Ecuador Violence

 Well, I guess you know you've been in Ecuador too long when your family doesn't even calls or email to see if your all right after an attempted coup.  Maybe it's just because they don't watch the news.  Who knows.  In case you don't watch the news either, I'll fill you in on the details. 

On Thursday morning last week I (Chad) flew up to Quito with a medical transfer.  It was a beautiful morning and I could see all the snow capped volcanoes on my way up.  I took off about 7:00am and landed in Quito just before 8:00 am.  After getting the patient into an ambulance and filing my flight plan, I was ready to take off by about 8:30 am.  Just after takeoff I switched over to departure control and they began informing inbound flights that the airport was closed.  I thought I must of missed some planned closure and  so did all the other pilots, even one carrying the vice-president.   Then I find out as I'm landing in Shell that the national police had rioted and taken over the airport.  Thankfully our airport remained open and we didn't see any violence first hand.  Things have calmed down now.  When things like this happen it is a sure reminder of the differences between our host country and our home country.  Our time overseas has definitely made us more patriotic and thankful for the democracy that we take for granted some times.

Here's a link of the story in case you're interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmcyrDiVNzU