El Paro Nacional

El paro means strike or stoppage, and it comes from the verb parar, to stop.

It began on Thursday October 3rd, the day after President Lenin Moreno announced a “paquetazo” that stopped gasoline subsidies, cut government workers’ vacation in half & cut their pay as well. The paquetazo was created to comply with the International Monetary Fund’s requirements for receiving a loan. Suddenly from one day to the next, there were no taxis or buses running in Cuenca, and many intersections were blocked by taxis, just parked there. My sister Libby arrived in Cuenca that day for a visit. Luckily our friend Franco took me to the airport in his car to pick her up; otherwise I would have had to walk!

The paro lasted until Sunday night, October 13th, when the indigenous CONAIE leaders met with the President, and the President agreed to revoke the paquetazo. The President, Lenin Moreno, agreed to create new policies together with the CONAIE leaders that would still fulfill the austerity measures ordered by the IMF, which gave Ecuador a loan this past spring.

But those 10 days were pretty trippy! All the roads leading in and out of Cuenca were blocked by indigenous protesters, who threw rocks if people/cars got close, and burned tires. So we couldn’t get any food–I mean, the supermarkets were empty! I could still get fresh fruit & veggies at the outdoor market, but it was a bit worrisome. And school was canceled for 8 days, which was driving us nuts having all 3 kids at home! And lots of things were canceled, soccer practice, etc.

Buses ran sporadically during the strike, taxis were available most days, but we couldn’t leave the city to go to Cajas NP for example. Also a lot of people were worried about propane gas tanks–you couldn’t get new tanks…they flew a plane from Guayaquil to Cuenca with food & medical supplies b/c nothing was getting in. Those are some bad ass indigenous people!! I am impressed by what they accomplished! Imagine in the U.S. protesters paralyzing the country. They also took over some oil plants in the Amazon & cut the country’s oil production by 70% or something. The protests got violent in Quito & Guayaquil especially, with looting, and the President declared a state of emergency so the police could use force. Oh, and they put a national curfew in areas near govt. buildings.

“Politicians sell the homeland”

It was so nice to have Libby here visiting during the paro. She helped so much with the kids—she has amazing patience, as Tomu & Jade wanted to play with her nonstop, every day, all day long. Libby brought some of the Magic Treehouse series books, and Tomu & Jade got hooked instantly. Actually, the characters in the book, Jack & Annie, have similar personalities to Tomu and Jade. After reading Night of the Ninjas, Tomu, Libby and Jade would play ninjas, dressed in black with their swords, looking for Samurai.

Post-Cajas town excursion, hence the long johns.

Poncho presents from auntie Wub

It felt strange during the strike, the uncertainty of not knowing how long it would go on, if there would be school the next day, if there would be food in the market, etc. But it also felt like a vacation, because all activities were canceled, and we couldn’t leave Cuenca or go into the city center because it was too dangerous (especially with kids), so we mainly hung out at home. And we watched three seasons of “La Casa de Papel” (Money Heist), a Spanish Netflix series. Every night we would watch 2 to 3 episodes, and Libby and I would always debrief them afterwards. During Wub’s visit, Riki was still sleeping in his pillow nest in the guest bedroom/library because it was hard for him to sleep lying down post-surgery, so Wub slept with me. It was nice because it gave us the chance to have some un-interrupted conversations.

Picnic at Parque Paraíso

We did manage to bike to Parque Paraíso, as well as to visit the Municipal Cemetery and the Museo Pumapungo. Libby and I biked to play bridge a few times, and we frequented Sinfonía, my favorite coffee shop, as often as we could. We hiked at Guaguazhumi, the infamous (in our family) mountain where Riki dislocated his shoulder. We ate helados at our favorite helado store (Helados La Tienda).