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Sept 21 2000: The Middle of the World - El Mitad del Mundo! Quito, Ecuador
El Mitad del Mundo. Wow! After quite a ride with some exciting downhills we made it to the middle of the world. We had such special overwhelming feelings on the equator. We straddled the Equator at 1:52pm and was on it or very close to it until 2:55pm. Iīm not sure when the exact time of the autumnal equinox occured, but it sure would be awesome if we were there at the same time. Hopefully someone that reads this journal will let us know the exact time of the equinox. The monument is quite awesome. It is at 2485 metre elevation, 78 degrees 27 minutes 8 seconds longitude with a declination (whatever that means) of 6 38 -> east. There are a couple of circular sidewalks aroung the monument which seems to tower about 30 metres up. People may go into the monument and get to the top and look out. The area is surrounded my mountains especially to the north and east. When we got to the equator, I lost a bet to Tad. We had a wager as to which way way north. I was wrong so I owe Tad a dinner at our favorite Hindu/Arabian restaurant called the Taj Mahal. On our ride to the Mitad del Mundo, we had an interesting sight of about 200 soldiers running down the road with full gear and guns. They almost took over the entire road. We waved at each other as we passed them on our bikes. Our ride back to Quito was full of happenings. We knew that we had a major climb of about 350 metres in the 25km back to our hostal. The clouds were threatening rain and it was 3:00pm. I was a bit concerned about not making it back before dark. Just after we stopped and bought a bunch of oranges, Tad got a flat - thatīs number 35 since he began the trip last year and his first in South America. As we repaired the flat alongside the very noisy road, the rain began to fall. When all was fixed, we hit the road in the rain. When it got harder, we half heartedly decided to hitch-hike. Well we had immediate luck (not really after you read on youīll see why). The first vehicle stopped and pulled a U-turn and the couple offered us a ride for $2.00. We decided to take the offer, but they raised the cost to $4.00. When Tadīs counter offer of $3.00 was not accepted, we decided to get out of the truck and ride in the rain. I donīt know why they didnīt take the 3 bucks. A public doctor in Quito makes $US140.00 per month. That equates to rougly $4.50 per day. Our driver would not accept 3 dollars. That is equal to 2/3īs of a doctorīs income for a day. Our potential drivers would have only had to spend 1/2 hour to drive us. Oh well. So, Tad and I hit the rainy road again. Within one minute a couple of young guys in a pick up offered us a free ride and we immediately accepted. This was great luck. It was raining hard and we had some mean uphills to climb. We had a great visit and they dropped us off at the shoe repair shop where Tad got his shoes fixed. As we rode to the shop, his same tire went flat again. So, I worked on his flat as he walked to the shoe store. The remaining ride back into Quito was as busy and hairy as the ride out. Tadīs tire softened again. This time we decided to fill it with air and go as far as we could. Well, we gave up at one point and walked the last kilometre. We were quite tired when we finally arrived at our hostel and got there just before dark. We had a good dinner of pasta and tomato paste with green peppers, onions and tons of garlic. We also boiled some potatoes and ate them with brocolli and made a tomato/cucumber salad. And it was topped off with Twist (something like Tang). Rosa fried some plantains as we cooked our dinner, and Deanna was practising the song that starts with ĻGod created earth and heaven...Ļ on the recorder. After dinner, I sat with Victor (Ecuadorian who lives at the hostel) and many other hostelers and watched the olympic 20km walk race in Australia. We were all hoping for Jefferson of Ecuador to win. It was interesting that we all stayed somewhat riveted to a walk race for one and a half hours. I played some harmonica for Amy who is also at the hostel. She is a nurse practitioner who is volunteering fully on her own to help make Quito a more healthy place to live for Ecuadorians. She and all the PeaceCorp people that stay at the hostel are doing their part to make the world a better place to live. I tip my hat to them all. - If you think you might say, ĻI should haveĻ, then do it! |