Tour Mitad del Mundo and the Equator

To tour Mitad del Mundo is not to tour the equator.

The indigenous knew it all along. Did they protest? There's no one around to ask any more. It seems to me, though, that they simply danced to it, and now call it the "Symbolic Equator," and continue dancing and enjoying it!

Mitad-del-Mundo Dancing on Symbolic Equator Line

When the French came early on, they brought their instruments that showed this was the right place to mark the location of the equator. Their instruments were off...about 200 yards off!

A 30 meters tall tower monument was built between 1979 and 1982 to be entered and learned from. Stairs take you to the top with museum displays all the way up. The spectacular view is a bonus.

As the indigenous swirl dance at Mitad del Mundo,

craft shops and little eating places around the dance area with their delicious smells make sure you have what you need to make it a day here on weekends.

You can come any day and take photos with one foot "symbolically" on one side of the line and one "symbolically" on the other. You can browse through the museum and little shops, but wouldn't you want to watch those dancers merrily perform just for you? Then, definitely come on a weekend.

Angel Rea of Huayras Expedition can take you on that tour to Mitad del Mundo AND the equator, as any guide can. How would you explain not going to both when you got back home? How would you explain not meeting Angel?

The Equator With Inti - Nan Sign

Inti means sun and nan means path in Quechua.

After the symbolic middle of the world, Angel drove me to the authentic place proven by the recent GPS system. He introduced me to the museum guide, I paid my fee, and I was off to really get photographed on line!

She demonstrated how water drains straight down on the equator line, and swirls to opposite sides on each side of the line, but scientists say this is fake. A solar clock marks the time,

and a solar calendar marks the date. This is not fake. She pointed out that Cayambe Volcano with its cap of snow is the only volcano on the equator in the world. This is also not fake.

The best thing is, you weigh less here than at home because gravity has less pull! Is this fake? I don't know, but that definitely means a lot to some of us.

Huts with grass roofs and corralled llamas greet you into the area. We were even shown shrunken heads with hair still growing on them! For any questions on this, get yourself to Quito, get toured over there, and ask! I really didn't want to know.

Unusual displays dot the ground here. One is on the invention of the wheel, which they claim. Another is on how the indigenous buried their dead and why they buried them in the manner they did, and more.

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