After a late night at the wedding, my 6am wakeup call was a little brutal. I packed up my last things and headed to the new hotel where I met up with my new friends with whom I’d be spending the next two weeks.
During our welcome meeting, we met our wonderful tour guide Mayra who prepped us on what to expect. The first day we would be spending in Quito and since I had already done a city tour I only joined them for the first part of the day – visiting the Equator. Although it seems pretty obvious, I had never thought about the fact that Ecuador is named after the equator that runs right through it! Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by my lack of historical knowledge. My brain just has other priorities… like lyrics from songs written in the early 80s.
I did learn some history though, like the fact that we went to the newer “more accurate” location of the equator line at the Intiñan Solar Museum instead of the previously marked equator line at the (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo). According to our guide the solar museum was built years after the initial equator had been established, when mapping abilities had become more sophisticated, and they realized that the true equator line was 200M northeast. Sounds like a mistake I would make.
We were able to see a bunch of cool things including an example of native Ecuadorian Tribal Dancing
Straddling the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
First group pic!
Watching the water go down counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Northern hemisphere which were mere feet apart. Even more strange, right on the equator it goes straight down without spinning.
With enough practice, you can balance an egg on the flathead of a nail on the hemisphere. I gave up about 30 seconds in and counted it as a win that I didn’t drop and break the egg.
We also tried to walk on the equator line with our eyes closed and despite being fully sober (I think it had been enough hours since the wedding 😉 ) no one could balance in a straight line because SCIENCE. I’m sure they told us, but the most important thing really was that I tried and failed.
The group next headed off to see Quito and I went back to my first hotel for a much needed nap alongside Kiki before going to the new hotel to meet the group for dinner. I opted out of that night’s brewery tour, because I can’t drink beer, but also you know, SLEEP. Even though it meant I didn’t know people quite as well on day 2, that sleep was necessary before we left for 12 jam packed days.
xx
nicole
