, Brendan, Tasha, and Tierney from the mayhem in Guayaquil (I considered using the words "pick up" instead of rescue, but then it wouldn't really be a RESCUE OPERATION, would it???).

Before they left, they picked up Caitlin from the Arbolito house and dropped her off at the our place so all the volunteers would be in one place. So Caitlin, Jessie, Beth, Kipp, Christina, and I are all at the AJS house, holding tight until further notice. I'm not really into pooping my pants if I don't have to, so I went to grab some ice cream at the store with Jessie while everyone else watched the news and chewed their finger nails. By now our office in the States had emailed our parents a couple times to let them know about the situation and that we're all safe at the house. So a couple parents called to check on us, and we found out that Ecuador made the news back home... exciting!

5pm - The rescue team gets back safely with all the volunteers! Guayaquil sounded pretty crazy... streets closed, demonstrations all over the place, people burning tires, LOOTING! Never even a hint of a threat to our safety, though, so nothing to worry about. Haha one funny story from the rescue op... during the madness of rushing off to Guayaquil, no one thought to grab money for the bridge fair. So Celso, Wellington, and Isidro are in line at the toll and all they can scrounge up from their pockets is 20 cents. But wait! What's that? A first aid kit in the glove box?! That's gotta be worth something, right?! At pretty much every major stop light--or, in this case, bridge toll plaza--people come up to cars trying to sell fruit and other wares. Wellington flags down one such vendor and tells her he'll sell her the $5 first aid kit for the low low price of $2. She agrees and just like that they've got bridge toll taken care of!

The rest of our night was pretty uneventful. We made dinner, watched a movie, and tried to not think about whatever madness was going on. The police had the President trapped in a hospital for most of the day, but it wasn't a coup attempt so much as it was a police strike that got out of control. The army came and rescued Correa at around 10pm Thursday night, after a brief firefight with the police outside the hospital. Sadly, 4 police officers died and several others were injured. Once the president was freed, though, everything was relatively back to normal. The US and every other country in South America announced their support for Correa, and even Correa's largest political rival, the mayor of Guayaquil, publicly backed Correa's government. School and work were still cancelled again Friday, but for the most part, everything was back under control. Here's a good article from the Associated Press that summarizing all the events of the day:

Ecuador revolt: Attempted coup or uprising?

Bottom line, it was a hell of a day, but we're all safe and sound down here, looking forward to getting back to work Monday. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!