Blogs from Mitad del Mundo, North, Ecuador, South America - page 2

Friday 16.7.2010 day 275 The Equator and Pulula Hua Volcano We got up at 8:00 and had bfast at the hostel then we walked down to the metro bus station and got the bus to Ofelia then we got on to a new bus to Mitad Del Mundo were the Equator line is. We had a bit of a look around the fake line then we took a tour to Pulula Hua Volcano which is active volcano but about 100 people live in the crater of it. There is even a small primary school with 12 students in the crater. There were lots of school students walking down and up to the town when we were there. It is about a 1.4 km walk but straight down. There is a road in but the locals do ... read more

Thursday I woke up bright and early and met up with Ken in the breakfast room. As I mentioned before we were the only two people staying at the Hotel Cayman and it was a bit odd walking into a room capable of accommodating maybe 30 people for breakfast, to find only two place mats set out...clearly they were waiting for us :) Any way, I got speaking to Ken about my plans for the day and said that I fancied going up to the museum at Mitad del Mundo - the exact point of the equator. There is a monument some 300 meters up the road from the museum which, from what I can gather, is where they used to think that the equator lay. But GPS has since proved them wrong. Ken said that ... read more

Last night I went out to dinner with the Nishimuras and the Descours. We took two cabs to a restaurant our local guide (Edison) had recommended. It was a seafood place called Mare Nostrum. Dinner for the 5 of us, including wine and desserts was 111 dollars. The good thing in Ecuador is that they use the US dollar as their currency, so it's easy to pay for things. I had grilled salmon and it was really yummy. We again had to take 2 cabs back to the hotel, and Diane and Yoshi and I stayed in the hotel bar and had our "welcome" drink before heading off to our rooms. Don't scoff, but I actually had a daquiri. Hey, free booze, what can I say.... We left this morning at 9 am for our city ... read more

The Sunday we left mindo at 6 30 in the morning and arrived at mitad del mundo at about 8 am. After the lush cloud forest to be on an arid dusty plain in the hot hot sun wasn’t particularly pleasant! After some faffing with the guide book we decided to get a taxi to two lots of inca ruins and not go into the complex built around the fake mitad del mundo {where the French thought it was} So we first went to a pre incan platform built by the ancient peoples who had correctly calculated where the equator is. It lines up there with the top a volcano in the distance. We met some archaeologists who were measuring things in preparation for the equinox. It was an awe ispiring feeling to be stood on ... read more

Ich bin der Koenig der Welt!!! Das hab ich beschlossen als ich an den zwei Mittelerdelinien war. Unglaubliches hab ich da erspuehrt und erfahren. Am falschen (48 m mehr oder weniger entfernt vom Aequator) hab ich schoene Fotos gemacht und am richtigen Aequator dann wieder meine schoenen Kopfschmerzen (die ich grad mit Allegro Vivace vom Mozart zu kurieren versuche) bekommen und gesehen dass die Korioliskraft wirklich funktioniert, 2 Meter vom Aequator entfernt, jeweils. Entweder ein genialer Trick oder einfach Genial. Ja, ganz toll. Auf der Mitte der Welt. Ach, ein rohes Ei hab ich auch noch auf einem Nagelkopf balansiert. Geht scheinbar nur am Aequator soooo gut. Das Essen hier kotzt mich an. Ich weiss nicht obs an mir liegt oder an den Equatoris....schrecklich, columbianisches Essen ist eine Wucht dagegen. Morgen gehe ich glaub an die ... read more