Day 936
“Internal Armed Conflict”
We awoke ready to leave Cuenca only to be greeted by some disturbing news, an armed conflict had broken out between the government and several of the cartel groups. Two leaders had escaped from jail, and they had declared they were in a state of war against the government, the military and the people of Ecuador. In response the President, Daniel Noboa, declared a state of emergency which was then upgraded to an internal state of war. A TV studio was taken over by members of the Las Choneros gunmen, several hospitals were attacked, hostages taken in prisons and universities. Explosions were heard throughout Ecuador, nowhere felt safe. Schools and most state institutions were closed. Several civilians were killed, and there was panic in the streets, all shops and businesses closed. We took the decision to stay put and bunkered down in our apartment. Around 4pm we went out to assess the situation. I don’t think I will ever forget the look of fear and distress on the faces of the few people who remained on the streets. Cars were streaming out from the city, Cuenca was rapidly turning into a ghost town.
We really didn’t know what to do. Stay put for a few more days, or get out of Ecuador. Eddy had already left by car to Loja, high in the hills. Silvan, like us had waited to assess the situation. Our original plan was to head into Peru at the coast. The mist, cold and rain with endless climbing and few views made us long for a change. This meant we had to pass close to the most dangerous area in Ecuador at the moment. It was by far the quickest way out but probably not the safest. We decided to give it one more day. We saw on the news a coach had been hijacked on the road we would take and a gun battle had taken place near the border. We were still undecided. Wednesday brought a day of calm and though far from normal the situation felt better, maybe a lull but we decided to take the opportunity and go. I booked our taxi, Silvan opted to ride to Loja, he would have a fellow cyclist for company and I felt it was a good decision.
Victor our driver was bang on time and off we went. The roads were much quieter than normal but all seemed fine. We soon hit a few problems though, not the cartel but Mother Nature. There had been a massive thunderstorm overnight and we had to manoeuvre past many landslides and drive over a semi-collapsed bridge, at our own risk the police guarding it said! The last hour, as we drove closer to the border was deserted, maybe the rain was keeping the cartel at home! This was where I had been most anxious about, but we got through fine. The border crossing was super smooth and that was it, out of Ecuador and into Peru.
