Wednesday 24/11/04

Today we went to “Mitad del Mundo”, literally the middle of the world. A complex of monuments, museums, observatories, craft shops and other touristy stuff built exactly on the equator. Through the complex runs a long red line marking the equator exactly. It’s lots and lots of fun to stand on both sides, jump from one side to the other or just dance along the line. The main monument itself is kinda cool, it looks like a giant pawn with a bronze globe on the top. I’ll upload photos at some stage. There was another museum nearby which had cool tricks like balancing eggs and water going down plugholes in two directions, but we couldn’t find it.

Near El Mitad del Mundo is a small village called San Antonio. Here we ate the set lunch (”Almuerzo”). For a dollar you get soup, juice and a huge plate of rice, potato, veg and beef. The village itself is cool – the architypal Hollywood latino pueblo; skinny stray dogs, staring children, chickens, dust. Public transport back to Quito is interesting. If you’re lucky the bus will be less than 20 years old. Peddlers get on every stop to sell sweets, lotto tickets, brooms, everything. In fact there are no stops, the bus just stops when someone has to get on or off. Great fun altogether. I will never give out about Dublin Bus again.