The Equator and some other stuff

Went to Quito old town on Friday night con mi familia espanol- very very beautiful with all the old streets and buildings. Lots of the houses have been converted into sort of open air restaurants and are very pretty with balconies and fountains. Apparently up until very recently (>5yrs) the old town was really dangerous, even in the day but the city had a big push to renovate it and make it safe, and it looks like its worked. Its been renovated really well-all the old buildings are the same but there{s lots of discreet lighting underfoot or above the narrow alleys. It reminded me a little of a cross between Barcelona and Havana. Lots of churches (pretty much on every corner - I think theres 25 in a very very small space). Also saw some of a street music concert-traditional folky with men in ponchos with panpipes. Heehee. Also went up to the top of the city hill where the city monument and could see everything...

Went to the equator an Sat - there is a huge monument outside Quito marking the equator within a sort of national park. Its very impressive. However about 10 years ago scientists started playing with GPS in the area and realised that their monument was out of the Equator line by about 200m. Which is a shame.

However, that gave them the opportunity to build a new musuem on the real equator line as well. It was a great musuem - yes we got to do the water going down a plug in both hemispheres (its true that it goes clockwise/anticlockwise depending), and on the Equator itself it goes straight down. So that was reassuring.

We also had to walk along the Equator line with eyes closed, as apparently you are supposed to feel wobbly as youre in the middle of the world. I did feel wobbly, but then walking along with eyes closed always does that for me. We also had to balance an egg on a nail (apparently easier) and hold out your arms to have someone push them down - apparently you have less "resistance" on the equator. I am not completely sure about these (maybe the egg one was real)- possibly we were being suggestible? Does anyone know if the equator really makes you wobbly and weak?

After that went up to Pululahua- a live volcano with settlements within the crater, which was really beautiful. We were at the top and it was an 8km hike to the bottom which would have been fantastic, but unfortunately had taken a taxi from below and only managed to persuade him to wait for 15min.

On Sun went to a traditional market, and then a genuine Ecuadorian bbq (or I suppose as genuine as they get) at a friend of my friends from Spanish school. Yummy.


(oh yes, forgot to mention. At the Equator musuem there was also lots about the indigenous jungle cultures. Got to see a shrunken head (yes, a real one), made only 150 years ago. And it was made by one of the tribes who I am staying with - apparently they were the ones who were good at shrinking heads. Also saw some nice comfy genuine jungle huts, and lots of exhibits of happy friendly jungle animals and insects. Including a rather nasty little snake thing that likes to swim up orifices when you are busy relieving yourself in a lake/river. And yes Charl they do have serpents. Think I will stay in nice safe Quito, where I nearly know my way around and everything. :-( )