Goodbye Ecuador

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito
September 29th 2005

Published: October 6th 2005

It's been a very intensive couple of weeks. I’ve done 10 days of Spanish classes, interspersed with two weekend trips. The Spanish has been hard work and very enjoyable. Unfortunately for you, dear reader it doesn't make for interesting travellers tales. I speak quite good French (I lived in France for a year) and this has both helped and hindered my Spanish. Compared with French, Spanish is si... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

Photos: 49, Displayed: 21

Cuicocha lake and its islands

The summit of Cuicocha

The very welcome restaurant

With German and "Cheaply made" (no badge cos it's too difficult) Ecuadorian flags

Street in Quito's old town.

My hostel is near the top

Area outside Cuidad Mittad del Mundo

Typical of most of the suburbs round Quito

The entrance to Mittad del Mundo

Sums it up quite well...

Mittad del Mundo monument

Straddling the Ecuator

...but it´s not the real one!

View from top of Mittad del Mundo

Cuidad Mittad del Mundo

The "authentic colonial city" and shopping and leisure complex that is a major economic boost to the area.

"Touristic Train"

Does exactly what it says on the tin!

The Indiginous People's Museum

Straddling the Ecuator

The real deal this time! You´re supposed to raise your thumbs to gain energy aparently...

Sun/Star dial

From the equator, you can see both the Plough and Southern Cross constellations.

Symbols

The infintity sign represents the movement of the sun over the year. The pre-Inca people who lived in Quito used this to represent God and the half "S" symbol to represent people.

Two-faced sundial

It´s now summer in the Southern hemisphere so we use the south side. The pre-inca people divided the day into three periods as shown.

The Water Trick

No rotation in the sink as it falls on the equator. Two metres either side and it goes either clockwise or anti-clockwise. And it really works!

The Pulling Hands Down Trick

It´s much easier for someone to do this on the equator than two metres either side. Weird but true!

And now for my next trick

Balancing an egg on the head of a nail. Still a bit tricky even at the Equator, but a lot easier than in London! (Not that I´ve tried...)

Replica of a Pre-Inca monument directly on the Equator

8th October 2005

DAD
non-member comment

What a lot! I will try to save to disc for Mum

10th November 2005

Mike
non-member comment

At last!
Hi Nick, finally found the blog. Work blocks the site and I lost the email for a while. Will catch up with your adventures over the weekend. Love the gender roles fotos.

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Goodbye Ecuador

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