After another wonderful breakfast here in my hotel, hosted by my host’s father, I left earlier and hiked about 7/10 of a mile uphill to the bus stop near the hospital, at the corner of Avenida Mariana de Jesus and Avenida Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre. Now you are oriented.
There, I caught the 9:00 Mitad del Mundo bus, and took it roughly 14.68 miles to the Mitad del Mundo. It took 46 minutes and I was there. It cost me exactly $0.40 to get there. Here’s the track, the red line, going from south to north.
The yellow line near the top of the image is the equator. That’s where I spent the day.
Riding the bus was pretty neat. It was very full and I stood for quite a way, but sat down when a seat opened. Hawkers got on and stood in the middle, selling something. They were loud enough that I paused listening to my book, but I had no idea what they were selling. Kind of a different class of mute button, so to speak. Like muting TV commercials.
The bus had a driver, and a woman (in my case) riding shotgun. Kind of like a stagecoach. The shotgun, or maybe conductor to borrow a RR term, collected money from some people. The other people just paid as they got off, handing their fare to the driver, who had coins laid out on the seat next to him with which to make change. At one point along the way, they called someone from their cell phone, and the bus stopped, the conductor got off and handed a bag (presumably of money) to a woman who came out of a building to meet the bus. I imagine they were handing off the receipts in case of a stagecoach robbery, so they didn’t lose the entire take. At another place, the driver handed his little piece of blue card stock to the shotgun, and she got off, ran to the building, and punched the paper in the time punch on the wall. Got back on the bus, they both looked at the time stamp, and on we went.
And then we were at the middle of the earth!
My host, Santiago, had suggested walking north a few hundred yards and up a gravel driveway that looked really “iffy” to see the Intiñan Solar Museum. So I did. That link is from the Mitad del Mundo Wikipedia page, and you should read what that article has to say, as I did, while eating my breakfast…, right before leaving my credulity in the hotel safe :-)
not much of an entrance
This is our guide. I was in a group with 3 South Koreans, so you will see them throughout.
I learned that the Wuaorani used hammocks. And little else.
Burial chamber. I’ve seen this practice in other parts of the old world. People dug crypts in mountains, tunnels, caves to bury the dead.
Totems from various Central American countries
On tour at 10:29 am
The red line is supposedly the equator. But of course it isn’t, really. And there is no tooth fairy. But it’s great fun playing along.
My GPS, you can see it on my arm, said we were about 240 meters south of the equator. Which agrees with the Wikipedia article. There was some lecture about the different indigenous peoples of Ecuador, and some history. There were displays of buildings and homes made by the native people. Then there were all the myths about being on the equator, the Coriolis effect uniquely experienced there, and lot of demonstrations. They had a tub of water and set it on the “line,” put some leaves in the water and pulled the plug. They showed the water went straight down with no rotation. Then they put it south of the line, like, 6 feet. Repeat the exercise and show the clockwise rotation of the water. Then 6’ north of the line and the counter-clockwise rotation. Then, try to walk heel-to-toe on the line, holding your arms out, looking up with your eyes closed. Lots of other things.
Some folks actually got the egg to stay on the nail head. Which can only be done on the equator. Except, we weren’t.
Remember these little guys. These are cuy. Americans call them Guinea Pigs. You will see one of them later in this blog. When you do, flip back here and see if you can figure out which one is featured, later.
At the end of the tour, the guide stamped our passports with a 00.00.00 stamp to show we’d been to the equator.
Before going next door, I negotiated with some cab drivers for how much it would cost to take me to Calacali, a city about 6 miles west, and slightly, about 240 meters, north. They said about $15 and they would wait 10 minutes for me to take photos. They were pretty disappointed when I told them I wanted to go inside the museum first and then go to Calacali afterwards. At least, I think they were disappointed. Since we couldn’t speak any words the other understood, we may have been talking about the effects of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds for all I know.
Then I made my way next door to the bigger museum, Mitad del Mundo. Remember that these are really tourist attractions being built. There were lots of construction people working away, finishing things, adding more features.
Inside the gate ($3 to get in, or $7.50 for all access) there are many displays, and lots and lots of shops, and several cafes and restaurants. The restaurant/cafe proprietors come right out to attract you into their place, handing you a menu. I asked a few if they served mate de coca, but they didn’t so I moved on. I walked up the main aisle of statues toward the central attraction. I took lots of photos and saw most of the things they have here.
I paid another $3 to get into the ethnological museum inside the tall monument, although all I really wanted to do was go up to the top and admire the view. The lady selling tickets suggested that I go in and enjoy the experience. And I did.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one sleeping in a hammock.
The museum building, the monument, is built around a central elevator. Around it is a staircase, and each landing has a display of information and artifacts about a single ethnic group. This also gives one a chance to rest every half flight of stairs on the way up.
At the top, the view is impressive. And on the northwest side, it was really windy. There was a storm blowing down from the mountains.
Having just stepped out onto the widow’s walk, a close-up of the ball at the top.
The storm blowing in
Looking West
Looking North
East - the Yellow line is allegedly (but not really) the Equator
South
This photo is here to remind me of how small the first museum actually is. While you are having that tour, you are in a maze of exhibits and it seems like you walk quite a ways. But it is all completely within the space between the wall, the debris pile, and the trees on the right.
Down from the monument, I was still in search of mate de coca and a place to sit for a few minutes. I was trying to decide if I should go outside the wall, take the taxi to Calacali and back, and then the bus home. Walking by a nice looking restaurant (everything here is fairly new and they all look nice) I was approached by a waiter, and when I asked if they served mate de coca he said yes. I think he could tell from my face I didn’t believe him, so he showed me the tea bag. So I asked if I could sit on the veranda, and he brought me the mate. I sat there trying to plan the rest of the week, reading my map, and trying to decide what to do next. It occurred to me that I didn’t need to do anything next. I was here. I could simply enjoy it. I also realized that if I went outside the gate, I couldn’t go back in, and since I had paid a whopping $3 to get in, I wasn’t going to squander it. It only cost me 40 cents to get here after all. I was enjoying some really nice Ecuadorian music being played through a speaker on the porch of an artistic gift shop next door. It was pleasant, so I ordered another mate and asked for a menu.
And what, to my surprise did I see on the menu? Just what I had been sent in search of by my niece, Alice - cuy. I didn’t think I could eat an entire meal, so I asked if I could buy a small portion. They offered me half a cuy, and I made my choice. I chose the left half:
Remember this little guy? Go back and see if you can figure out which one he was…
The tour guide at the first museum had explained that they are only 8% fat, and a very excellent source of protein. And, I think that was just as inexact as everything else his spiel included. ;-) But he (or she) was tasty!
After my repast, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon inside the ciudad. I started in the gift shop next door, and then into the shop that was playing the music. I wandered from shop to shop looking at all the items, mostly selling the same things, but each shop had a few unique gifts. One lady had all sorts of carvings made from the nuts of an indigenous plant. She offered to engrave on any item purchased.
After purchasing all my souvenirs, I sat again at a table admiring the obelisk, and enjoying the sunshine. The storm was still moving down from the mountain, engulfing the intervening countryside like a flow of lava. But it did not arrive or diminish the sun where I was sitting.
The last souvenir place I went advertised a photographic history of Ecuador. I could see a few different items so I went in. There was a man working there who seemed vey frank. I bought my final souvenir from him. And he told me all the museums were incorrect and that where they said the equator is, it really isn’t. But his equator passport stamps were much better (he said so) and he gave me 2 of them.
About 4 pm I decided to head out for the bus ride back to Quito. The bus was nearly empty when I embarked, but, halfway back to the city, a huge crowd got on. There were at least 4 guys sitting in my lap. I couldn’t see out the window, so they let me know when we were approaching my exit.
On the walk back down to the hotel, I passed this building:
Can you CSI fans tell what it is?
After unloading my backpack, I walked back down to the mall for supplies, and then back up the hill. It was really a struggle coming back up the last 30 flights or so. But when I got to my room, I was faced with choices, choices, choices:
