Dear parents

This blog is coming to you from the Carpe Diem Home Office. We want to assure you that we are monitoring closely the 'coup' situation that is taking place currently in the northern capital city of Quito. The group is well where they are in Cuenca, which is far away from any trouble and Cuenca hasn't, in fact, felt or experienced any of the consequences from Quito.

This type of civil unrest is sadly par for the course and in the developing world has a way of - quickly and without malice - settling back to the norm. Of course, it's our protocol to have an open line of communication with the leaders just to stay aware of circumstances, but for now we're going to listen to the media and determine how long to wait until this particular storm passes.

Again, I want to emphasize that the 'coup' is, according to most news sources, not a nationwide issue. In fact, most news sources are downplaying any safety issues and the fact that State Department Notices have referred to these events as a "strike by police units and some military" clearly lead me to believe this is a fairly transitory civil issue but one we'll nonetheless continue to diligently monitor.

Stay tuned for more,

Ethan Knight,

Exec. Director