The Middle of the World

While in Quito we had the opportunity to go to the very center of the earth. It is probably self explanatory that Ecuador houses the equator and we, like every tourist, had to go check it out. The "Mitad del Mundo" is the official monument and park for the equator but it is not the real center of the earth.

The real equator is three hundred meters from the monument. You see when the Spanish decided to build a monument for the equator they used their best instruments and such but it just wasn't good enough. With GPS they found the real equator and it ran through someone's back yard. This back yard now holds the Museo Inti-nan.

The Museo Inti-nan is quite small but we found it fascinating. While inside we were able to take part in many interesting experiments to prove that we were in fact standing on the equator. We saw water swirl clockwise south of the equator, counter clockwise north, and not swirl at all when standing directly over it. We balanced eggs on the heads of nails and we walked in a straight line. The difficulty in walking a straight line is that our inner ear, being liquid is accustomed to the gravitational pull going towards the poles of the earth. It adjusts easily on either side of the equator but to stand directly on the equator and walk in a straight line is very challenging.

The museum also heldanother treasure. A Ecuadorian tribe from the Amazon jungle came and built a traditional house, canoe, weapons, etc. to give a picture of their lives. When I say isolated I mean that the only clothing the men wear is a string around their hips to keep their penises pointed straight up. They do this of course because of the danger of amazonian fresh water fish that will make a home of a urethra if it gets the chance. The string protects the men from this disastrous fate. We also learned step by step how to shrink someone's head which I thought may come in handy in the future?

We did go to see the monument and the surrounding park but it was not as interesting and had more to sell than to offer us. One cool exhibit was the insectarium which held insects mainly from Ecuador but also from around South America. Most of them were gigantic.