Police Riot - Kidnapping President Correa

Today was a bit unsettling in Quito - the police are protesting proposed salary cuts by the government. Matt and I actually went to the presidents house in the historical center of the city this morning where there were several protesters, who as far as we could tell, were peacefully showing there support for the president.  

A few minutes later we were at a museum next to the presidential palace and we were hurriedly asked to leave because the museum was shutting down. As we walked out of the Old City and back towards our school many shops and restaurants were shutting there doors. Finally we hailed a cab to go back to the school as the trollys were all shut down because of road blocks. On the ride back to the school our taxi was forced to turn around when we came to one of the road blocks, a line of burning rubber across the street. Eventually we had to get out and walk the rest of the way to school as the taxi could not get around yet another road block.  At school they requested we return back to our homes and we took a brisk 20 min walk back to our house.

The protesting group took control of the Quito airport by going on the runways and no flights were able to enter or leave.  All the main roads exiting the city were blocked too.  Peru and Colombia closed all border crossings with Ecuador. 

At night we watched the news and saw the military rescue the president from the hospital where the rebel police were keeping him hostage.  We heard the gunshots from our home.  It was pretty crazy, also on the live TV coverage we saw a military person get shot and die.  It was very sad and our host mother was beside herself at the senseless tragedy. 

Early Friday morning we took a taxi to our travel agent and went on a bus with 10 people to the volcano Chimborazzo - we were very pleased to get out of the city into the countryside.  There were no issues with travel except for two huge worn down blockades of dirt across the highway that the bus had to navigate. 

During the situation bbc.com had the best internet coverage as we couldn't totally understand the local TV news stations.  At this point things have somewhat settled but the unstable politics were very interesting to experience and being out the capital was quite the relief for us as will be getting into Peru.  Thanks to all family and friends for you thoughts and prayers during this event, it was much appreciated.