Quito
Quito
We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room on the 7th floor; it has quite an impressive view of the Andes Mountains. At 9:00 we got on the bus to visit the equator center as identified by GPS technology. The original monuments and modern exhibits are a block away. The real zero degree point as identified by GPS devices sits on a piece of private land. The owners have permitted the placement of markers and they allow tourists to visit. We saw a couple of interesting experiments. One showed that water does flow counterclockwise (like hurricanes) in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern hemisphere, and straight down over the equator (Coriolis effect?). A 10 foot movement of the portable sink to either side of the equator was enough to demonstrate the flow differences. (A bucket of water that was poured down the sink, collected and then reused) We also saw that you can balance a raw egg on the head of a nail at the equator. We had a photo taken showing us straddling the equator. There were an interesting series of sundials showing differences in the position of the sun at the equinox.
Our guide told us this area has four seasons a year – three months of rain, three months of dry, three months of rain and three months of dry. The sun rises at 6:00AM and sets at 6:00PM everyday all year.
The other exhibit was less interactive and a bit more commercialized. Then on to lunch followed by a walking tour of the old town. We saw two churches. The Jesuit church with seven tons of gold leaf is a real jaw dropper. The more modest Franciscan church was dark wood and very, very old. It was undergoing repair.
We went back to the hotel about 4:00 and repacked, again. We can leave one bag at the hotel and take just one large bag to the Galapagos. All the dirty clothes and the heavy weight clothes stayed in Quito. We had a group dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel and then returned to our rooms and went to bed after setting our clocks for 5:30AM.
Helen’s Journal
Sunday, Oct 22, 2006