Day 9: The Equator and Quito, Ecuador

Our first full day in Quito began with an early breakfast before heading out to Le Mitad to Mundol, or The Center of the World.

We hired a driver, named Diego, who will be with us for the rest of our time in the Quito area. For about $15 per hour you can have a driver take you anywhere you want to go and will wait for you. Driving is... well, not recommended down here unless you are thinking 2 moves ahead of the drivers around you, have nerves of steel and are really aggressive. Not many of you out there qualify, believe me. I sure don't.

We made the 45 minute journey north to the Equator and first stopped at the "real" equator line. The French Academic Society I referenced in a previous "Did You Know" section, came close to the actual equator. Until we invented GPS. Once GPS arrived, many tourists were pointing East to the actual 0'00 line. Sure enough, they missed the mark by about 250 meters. Not bad for the 1700's but not close enough for today's tourist armed with GPS on almost every cell phone.

Fortunately there is a little museum featuring native culture as it applies to worship of the sun, that just happens to lie on the true equator. Now this is the place where the 0'00 line is. Sadly, the Ecuadorians built a huge monument on the "old" equator. Our first picture is from about 50 feet up at what I call The Equator Theme Park. The next is on the "real" line.

Our tour guide was a nice college student who spoke excellent English, well enough to catch my witty one-liners and laugh. Now that is rare. Normally you get the blank stare and a polite smile.

Our 45 minute tour included a great deal of information about the indigenous cultures in the region and how that applies to the location of the equator and the sun. It is actually pretty neat to see the sun directly above you, pretty much straight up. The Spring solstice is the time when you do not have a shadow while standing on the Equator. For about 2 minutes at noon on that day.

We also visited a large volcanic crater, however some clouds decided to pass by, and since we are 8000 feet, the clouds were at eye level. Therefore we could not see the 6km wide crater. The pictures look nice though.

Upon returning to Quito we had a late lunch (for us) at 2pm, though this is the peak time for lunch in Ecuador. The picture posted is a traditional dish called Cebiche. I chose Cebiche Caramon, which has shrimp in it. Cebiche is like a soup, with the broth flavored with Cilantro and other spices. I kicked it up with some of the hot sauce you see off to the right. Cebiche also comes with Popcorn and Plantain chips. That's just the appetizer. I had the Chicken Fajitas Ecuadorian style. These are pretty much the same as what we have but all of the garnishes are fresh organic produce and the chicken was seasoned like none I have ever tasted. Muy bien!

The final picture of the day comes from the 3rd floor of the Hotel Quito, overlooking the pool and the valley off in the distance. Quito has such great views. Very unique, though they do remind of San Francisco.

How to build Quito from a model of the Bay Area, by Jamie Powers: First remove the bridges and fill in the Bay with land and buildings. Connect The City and Sausalito with a ridge, and raise these peaks to 11000 feet. On the Oakland side, push the Berkeley Hills in a mile closer and raise these peaks to various heights ranging from 7000 to 12000 feet. The main part of Quito would be where The Bay was and the rest of the city built up on the slopes. For those of who familiar with The Bay Area, I hope you now have a clear view of what Quito is like.

The weather here is currently in the rainy season. Fog rolls in at night with occasional showers. Morning begins with fog burning off by 9am, and clear/partly cloudy skies until around 1pm. The afternoon clouds roll in and typically there is light rain at some point in the afternoon. This again clears out for a few hours before sunset, when the fog rolls in and we start the cycle again. Temperatures start around the high 40s and top out in the mid 60s by the afternoon.

Our basic itinerary now is morning-weighted to catch the nicer weather. We will tour the Historic Old Town tomorrow and then take a day trip up to Otovalo on Saturday.

Did you know: Quito is the 2nd highest capital in the world (at 9,500 feet). 1st place also belongs to South America, La Paz, Bolivia (13,000 feet). The highest major city in the US is Denver at 5183 feet, however there are over 200 towns with higher elevation in the US, most with sparse population.