Middle of the World

In Spanish: Mitad del Mundo. It's the place where scientists in the 17th and 18th century set up camp to study the equatorial line and differences on either side. Apparently, even though Ecuador isn't the only country on the equator, it was the place where indigenous settlers as far back the birth of Christ realized exactly where the line ran.

I was taken there last week by my boss Mary and her family (husband Diego, daughter Andrea, and son Martin). Funnily enough, if you go to Mitad del Mundo, you'll find two lines. Here's us on the real one and then a shot of me straddling the "tourist" one. (It came about after they had built that huge square monument and someone thought it was on the line - never was. But they painted the line anyway, and tourists come to take pictures because it's a nicer setting than the real one.)


On the real line, however, we were able to do a bunch of experiments, such as read this clock, which has two faces: one for when the sun is in the southern hemisphere and one for when it's in the northern hemisphere. Since it's in the south right now, we used the southern face. Our guide also was able to balance an egg on its end right on the line. Sadly, the rest of us weren't skilled enough to mimic her though Diego tried for a full 5 minutes. We also watched water go straight down the drain without swirling. Cool.


Mitad del Mundo also has a bunch of other cultural things, one of which was blowing a dart out of a Huaorani dart-blowing thing (what are those called?). You had to wear the fancy traditional hat if you wanted to shoot.


As we were leaving the touristy equator (the fake line), some dancers came out and started performing in the square. Sadly, I was out of room for a video. They also danced this dance later while balancing items on their heads.