Glenn's South American Oddssy

Just to let you guys know that the road opened today, but I have decided that it is worth the time to stay an extra day and look at the public unrest, though very calm, and also a market day in a town called Otavalo. I am told that it is one of the biggest here in Ecuador and it is most active on Saturdays.

[Editor's note: The common border between Ecuador and Peru has been the source of conflict for the past 150 years. The most recent crisis began because of a poorly defined peace agreement between the two countries in 1942. The Rio Protocol, as it was called, took some 200,000 square kilometers of land from Ecuador and gave it to Peru. The poor description of the new frontier left come 100,000 square kilometers of the border unmarked when an unknown river appeared where the mountains were supposed to be. These rivers are the Santiago and Zamora and are located in the middle of the dense jungle between the two countries. As a result of the lack of clarity of the Rio Protocol, the two nations have been fighting on and off for the last fifty years, including two full scale wars and spasmodic frontier incidents.]