The Equator is what they call the big line running around the world. Quito considers itself to be the at the centre of the equator (a bit like the hole in a football for putting in air.)
The french came along and said that Quito was the middle of the world, Mitad del Mundo. This big statue was built, every year thousands flock to see it an in general it's a really big thing. Only problem is, the french got it wrong.
The mountain behind holds ancient monuments called the Catequilla. These are said to have been made 1500 years ago and align with other monuments in the area. The exact centre of the world should be at this point, well, not exactly.
GPS (global positioning System) has shown that both these options are wrong. A small museum has been built on the actual equator line marking the exact spot as shown by GPS.
Jude and I had a walk around, (1.5 hours on public transport to get there !!)although it was an enjoyable day. we saw the water going down a sink in both directions and then straight down. We straddled the equator and even walked along it with our eyes shut (which is very difficult due to the Coriolis effect. We also weighed 1KG lighter which was nice (??!!)Amongst sundials, statues of ancient locals and lots of totem poles from all over South America, praying to their sun gods
we managed to balance a raw egg on a nail head.
Quito (Which means middle earth) has been an interesting place. Ancient colonial town, modern new town but all in all very big but very lively.
We head to Santiago in Chile tonight, already checked out we are hoping to do a little bit of shopping, a nice leisurely late lunch and then get to the airport early cause our online check-in doesn't work.
2 comments:
Middle earth? See any hobbitses?
Most people were small so yes, you could say lots of Hobbits, Wasn't able to check for hairy feet, most of them had shoes on.
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