This morning we head to the Quito airport to catch a flight to Lago Agrio, the northern oil town near the Colombia border. As we board the plane I take inventory of the ratio of men to women on the plane. In the Sucumbios province where we are headed, there are about 50,000 people who are an economically active part of the population. Nearly 40,000 of this population are men. The remaining 10,000 plus women work in agriculture, domestic work or commerce. We are going to document the segment of the population of women not included in these numbers, sex workers.

In a town with 7,000 petroleum workers, military men, police and vendors, there is a high demand for sex. Evidence is in the pool halls, karaoke lounges, discoteques and brothels. And only twelve miles to the Colombian border, the town offers financial opportunity for women desperate to flee violence and war.

In the first half of 2008 alone, over 270,000 Colombians were displaced by rebels, right-wing paramilitary groups and drug cartels. I do not know how many of that number are women or of that number how many ended up resorting to sex work. But a 2005 study found that at least 70% of the sex workers in Ecuador are Colombian.

On the plane the stewardess tells us there are 84 passengers. I count five passengers who are not men.
-- Amy Brown