Mitad del Mundo

I just had a 4 day weekend and decided to explore a little of Ecuador, that I had not seen yet, with my friend DeNise.

Mitad Del Mundo (middle of the world). This is just outside of Quito on the Ecuator. There is a monument with a museum inside telling about all the different Indian groups in Ecuador. There are lots of shops and restaurants in the area. You can go up in the monument and look out from the top, it is not that high really, maybe 7 stories. It was fun and informative.

Museo de Inti-Nan (this is an Indian word), is around the corner from the monument at Mitad del Mundo. This is the real location of the ecuator. This was a really cool museum, they tell about the traditions of Ecuador too, but also have demonstrations to prove you are on the ecuator. There was a sun dial that had a north side and a south side. The shadow appears on each side for 6 months at a time. And it was true, the shadow was only on one side. Then there was a water demonstration. In a sink with a drain, on the ecuator, the water did not swirl, it went straight down the drain. In the northern hemisphere, it swirled counter clockwise and in the southern hemisphere it swirled clockwise. If you look at your sinks when water drains, it will follow this pattern too depending on which hemisphere you live in. Then we balanced an egg (a raw egg) on a nail, right on the ecuator line. You can do this because the force of gravity is straight down. Then with a partner, one person put their arms up in the air and the other tried to pull them down. In the northern or southern hemispheres, I could not pull my partners arms down. On the ecuator, I could, again, because the force of gravity is straight down and helping you. The last thing we did was walk a straight line, heel to toe (like the sobriety test) with our eyes closed, on the ecuator. This is very difficult because the forces of both hemispheres are pulling you in opposite directions. The museum was very cool to see that there really are differences in the forces in each hemisphere and on the ecuator line. The photo above and to the right is me in the northern hemisphere and DeNise in the southern hemisphere. The red line represents the ecuator. The photo to the left is me with the RAW egg that I balanced on a nail.

Then we went to Mindo. This is a small town about 70 kilometers outside of Quito. It is at about 3500 feet elevation. We went to a couple butterfly farms, an orchid farm (because there are more than 2000 varieties of orchids that grow in Ecuador.), and a hummingbird sanctuary. Those were cool places. We also went hiking in a forest that had 7 different waterfalls. We had to take a Tabitha across the valley to get there. It was 530 kilometers long and about 300 meters (thats about 900 feet) above the ground. I didn´t like that part very much. But the hike and the waterfalls were absolutely beautiful.

Overall we had a really good time. It was a much needed rest from work and a relaxing time. The place we stayed at was like a little log cabin in the woods. It was next to a rushing river, we had hammocks on the patio overlooking the river. It was very nice.