Day Adventures: Mitad del Mundo

Today we went to the middle of the world. We went to the true middle of the world and the monument where it was originally thought to be. We had a good time at both places. Eduardo and Alexandra picked us up at 11:00 and took us to the north of Quito where the middle of the world is located. It was very interesting. We were able to stand where we were half in the Southern Hemisphere and half in the Northern Hemisphere. At the true middle of the world, they do demonstrations to show you things that are different in the two hemispheres and on the equator. For instance, they show you how water flows clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and straight down on the equator. That is why countries on the equator never have cyclones or hurricanes because air and water behave the same and air only flows straight on the equator. We also learned that on the equator you do not have as much strength as when you are just 2 meters to the north or south due to being farther from the core and thus you have less gravity. You actually weigh 1KG less on the equator. You could also balance an egg on a nail head due to forces pulling directly down instead of to one side or the other. We also saw a sundial that tells true time because a day is not really 24 hours and the extra seconds add up to our extra day in leap year and twice a year there is no shadow due to the equinox. The guide taught us about how there are eleven countries on the equator and the reason Ecuador was chosen as the middle of the world was because it is the highest point on the equator and there needed to be a high point to map out the world on the triangle pattern the scientists had developed. True 0 Latitude and 0 Longitude falls in the ocean off the west coast of Africa. Everything the guide talked about was very interesting. We learned about the tribes in the Amazon, their houses and how four families or up to 25 people could live in a hut the size of one American living room and three people sleep in one small hammock. There was also another hut built 136 years ago that was still in wonderful shape. The hut has tar that makes it water proof and clay and wood and other materials that make it able to bend and move if there is an earthquake or a volcano erupts and it can cool and heat based on the materials and the weather. It was really interesting. At the monument for the middle of the world, we ate lunch and had ice cream and saw historic information about the middle of the world and went to the planetarium to see how the stars are different in the different hemispheres and how you can see all the stars on the equator and how the stars and planets shift with the rotation of the Earth. So needless to say, we are all tired but very thankful for another amazing adventure.