Returning To My Temporary Home Of Quito (Ecuador)

Calle Antepara

Before I made it back to Ecuador, whilst still enjoying my time in the wonders of Los Angeles (USA), news was flooding through that an attempted coup was taking place in the capital city of Ecuador, Quito - where I had been living for the past 10 months and where in 3 days time I would be returning. President of Ecuador - Rafael Correa decided to change some polices making it harder for police in the country to gain promotions and recieve better wages & bonuses. This didn´t go down well with the Ecuadorian police and suddenly an uprising and attempted coup began to take place. Correa was trapped in a hospital, as loyal military members attempted to hold off the angry crowd. Reports suggested that the police surrounded the hospital and then proceded with a tear gas attack. Friends living in Quito later told me that the police were also burning objects in the streets and causing the kind of trouble which they are usually responsible for preventing. Such acts were taking place all over the country. After 12 hours Correa was rescued from the hospital, with the military and government taking back control of the situation but consequently with 8 police / military officers dead from gun fighting. Airports in Ecuador were closed for a few days and thus it was assumed that I would not be able to return to the fiasco taking place in the southern part of the Americas. In the end, the airports re-opened and my flight remained on schedule. I made it back to the madness of Quito - where streets were now filled with military officers, each a giant machine gun.

Quito was pretty much back to normal a few days later and my life back in South America picked up where it had eseentially left off. Unfortunately more long term friends were leaving. After 6 months here, my German buddy Jens finally finished up his work in forestry and departed these shores. I did have one very cool reunion though. When I first arrived in Ecuador I made good friends with Maha, a young German girl. We spent some months together traveling around or drinking on the terrace of the Secret Garden. I spent last new Years with her too. She returned back to Ecuador and we spent some time catching up. She didnt stay long and soon returned back to Germany - but has told me she would be back again after Christmas - she really does love this place.

Work was pretty hectic. I returned back and essentially started to plan my presentation. In a few months time, I would have to publically speak in front of a few hundred Ecuadorians on the explosions at the Tungurahua Volcano. A big conference was taking place at a university down on the coast of Ecuador and I was asked to do a 15 minute talk on volcanic activity. I was allowed to do the presentation in English, but I hadn´t yet finished my analysis or obtained all of my results and so it was a manic time for me at work.

I did manage to find some time to have fun. I went to a few great football matches. The first was my local team here in Ecuador - La Liga. They were playing a team from Argentina in the Quater Finals of essentially the South American version of the Champions League. There were fireworks, fights on the pitch, general mayhem and a win for the local team, which meant that La Liga were through to the Semi Finals. For the first time, after seeing hundreds of football matches, I also got a touch of the ball. It was looped high into the crowd and I leapt like a small cat to get a touch on it. I was happy about that.

The other game I went to see was an international friendly, Ecuador Vs Venezuela. Ecuador destroyed their South American counterparts 4-1 and it could have been more. It wasn´t a packed stadium but it was still nice to see an international friendly in this part of the world.

I hadn´t been back that long in Quito when I decided to do a few more trips out of the city. One of my good friends, Mike was soon leaving and he wanted to go to Cotopaxi and relax in the Secret Garden´s other hostal out there, and just be with nature. So the next weekend, I packed my bags again and off we went.............................