So it seems that Middle Earth isn't just for the hobbits. It is also, more literally the middle of the earth. As in the equator line. It was one thing that I wanted to do while I was in Quito, and it was a great day!
A huge number of us (9 in total) left the hostel after quite a large logistical feat to get us all organised together. It took almost two hours to get out there, and when we did, we did, we went first to the large imposing monumental monument and took the photos standing on each side of the orange line. After the novelty had subsided, we had some lunch and wandered to the site of the "real" equator line, measured with GPS, a mere 200 metres away. THe original expolorers (French I think) need to be commended though, as they got pretty close without the use of any cool equipment.
So to Inti Nan we went, the museum where the real equator was. At first when we found out we had to have a guide, we weren't keen, but we were so happy that we did. Our guide was absolutely fantastic and for the first 40 minutes told us about indigenous cultures and interesting things like head shrinking (literally what it sounds like) where they used to shrink the heads of people they respected after they killed them (hmmmmm) and did all sorts of ritualistic gruesomeness in the name of ceremony and tradition.
Anyway, all of this was very very interesting but soon we got to the stuff we all came for. The science experiments! Now I don't know about you, but I thought that the water swirling different ways on different sides of the equator was a myth. But it definitely isn't. I saw it with my own eyes. It does go one way on one side, the other on the other side, and the water goes completely straight down on the equator (this only works at the site of the real equator though. Try doing this at the fancy monument 200 metres away and the results would have been distinctly disappointing).
There is also an experiment that shows that you are weaker on the equator, and one to show that you are less co ordinated. There was an experiment with an egg to show something that I'm still not completely sure of (but I did get a certificate saying that I balanced an egg on a nail at the equator) and although no experiment, a handy sign that says that you weigh less at the equator (woohoo!)
All in all it was a fascinatiing day and one of my favourites in recent times. I felt like I was learning AND having fun. If only all of school could have been on the equator, playing with water and eggs...
Wishful thinking I suppose.
So that gets me to the end of this bit and almost to the end of the whole bit. I flew from Ecuador back to Argentina a few days ago, and all in all, Ecuador is an absolutely amazing country that I would love to return to one day (if nothing else to travel to the Galapagos islands). Ecuador is a country of absolute amazing beauty and the people are friendly and welcoming on the whole. Quito is a gorgeous capital city and it has a lot of great stuff to do, see and experience.
The end of this trip is near, but first I have to go back to Argentina as I have ten final days in this continent...at least for this time.
