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on the roof of the train
hanging on for grim life...not the most comfortabke ride ever... So Heather missed some important Equator details yesterday. Actually the first one with the answer gets a postcard...
We discovered along with the water going straight down the drain, that you actually are weaker on the equator line. It was clearly true (and we were sceptics). Not sure why this woud be since the gravity argument doesn´t seem to make any sense. So scientists and engineers...we need your help. You can also balance a fresh egg on a nail and weight less on the equator as well...
So today we got up at the crack of dawn to join the 200 other crazy gringos on the roof of the devils nose train. So called for the appearance of the switch backs down the moutain. Amazing scenery with drop offs on both sides. It was very wierd to be sitting on top of a cattle car with a cushion ($1 - cheap) - a tiny railing protecting us from falling. It was also freezing first thing this morning and I had to buy a cute llama toque. (the llama being cute rather than me I think). However we survived and en route to the moutain pass we saw lots of
worth it for the views
after a freezing start the sun came out...I wondered if this may have been an inca railway..:-) locals farming The children were so poor, and dirty - clearly they knew the train schedule and were waiting for candy to be thrown. Bizzarely many were wearing wellies (aka in North america- rubber boots).
We had fun - and yes not a single safety measure was taken. They did however take out passport number before we left - we thnk this was for the body count...
Ah - the riot police...we noticed the beginning of a skirmish in the middle of quito square early on in the afternoon. After looking at some museums we returned and there was a huge angry looking crowd in the square...interesting we thought...and then the street we wanted to go down had a line of police in full riot gear blocking our entry. In fact once policeman waved a batton at us. I got a great photo...which I hope to upload soon...and when the first rock was thrown we quickly took another route. I think it was a riot due to upset at 4 european teams being in the world cup semi-finals but I could be wrong.
We´re back to Quito tomorrow and to the Galapagos islands on Friday, so we
The children
There were scores of children all along the route. This one complete with her little sister on her back. will likely not be in touch for a week or so. Really looking forward to Galapagos...
Hi! It´s me again! Shelagh told me yesterday that I wrote too much, didn´t give any actual information, and that nobody would be reading by the time she got to write anything : ( So apparently now we´re ¨taking turns¨. Truthfully, I don´t think I have anything to add today, except perhaps that I fell asleep in record time on a bus today. I´m pretty good at sleeping, but this was remarkable, I don´t think we´d pulled out of the station (aka driveway) and I was out. It had been a long morning after all of...sitting. It´s amazing what sitting on the roof of a train takes out of you. Oh, and we ate great Empanadas - Banana and Cheese (not in the same empanada, although that´s popular too). Turns out I really like anything that´s covered in batter and deep fried. Who knew? We also met a very liberal american girl who seemed to know everything about the environment and Latin American/North American politics and economics -very interesting.
Oh Angie, you might not be so impressed by South American recycling programs.
You either burn pastics on your cooking fire, or throw them in the river! So Simple yet effective. They do however use compact fluorescent lightbulbs, we even saw them in the chandolier in the presidential palace.
Shelagh the techno-whiz has managed to get photos up and onto the blog, so take a look at the previous entries for some photos. Like she said, we don´t know if we´ll have internet access in the galapagos so it might be a week until you hear from us again. I know my family is thinking ¨We haven´t heard this much from Heather since she moved to Alberta 7 years ago, I think we can handle a week¨ However, I know you´ll all miss us.
Hasta Luego!
Shelagh and Heather
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PJ
non-member comment
Weightless
Don't think that by being at the equator you've lost a few pounds, it's not that significant. If you want a proper answer, it's the fact that you're further away from the earth's axis and and have a larger outward acceleration (-ve g's) I now want a postcard and more info on the beer!