The centre of the World

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Still scared to use the local buses around Quito we decided to take a taxi tour ($13) to the equator. Many people had told us the equator was a tourist trap but we were determined to get the line straddling picture!

First stop on the tour was Pululahua Crater. After the taxi driver trying to talk to us in Spanish, we managed to figure out that he was saying “I’ll wait here, you walk up there and look.” The crater was a couple of houses in the valley between three mountains. It was very pretty but nothing real special.

Second stop was the equator museum. Entry to the museum was $3, we didn’t know if this was a tour so we started walking around only to be shouted at 2 minutes later saying “Wait over here.” Within the museum we were shown shrunken heads and one of a 12 year old boy who had died from diseases, forces from the equator, animals from the amazon, the true GPS reading of the equator line, and a burial pit. When a hunter from the tribe dies, he is buried in a pit with his belongings around him. His wife (who is alive) must join him and they both curl up in a pot to look like they are in the womb again.

Last stop on the taxi tour was to the original equator monument discovered by the French in a year I cannot remember. They found the exact spot by reading the stars every night. We took a typical tourist photo straddling the line, and returned to the taxi.

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