Anywhoodles, we made it to the Mitad del Mundo monument after a reasonably pleasant drive. This is the location where, in 1736, a group of French determined was where the equator was. I would link to the Wikipedia article here and now, if my blog hosting company allowed me to create hyperlinks using their mobile platform. But, it doesn’t, and their website doesn’t play nicely with Safari on my iPad. So there ya go. Given the state of tech at the time, those boys performed superbly. The monument is impressive, but not in the right spot. We briefly stopped, snapped a few photos, and moved north 250 meters to where it was determined to be by GPS. The monument was cool, but the empty building next to it was equally photogenic.
Yesterday was tour day. We had booked a tour through Viator for both the cable car (TeleferiQo) and a visit to the equator. Our guide was Christian, and he met us at the Grand Plaza and we were off in the car, battling traffic northward. I’m glad we didn’t go south, as the backups were pretty significant. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for commuters to spend 2+ hours to go from one end of the city to the other. There aren’t really a lot of highways, like, say, LA, and the number of people in the city (more than 2 million) is nothing to sneeze at. Combine that with montane geography that forces the city to extend along only two axes (in this case north and south), and you have a recipe for congestion. The buses are crammed and constant, but still, trying to get everyone where they need to be is a battle. Anywhoodles, we made it to the Mitad del Mundo monument after a reasonably pleasant drive. This is the location where, in 1736, a group of French determined was where the equator was. I would link to the Wikipedia article here and now, if my blog hosting company allowed me to create hyperlinks using their mobile platform. But, it doesn’t, and their website doesn’t play nicely with Safari on my iPad. So there ya go. Given the state of tech at the time, those boys performed superbly. The monument is impressive, but not in the right spot. We briefly stopped, snapped a few photos, and moved north 250 meters to where it was determined to be by GPS. The monument was cool, but the empty building next to it was equally photogenic. The real location of the equator is a much smaller, much more relatable place: the Iniñan Museum. Low key environment, and a guided tour with experiments! With an entry of $5 it is by far the best value. We got to see Coriolis forces in action, tried to balance eggs on nails, and supposed other effects of physics on the exact equator. Call me skeptical on some, but it was fun nonetheless. And, I got to kiss from the northern hemisphere, a beautiful woman in the south. That alone made the admission worth it! The llama? Yeah, I don’t know either. Weird dude at the entrance, just standing there with his mouth wrapped around the stick. The next stop on the tour was the cable car TeleferíQo. It took us up to a viewpoint that sits more than 13,000 feet above sea level and about 4,000 above the city. On a clear day, the views of the city and surrounding volcanos must be spectacular. Since we are returning this way tomorrow to hitch a ride up to this point to continue to the summit of Volcán Pichinca, I’m hoping for clearer views earlier in the day. Even so, today was a Good Day, finished off with a nice meal at a restaurant filled with antiques while the clouds unleashed a fun fun fun thunderstorm. I’ll be thankful not to be on the mountain tomorrow in a deluge like this one. Hail, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. Whee!
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AuthorJust a guy out exploring the world. Former world-class never-was endurance runner. Archives
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