Mitad del Mundo (middle of the earth)

Greetings from the mitad del mundo aka the equator! After leaving the coast, we headed into the Colombian interior to Bogota. After a freezing cold (the bus drivers like to put the air con on full blast) 18 hour trip, we arrived in the Colombian capital. We spent a couple of days enjoying the side walk cafes, markets, and bustling atmosphere of the city as well as the cooler weather (the city is over 2000m in elevation and stays a nice 60-70 degrees- 15-20 C). We also took an excursion to a Salt Cathedral, which lies just outside of Bogota. The cathedral was opened in 1995 in the side of an active salt mine, apparently the biggest salt mountain in the world. On the last leg of our tour, our group bumped into a school group of about 30 girls, who became quite enamored with Josh. Judging by their reaction, you would have thought he was a Colombian popstar, much to Josh´s embarrasment. He practically ran to the exit to escape his new found fans as they yelled ¨Bye george¨(unable to pronounce Josh) after him.
Next stop was San Augustin and some pre-colombian ruins. The civilization lasted from around 500bc to 1000ad, and were famous for these large stone statues. We decided to do a horse tour of the various archelogical sites. Our guide, Lucas, was great. He'd been in the business for over a decade, learning his english from various travelors along the way. Due to informality of his education, he used phrases like horse sh*t and other colorful language not typical on a guided tour. He also shared a lot of information about the area in general from typical fruits to the current guerilla situation. It was also a lot of fun getting to ride around on horses (I know - definitely a city girl), but I didn´t enjoy it so much the next day, when I had to suffer through a 5 hour bus trip over a bumpy, unpaved road with a sore bum.
After San Augustin, we booked it to the Colombian border, and then on to Quito, Ecuador. Our stay in Quito was pretty uneventful, though we did take a day trip out to the equator monument or actually I should say the two equator monuments. The official monument is a bit of a tourist trap. Its a huge stone monument, intersected by a big red line at 00¨ degrees latitude, and surrounded by expensive restaurants and shops. It turns out its not even the real equator, but was established in the 1700s by a French expedition. With the invention of GPS, the actual line was established about 200 m away. So, after a few cheesy photos, we headed to a little museum around the corner through which the actual equator pased. The museum had a great interactive tour, including a series of experiments such as balancing an egg on a nail (all posible b-c of the lack of gravity at the equator). It also had a gruesome little collection of giant snakes, shrunken heads, and the little amazonian fish that is attracted by urine and lodges itself in very private places only to be removed by surgery - ouch. Then, after the men on the tour had their turn at hunting cacti with a blow gun, we called it a day.
Now, we are rapidly making our way to the Peruvian border. Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the comments, we really enjoy getting them and seeing what everyone else it up to.
Ciao!
Carissa and Josh.

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