ECUADOR | Sunday, 13 January 2013 | Views [264] | View Larger Image
Fig 1. 7 am, on the Ecuadorian side of the Peru/Ecuador border. What initially came to mind when I heard the harsh crack.. crack… crack-crack-crack was fireworks being set-off, as earlier I had seen some children playing in the street, I then realised it was the sound of AK47's ricocheting though the foliage in the jungle to my left. Shortly after, soldiers dressed in camouflage and balaclavas appeared out of the dense thicket, yelling and carrying two men and what looked to be large plastic containers. They were all hurried into a utility vehicle that sped off as quickly as it had screeched up. I was later told that these masked individuals were government forces that had captured Peruvian diesel smugglers; many of which drown each year trying to swim containers of diesel across the nearby river border. This was to be the beginning of my 6-month stay in one of the most diverse and touching countries I have seen, WELCOME TO ECUADOR!
