The official Equator monument
Today was great fun. This morning I went to the Equator which is 22km north of Quito (It's called Mitad del Mundo , the middle of the world) For such a touristy place it was very hard to get to. First I had to walk about 20 minutes to find a bus on the right street, then I stayed on that bus till I got to a certain stop and changed on to another bus (the whole time I was the only gringo) This other bus stopped outside somewhere that had written in big letters Mitad del Mundo, I spent 5 minutes walking around before I realised it was a convention centre and the reason it was so busy was because there was a computer conference on! I did get a nice IBM bookmark though!! I went back out to the main road and got on another bus and 10 minutes later arrived at the equator site. It took about an hour and a half to do the 22km but it only cost 60c so wasn't too bad.
There were about 5 other foreigners there, mostly from the big hotels in the city. The site itself has a large monument on top and is surrounded by gardens and tourist shops, I took some photos and then headed back out to the real 'Equator'. The original monument that I visited was set up in the early part of this century by French scientists, about 10 years ago an American team with the latest in gps equipment discovered that the line of the equator actually is about 200m to the north. Interestingly right on that site is an archaeological and solar museum so it was very convenient for them. Most tourists though still just go to the main monument.
I went up to the other site, was up hill and very dusty, walking on the main road as there was no footpath. A guide showed us round, a young indigeous girl who'd lived in London for the last 11 years. The museum was great, they had lots of animals, guinea pigs, alpacas etc and a real shrunken head in one of the houses. The whole place is set up like an authentic village and it's run by the indigineous group that still live in the area.
After showing us the tombs, traditional houses and meeting some people we got to see the Real Equator, it's a red line painted on the ground. Some interesting facts~ did you know that you weigh 2.4lb less on the equator because there is less gravity there? It'd be a popular place for a weight watchers meeting! Also the earth bulges at the equator and those ripples go north and south creating the anti and clockwise affect when water goes down the sink but right on the line it just goes straight down as if it's being sucked through. We moved the sink either side and to the south it went anti clockwise and to the north clockwise. Also because of there being less gravity the human body is much weaker, the guide demonstrated with me. She got me to stand in the northern hemisphere and hold my thumb and index finger together as hard as I could. Then she tried to pull them apart which she was able to do but with difficulity. Then we put stood directly over the equator with one foot in each hemisphere and did the same thing. This time though she was able to pull my fingers away straight away. I couldn't stop her at all. She showed us a solar clock which the native people used to tell the time using shadows, it was completely accurate. We also tried to balance an egg on the top of a nail (less gravity so easy to do)I was the only one who could do it (it was quite difficult) and got a certificate stating so, another one for the house I'll eventually buy!! The last test was to walk in a straight line with you eyes closed and hands out like if the police were testing you for being drunk. Everyone could do it in both hemispheres easily enough but when we tried to do it on the line of the equator everyone fell off the line. It was really disconcerting. It felt like I was up really high on a tightrope or something. It's because the gravity is pulling your body both north and south at the same time so it's impossible to walk straight properly. Definately one of the best museums I've ever been to, very entertaining. Got the assortment of buses back to the city and sorted out my tickets for tomorrow.
I'm flying to the Galapagos early in the morning till the 26th so I won't have internet access until then. I'm sure you'll all miss me desperately! When I get back i'm going to get an usb cable so I can start uploading photos.
Last but not least, congratulations to the Wolfe Tones, I would have given my right arm to have been in Kilberry last weekend. If i'd had the money I would have flown home just for the match. They'll just have to make sure that they win it next year as well when i'm actually there! (For all you non Meath people my local club won the senior championship by 2 points on sunday beating the hot favourites.)