Mitad del Mundo/ Middle of the Earth

 This weekend was very busy! After crashing from the hike on Saturday, Erin and I went to Mitad del Mundo which is where the equator passes through Ecuador (which means equator in Spanish). We took a bus about 30 minutes north of Quito and arrived at Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. This consisted of the big monument in the picture, a planetarium, a few exhibits, and lots of shops. We walked around, took pictures, and watched some dancing. We were there on the Equinox (September 23) so the sun was directly overhead at noon and there were no shadows.

Interestingly enough, the gigantic monument in the picture is actually not where the equator is. The real equator lies about 100 meters north. After Erin and I got enough of the touristy stuff, we headed down a sketchy unpaved road and found ourselves in an Incan paradise filled with cacti and sun god statues. We continued down a path and were ushered to sit on a bench by a young girl. We waited there and were introduced to a man who was going to give us a tour. We shrugged and went along with it.



We were on a tour with a few other people. There was an older couple who were speaking a foreign language and when I recognized a few words, I asked if they were Dutch. The woman went slack jaw and stared as the husband informed me that they were in fact German. Oops. Anyways, the guide took us around and showed us boa constrictors, tarantulas, shrunken heads, and Shuar burial rituals. I was very impressed that they took  advantage of the tourist attraction to educate the ignorant public about Indigenous cultures in Ecuador. After we toured several Indigenous exhibits, we landed on a faded red line that was the exact equator. The only sign was a dinky red sign telling us the latitude. There, we performed a few experiments. The first, we walked with our eyes closed along the equator. It was really cool how you felt a pull on both sides. I'm not sure if this was just a mind trick, but I really couldn't balance. The second experiment was trying to balance an egg on a nail. Unfortunately, my nail was crap so I did not receive a cool Egg Master certificate that the Germans did. The third experiment was placing a bucket of water in a sink directly on the line and watching the water drain directly down. Then we placed the sink 5 feet south and the water flushed clockwise and then when we took it 5 feet north, it flowed counter-clockwise. Of course, science claims that this is a huge myth, but what I saw was pretty dang cool.

We hung out after the tour a bit and jumped (literally) around the equator just to see the gravitational pull. After, we headed back on the long bus ride to Quito. I cannot explain how lucky I am to have these opportunities. I couldn't have chosen a more interesting and amazing place to study abroad and I am truly content here. I still have a ton to check off my "Ecuador List" but that will come throughout the year.