Quito and Mitad del Mundo - Day 2-3

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The trip is going very well. Actually it has been awesome... you know, to be precise.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at Casa Gabriel (a mission for street kids in Quito). Great experience and also great to see people from back home.

Last night I got back to the hostel around 7:15, and dinner was still not quite ready. Over dinner I met two guys from the UK. We talked about everything from American and British politics to history to conservation to global travels. One of the guys, named Joe, was planning to go to Mitad del Mundo ("Middle of the World") and invited me along. Going to Mitad del Mundo is one of the things that I wanted to do while here, so I was happy for the invite.

After dinner I went to read and get ready for bed. Ended up talking to my roommates (three girls from Australia) for about two hours. They have been traveling for a few months all over South America and are just about finished with their trip and headed out today. Which kind of brings about a comparison between this life and business-travel life... Hmm... on one side -- hostal dorm room with three really cool Australian girls -- on the other a random lonely hotel room... let me think. And just about everyone I have met so far has been interesting and I´ve enjoyed talking with them.

At any rate, Joe and I headed up to Mitad del Mundo... which is about 1.5 hours on two buses. Although it is only 22km away, the buses make a lot of stops. It was kinda cool to get out of the city a bit.

Now, at Mitad del Mundo there is a little problem... in the early 1700s a French guy determined the location of the equator, it was verified in the 1800s, and a few monuments were built along the way (the current one being 30-meters high and topped by a 5-ton globe), and about 10 years ago a GPS system determined it was off the mark. Which, there is no big sign saying that the monument isn´t exactly on the equator. However, there is another museum recently built on the right spot about 240 meters away... you have to walk on a gravel road on the right side of the main monuments walls to

Pick any reason... really, how cool is it to catch this in a photograph? 😊

*Taken at Intiñan Solar Museum.
get to it. But it is a good museum, too, and both are worth a visit... I have photos of me standing on both sides of the line at both of them. 😊

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitad_del_Mundo

At the main monument, we walked around, took some photos, and went to the top of it. Inside the monument, they have a museum about Ecuador -- the economy, the various cultures, and the geography/geology. However, a lot of the information seems a little dated... maybe around the 1980s. From there we went to a little Ecuadorian restaurant and had a pretty good meal... it was there that I asked the waiter how to get the "otra equator" in my horrible Spanish. He obliged and we were soon off to find it.

This museum and monument, called the Intiñan Solar Museum, had a guided tour around various Ecuadorian artifacts, a few experiments related to the equator (e.g. balancing and egg on a nail), trying out a blow-gun, and eating the smallest type of banana grown in Ecuador. Well worth the $3 for the guided tour.

We then took a bus back to Quito. For some reason, it takes a very different route

Just outside the Secret Garden Hostal.
getting back, and we ended up getting off the bus about a kilometer south of the hostal... which made for an interesting walk back and it seemed like we walked by a lot of colonial-type buildings and a few churches.

And now I´m back at the hostal... dinner in an hour. Tomorrow, I should be going to church with some friends and spending the day with them. Then on Monday I have Spanish lessons - four hours a day. 😊

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Photos

On the Equator - Sort of...
Duckie, Paddington, and Avis
Btw, Duckie has been reincarnated in a slightly larger body... my dad found him in his new body in the back yard a few weeks ago. :)

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Equator?
Pick any reason... really, how cool is it to catch this in a photograph? :)
*Taken at Intiñan Solar Museum.

Heading Out for the Day
Just outside the Secret Garden Hostal.

On the Way to Mitad del Mundo
In the bus.

Mitad del Mundo - 1
I think this is on the south side.

Atop the Monument
Notice the "N" and "S" on each side for north and south.

Comments

[Celeste L]

Hi Cousin Henry
Bob and I are enjoying your blog and photos very much. Sounds like you're having a wonderful time and meeting good people. I look forward to the next installment.

[Celeste L]

And thanks to your blog...
...I just learned how to spell Ecuador.

[Augusta]

Ecuador
That chicken picture is hilarious! The Secret Garden looks like such a beautiful place! Thanks again for the updates and the pictures. Keep them coming!

[Celeste J.]

Blow gun
That blow-gun picture should be one of those "create a caption for this picture". "Frat hazing gone wrong", "Henry took some local herbs, and the rest is history", etc.