Day 77 - Quito, Ecuador

Does anyone remember that 90s dance tune called Ecuador that goes "ECUADOR... Do do do do do do do do do". Well that is firmly in our heads and I hope it is yours too now! ;-)

Anyway my blogging nightmare week is over and we can resume full service today. Firstly there was terrible wifi in the jungle which we expected and was fine. It just meant we had to wait until Quito to upload. However upon getting to Quito I kept getting error messages uploading photos and after hours trawling the web for fixes was told it's just a google security thing that has blocked me out of my own blog and I need I wait and see if it resolves itself! Not good. I mean do they know how many people read this blog??? Ha ha!! Anyway in my attempts to fix it I manage to clear a weeks worth of updates from the amazon. So annoying! It was a very late night rewriting them all. Good news is that the problem seems to have been resolved now. 

Today the plan is to journey to the middle of the world to Mitad del Mundo (which means exactly that). This is the sight where Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements back in 1736 to prove that this was indeed the equator. To get there we need to get two local buses that are surprisingly efficient and easy as it is 22km north of Quito. The irony is that as technology improved over the years it showed that this isn't actually the exact spot. True 0 degrees latitude lies about 300m north. But hey, once you have built a monument you are committed! Still not a bad measure for the time though. 

Our first sight upon arriving is a little surprising. Three whole guinea pigs being spit roasted out the back of a restaurant!

The place is like a mini town with bars and restaurants set around a central plaza and the monument in the background. 

Cool clouds gathering on the mountains in the distance. 

The monument that marks the spot of the measurement. 

Me hanging a testicle in each hemisphere! Not many people can say they have done that! 

Not quite getting our angles right to make it look like Nat is holding the ball on top. 

Not the best attire for a day of sight seeing. 

A map showing all the places that the equator runs though. Surprisingly not that many. Don't know why but the equator line in Asia surprises is that it is so far south. 

The Northern and Southern Hemispheres either side of the line. 

Fantastic view of mountains and clouds from here. 

The main man himself. 

After a good explore we can't find anything that resembles an explanation or bit of history about how it was done. Inside the monument is a four storey enthnography museum which is pretty random and utterly rubbish.  We are just about to leave and find a little place tucked away by the exit with some info, explanation and history about how it was measured and measurement in general. It is pretty mind blowing and hard to get your head around how these guys measured such amazing things like the equator, the diameter and circumference of the earh etc. Very clever. 

I was a little disappointed to not see any demonstration of water running the opposite directions around plug holes and the like. I have to create my own experiment in the toilet. I first try the urinal but the results are inconclusive. Although it does seem to flow anticlockwise on my second experiment in the sink. 

We then head back into town which takes about an hour and a half. It's been lovely seeing the city by bus. After some face time we decide to head into the Old Town tonight for dinner. We head out early to catch it in the light as once again we are heavily advised to not walk around anywhere at night by everyone we seem to meet. 

The taxi driver we get is lovely and proceeds to try to take us to all the sights on the way to the grande plaza with a quick stop at each for a pic. 

View down from the cathedral into the old town. 

Another quick stop for a picture. We don't even want them but he is so insistent.  He also manages to get his cab smack bang in the middle of every pic too. 

The grande plaza which for a Saturday night is surprisingly dead. So strange as the place is so lovely and we have seen no sign of trouble anywhere but I think the place lives on fear (no doubt for good reason). Such a shame though as we would love to wander around and explore.

We go for dinner in a roof top restaurant with 360 degree panoramic views of the city called Vista Hermosa (which means beautiful view and it is just that). It is the perfect way to see everything in a safe haven. It has a random gas pump in the foyer though. 

Great views over the city. 

They also have a cool little footie memorabilia room for some reason as it doesn't really go with the theme of the restaurant at all. Lots of great old World Cup memorabilia and a lot of paying homage to Antonia Valencia. 

Another church with a nicely lit up square out the front. 

After dinner we grab a cab back to the hotel. We can't get over how dead it is around here for a Saturday night but I guess that's because everyone in the city is outside our hotel window getting drunk.