The Middle of the World

No trip to Ecuador is complete without visiting Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the world, (the Equator). There are actually two spots to visit. The first is now developing into a small tourist village. There is a monument marking the Equator separating the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Tourists flock to have their photos taken straddling the line so they are in two hemispheres at the same time. 

Ahh, the typical tourist...Northern and Southern Hemisphere,....or is it?

Unfortunately, this is not actually the Equator. This one is about 240 meters north of the Equator. The original monument was built in 1936 when the measuring methods were not as accurate. This current monument was built in 1979 when they knew it was not placed accurately. The park here is also being built up even more. I've read they plan to fix the error. In the meantime, you can exit this park area and walk a couple of hundred meters to the south to a small outdoor museum where there is a sign boasting the real equator as calculated by GPS. Of course, you have to pay again.

The outdoor museum entrance fee includes a guide that takes you around providing information about the indigenous people of the area and the Equator. They also conduct little experiments that show unique features of the location. Most of us know that when the water goes down the drain, it circles to the right in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere water circles to the left. On the Equator, water just drops down. My favorite Equator fact was that you weigh less on the Equator perhaps about a pound due to centrifugal force and being on the largest part of the Earth. We were also able to balance an egg on the end of a nail due to different gravitational forces. I was able to do this and earned a nice diploma too. 

We really enjoyed the outdoor museum. It was smaller and personal. It was also incredibly sunny and dusty. We were high in elevation and if it's a clear day on the Equator, you really need to be careful with the sun. We decided to head back for lunch and skip the traditional meal of roasted guinea pig featured at a local restaurant. 

Yes, it's a touristy spot, but sort of a must see, especially since we were traveling with children. There were some neat experiments and we enjoyed the outdoor guided museum. 

Sounds of Quito

We loved our apartment in the La Floresta part of Quito. The views from our many windows were amazing, but the windows were not sound proof. Even though we were on the 12th floor, we could hear the sounds of the city as if we were on the street. Now, I haven't lived in downtown Chicago, but I'm familiar with the sounds. General street noise to me consists of honking cars, ambulance or police sirens, music, or people talking.  Quito street noise wasn't like that. 

I started to analyze it a bit more when I couldn't sleep. I'm generally a light sleeper and moving from city to city acclimatizing to different settings impacts my ability to sleep well. First there are the seemingly nonstop car alarms. I'm not sure if it's me, but I don't hear too many car alarms these days back in the states. Alarms seemed to be in vogue in the early 90's. Everyone has an alarm system on their car, but it seems they use it more to find their cars in large parking lots. When they do go off, they seem to get ignored like when you accidentally set off an alarm in a grocery or convenience store and no one responds or they just casually wave you through. In Quito, the car alarm circa 1990 with the five sounds starting with the familiar slide whistle, was the alarm of choice. I'm not sure if there are faulty wires in the cars, or if there is a really bad thief on the loose, but at one point the alarms would go off every 10-15 seconds.  At some point, you just get used to it.

The other prevalent sound was barking dogs (and I swear I heard a rooster in the city too). The funny part was that the dogs mostly barked loudly at night. Maybe they were all communicating, but it seemed a little ridiculous, as if they were nocturnal. 

Of course, there are always sounds of people. Again, I was surprised I could hear people so well on the 12th floor. No surprise it was quite loud on the weekend nights. The interesting people sounds were the monotone melodies of women trying to sell oranges, apples or clothing.  This was more in the old town, but every now and again, someone would try to sell something in the early hours. What made this odd was that they would drive through town in their pickup truck with a bullhorn and I think they were looking for scrap metal. I'm not sure because at first we had no idea what that noise was...it sounded like a call to prayer in Mecca. By the third or fourth time, we spotted the pickup truck. 

We are truly enjoying Quito. There is so much to do and see (and hear), so we better get to it. 

Double set of windows, allowing for amazing views, but also more sounds of Quito.

Hello Ecuador!

We arrived in Quito without a hitch. That is always a good reason to be thankful. The scenery and cooler temperatures were a welcome change. We were greeted by Mauricio, a driver we arranged in advance to take us (about 90 minutes) to our apartment in Quito.

I love the feeling of entering a new country. I've never been to South America, so I was particularly excited. Michael and I took in the amazing scenery during the drive while the kids took on their usual, 'I'm in a car, so I must sleep' attitude. Mauricio spoke very little English, so it was a pretty quiet ride. 

We loved our apartment for the week. The views from all windows were amazing. When it isn't cloudy, you can see snow capped mountains in the distance.  

The view from our apartment bedroom window

Liam getting settled in his room

Our first excursion was perfect for our first full day. We took the double decker bus tour of the city. Quito is huge. It has 2.6 million people spread out over 125 sq. miles. At an elevation of over 9,000 feet, Quito is the highest capital city in the world. So all that seemed to be a good reason for the bus tour, plus it wasn't that expensive. The kids were especially enthusiastic about sitting on the top part of the bus. Mind you, they didn't seem to pay too much attention to the city facts presented on the loudspeaker. Instead, they pointed out every stray dog and oogled over those for much of the tour.

One view from the top of the bus

Maeve and Liam enjoying the ride

The Basilica the baby of the churches at 100 years old

A cool upside down rainbow in the sky

Quite the hike up these stairs

Entering the historic district near the Plaza Grande

There were many sections of Quito. The historic section was the most interesting to us. It has one of the most well preserved historic centers in the Americas. It was named the first World Culteral Heritage site by UNESCO in 1978 (along with Krakow). There was certainly no shortage of churches. We stopped in the Plaza Grande (in the historic center) and found a local cafe for lunch. No one really spoke English and we had to sort of figure it out. Eventually, I discovered that many of the lunch places have a set menu. You get soup, juice an entree and sometimes even a dessert. Our server seemed a little surprised when I didn't want the chicken soup. She accommodated the kids and myself by presenting two vegetarian options. We paid $11 for this meal....one dollar more because the kids also had a soda. Not all eateries are this inexpensive. You have to find a local spot and most of those seemed to be in the historic center.

We hopped back on the bus and continued our tour to the monument of the Virgin Mary on top of El Panecillo (a hill almost 10,000 feet above sea level). The bus stopped at the top of this hill and we were able to get out and walk around and even enter the monument and climb up a bit for an even better view of the city.

El Panecillo in the background. The streets can be steep.

One view from the monument

Another family selfie on the monument

We continued on to another section of town called La Ronda. This is a very quaint and more recently renovated area with many local businesses. 

La Ronda

 The other side of the  Plaza Grande

Liam waiting at the bus stop

The entire bus ride would take 2 hours and 45 minutes if you didn't exit the bus. It was a great way to get acquainted with Quito and to gain more knowledge on its history. It began to sprinkle a bit toward the end of our tour. The bus had an automatic top to cover us. The kids thought this was pretty cool. The rain stopped us from exploring a park at one stop. Some family members seemed pleased about that. That left something else for us to explore another day.