Ecuador Trip - Day 3: Mitad del Mundo

On the third day of our trip, Jeff and I decided to go to Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World - i.e. The Equator). We had met a couple from Minnesota at our hostel the night before and the four of us decided to go together. (On a side note, Ecuador seemed to be the place for Minnesotans - one of the girls working at the hostel was from Minnesota, too.)

The four of us walked to the metro bus station, and got on a bus that would take us to Ophelia - the stop at the end of the line. The bus ride was pretty entertaining. At any given time, there is at least one person on the bus trying to sell something. There was a guy who sold pens, another guy that sold wrist and knee wraps, a woman selling videos on how to run a family, a series of people selling snacks, and a family that played music.

Looking out the window was fun, too. We saw people carring platters of icecream with upside-down cones on them. There was a juggler performing in the crosswalk during a red light. We also passed a few McDonalds, a million KFC's, and at least one Tony Roma's.

Once at Ophelia, we caught another bus to a stop near Mitad del Mundo, and walked from there. We went into the park with the official monument. We took a bunch of cheesy pictures around the monument. Actually, the equator location was identified in the 18th century, and they were about 240 meters off.

That left the option of building a hokey museum at the location of the actual equator (calculated with GPS), which the four of us visited next. The museum was fun, and while there, we got to see all sorts of bogus experiments showing water spinning in different ways on either side of the equator, and people having less strength while on the equator. Jeff and I both got a certificate for being able to balance an egg on a nail, something the museum claims can only be done at the equator. We had a really good time on the tour - fake or not, the little experiments were entertaining. Jeff and I also got to try our hand at using a blow-dart gun.

After the equator adventure, we took the buses back to Quito. (Did I mention the buses cost about 25 cents to ride?) Jeff and I dropped our stuff off and went to get food. Our constant companion during the trip was Lonely Planet Ecuador, and it had really good suggestions for food and fun in the city. (Actually, all the travelers seemed to have the same Lonely Planet, and often you find yourself quoting suggestions or warning from the book to each other.) Anyway, Lonely Planet suggested Fruteria Monserate, and they were right. We had a bowl of fresh tropical fruit with raspberry sauce and whipped creme. We also had soup and a cheese empanada. Yum.

After that, it was starting to get dark, so we went back to the hostel for another night of hanging out on the terrace. We met a couple that had moved their whole family from Colorado to Cuenca, Ecuador. Their kids were young - maybe 5 and 7 years old, and were learning Spanish at a bilingual school. The parents had decided to take a few years off to make the move, and were focusing on learning Spanish as well.

Once the terrace closed at 11pm, the volunteers at the hostel convinced us to go out dancing. Jeff and I were curious to see the new part of town and experience Ecuadorian clubbing. Turns out it is pretty similar to clubbing in the U.S. - crowded and loud. Also, the new town is also known as "Gringolandia", so there were lots of other white people there - tourists, expats, and people from embassies. We danced for a while and had fun, and headed back to the hostel around 2am.