Quito x 2 - Middle Earth

So after our epic Galapagos trip we had 4 days left in Ecuador. We decided that it wasn't really enough time to go anywhere so we just hung out in Quito. This time we chose a hotel bang in the middle of the new part of town, "Gringoland" as christened by the locals!

We had a lovely nothing day just bumming around, sleeping and watching TV (AXN has been our saviour!) and then decided, once rested, to get to the equator. Ecuador is one of many countries that cross the equator but Ecuador is the only one with high mountains. Because of this the French and English took an interest in astronomy in the area and established the "Mitad del Mundo" - the middle of the world in the 1800s. A big monument with a museum inside was built, plus a planetarium and of course it is surrounded by the obligatory purchasing opportunities.

Sadly we'd been backing up our photos onto our palm and forgot to put the memory card back in the camera so we don't have any pictures. It wasn't that exciting to be honest. Then we bumped into one of our Galapagos buddies and her friend and we headed to the REAL equator, because, of course, in the age of GPS it was established the the original equator was about 250m off! So we went to the unofficial, but real equator museum which was great fun as they do lots of faux experiments to show you're on the equator.

For example, because of the Coriolis effect (google it) it is easier to balance an egg on a nail. Ths is probably the most random thing anyone has ever researched and we all got a certificate for managing to balance an egg on a nail!!! Also the whole water flows anti-clockwise or clockwise depending in which hemisphere you are in, and goes straight down on the equator. This is also bollocks though and the guide admitted it was all in the way you take out the plug (although he was insistent that totally still water would do this). HHmmmnn. Anyway, it was all in good fun, and we rounded off the trip by admiring a shrunken head from an Ecuadorean tribe and having a go at blowing darts through a blow stick.

After having a rather exciting day we couldn't help but go to an all-you-can-eat-and-all-you-can-drink tapas bar and drunk far too much wine and ate far too much food and suffered the consequences the following day. Still, we managed to get into the old part of town and went to an Andy Warhol exhibition, and to the city museum which was full of fantastic dioramas and scenes from 1700s Quito onwards and was a really great place.

Although we really didn't see much of Ecuador apart from the Galapagos we feel good and recharged and really looking forward to Argentina and Brazil, our next stops. It is all coming to an end much too soon and in just a month we'll be back home. UGH, let's not think about that now!