July 2, still :) I met up with Judith back at the Secret Garden, where we got an info sheet from the day trips folder about going to the Mitad del Mundo. We took the trole as instructed -- no problems whatsoever, then took the Mitad del Mundo bus. It was about 45 minutes from Quito.

There´s a huge monument that has a globe on top flipped on its side, and a line drawn saying 0´0´0´. But this is really not the true equator!! Some French guy had miscalculated it. But ironically, the monument remains and is very touristy.

We went about 200 meters down the road to the Museo Inti Ñan, which houses the real equatorial line. The setting of the museum was really beautiful. Cacti and plants everywhere, nice landscaping. We had a Spanish guided tour of the place by Maribel, a young nice Ecuadorian girl. Maribel spoke very clearly and annunciated every word, so we understood the majority of it.

There, we got the history of the pre-Inca society that lived there, how they were buried, the symbolism of a totem pole, history of headhunting, got to shoot a dart gun, etc.

Maribel also showed us experiments used to prove that is the real equator. One was showing the way the water drains on the equator (straight down), in the northern hemisphere, and the southern hemisphere.

It was a really nice museum, and well worth the $2.50. Glad I didn´t pay $3 to go up the monument at the fake equator!