The middle of the world and mosquito heaven..

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By Thursday we decided it was time to venture out of Quito so Jules and I headed North to Mitad del Mundo, "Middle of the World". It is the equator line in ecuador which measures 00´00´00´. After two very sweaty bus rides we made to the weirdest "museum" in the middle of what looks like desert land.. Not quite the tourist attraction we were expecting! The place was an old quecha settlement and we were introduced to an array of freaky stuff found in the amazon, shrunken heads, poisonous spiders, fish who swim up genitals and boa constrictors to name a few! Feeling a tad nervous about my trip into the amazon next week now...
When we got to where the equator line is marked on the ground our guide showed us some tests to prove it was the official line (she was very keen on repeatedly telling us it was worked out by GPS) first she showed us that south of the line water falls through a sink hole in a bucket of water clockwise whereas north of of the line it goes anti clockwise (the cantrifugal effect). On the line itself the water fell straight through the plug hole with no circling at all, it was absolutely amazing. I always thought it was a myth but I cant see anyway she could have faked it, this, however, did not stop an annoying american woman in our group from arguing that it wouldnt happen! It was pretty impressive jumping between the two hemispheres, also on the equator gravity is stronger so it is hard to pick people up etc...much fun for me and Jules.
After Mitdad El Mundo we thought we´d be cocky gringos and grab a bus to the cloudforest in Mindo...not as easy as it looked on the map, we ended up dropped in some outback-one-road village where we had to wait hours for a bus to take us in the opposite direction. As a rule, buses here are fine although drivers are keen to get your money so even if they aren´t going the direction you wish to travel they tend to tell you to get on anyway!
We arrived in Mindo very late and the hostel we had been recommended was a log cabin right out in the rainforest, we were slightly apprehensive when a large ecuadorian woman herded us into an entirely empty cabin and yelled spanish at us then disappeared. Luckily it was all alright when the owner Claudia, who spoke perfect English, turned up and explained we were out of season but welcome to take any room we wanted..We obviously went for the one with hammocks out on a balcony looking into the cloudforest. El Rocio hostel is so beautiful I would recommend it to anyone! Dinner was an interesting affair as the restaurant owner attempted to sell us everything apart from food. a ride on a motorbike with his friend, a massage from his daughter, zip lines over the forest...politely we declined and opted for a simple salad. Vegetables are not easily accesible here, they fry everything! Although on the plus side fruit and fruit juices are awesome.
On Friday we woke to millions of hummingbirds and butterflies buzzing around, unfortunately however they weren´t our only winged friends...Mindo is mosquito heaven! During our 3 hour trek into the cloudforest the mosquitos took full advantage of my tasty gringo legs and subsequently my left leg is now sporting a very attractive club foot-infected look. Great.
It was worth it though, We took the scariest cable car I have ever been on over the canopy (see picture!) and hiked down to a waterfall. Luckily on the way back an ecuadorian man took pity on our tired souls and gave us a lift back down to the town..and entertained us with some ecuadorian hip hop!
Back in Mindo there was no rest for the wicked as we had to catch one of the only two buses that serve the town in order to get back to Otavalo.

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Photos

High-fiving on the equator
Jules and I are effortlessly cool in joining the Northern and Southern hemispheres...

Our ´safe´cable car
Just the ride you want hundreds of meters above a rainforest!

cloudforest waterfall
A refreshing dip after our hike and cable car

Comments

[Robyn Press]

I thought you must be lost
I was beginning to panic no word four days glad to see you are having such a good time xxx

[Jack]

Where's the pic!!
where's the canopy picture?? Didn't come up!! I WANT TO BE THERE!!...NOW x