Mitad Del Mundo

We had thought today to look round the modern part of Quito but realised that we had seen most of it already through our wanderings and so decided to visit the Equator today instead. After breakfast and finding out the necessary info from the hostel staff we made our way towards Avenue America with a brief stop on the way at a small electric shop to see if we could get Andy's DVD player fixed as we'd found out the night before that the plug in part had detached inside (just after we'd bought some new DVD's too!!). Eventually getting to the bus stop at around 12 we jumped on the rather crowded trolley bus and rode it right to the end to La Ophelia, a terminal where we then got on a bus to the small town of Mitad Del Mundo (Centre of the World!). The whole journey took about an hour and a half and as we arrived it started to drizzle with rain, typical! Entering the complex which is named Mitad Del Mundo Ciudad although there are no actual houses or residents here, we walked through an avenue lined with grim faced busts of various important people before deciding the rain was getting too heavy and diving into the Insectarium for cover. A small square building, it is home to several live insects in tanks, some of which you can hold if you wish (not likely!) but the most impressive thing is the thousands of insects and butterflies adorning the walls. Beautiful iridescent blue butterflies and shiny gold beetles among a myriad of other fascinating insects were pinned to numerous boards behind glass and we spent half an hour or so inspecting them before venturing out into the rain once more. It was raining quite heavily now and we darted under a large modern looking pavillion where a yellow line ran straight through the middle and out across the street and into a small church. This of course was the equator line and we spent a few minutes taking pictures of each other on it or either side of it before deciding it was time to find a coffee. As we walked under the cover of porches trying to find a reasonably priced coffee, my eye was caught by some long sleeved tops hanging in one of the shops so we went in to have a quick look Finally I had found what I was looking for, a non white, long sleeved, cool cotton top that fitted me(most were mens and drowned me) that didnt cost a fortune! :D Happy now, we found a coffee shop and sat in there drinking slowly until the rain stopped then ventured out walking towards the huge monument erected for the discovery of the equator by Charles-Marie de la Condamine in 1736. We found ourselves among a bundle of people all trying to take photos of each other on the line in various poses and after getting a quick snapshot by another tourist and returning the favour we decided to do the sensible thing and walk around the back of the monument. Feeling rather smug as there was no one else there even though the monument looked practically the same from both sides and of course the line runs both ways, we took some interesting photos including one of Andy looking as though he were about to flick the large globe on top of the monument in to the air. From our vantage point (we had climbed some stairs to get these shots) we could see the ugly concrete warehouse 300m away to the North where the actual equator ran through...Mr Condamine got it slightly wrong with his calculations but to be fair 300m isnt much really and it was still quite an impressive feat for back then! With the sun now shining we made our way back down the avenue of busts that led to/from the huge monument and looked at a couple of sundials set just to the side as well as the pretty gardens in which 2 llamas were being antagonised by a small child whose parents were trying to get a photo of him. Walking past them in disgust (its no wonder most south americans seem to have no manners when the parents actively encourage this sort of thing) we came across the bull ring and entered to have a better look. Climbing the short flight of stairs we emerged near the top of a small ampitheatre with a sandy floor and a volleyball net strung up in the centre. Some other tourists joined us and exclaimed what an odd thing it was to see the net there in the middle of a bull ring. Andy said after they had gone that they were stupid as the ring is only used a couple of times a year so why not make use of it the rest of the time and save money by not having to build another stadium with a sandy floor!! I had to agree with him and we both laughed as another couple came in and said exactly the same as the first lot! Leaving the bullring behind we walked out of the complex and started heading towards the small town in search of some lunch before getting back on the bus to go to Quito once more. We found a panaderia and bought a delicious looking cheese bread which turned out to have more cheese in than we ever could have imagined much to our delight :) and a pan au chocolait each which were equally as good but not quite what we had expected as the chocolate bit was cake swirled within the bread...yum! We caught the bus back to the station and then the trolley back into Quito and after checking back at the electronics shop (they needed another couple of hours) headed back to the hostel for a shower and to relax for a bit. We back to the electronics shop at 6.30 like they'd asked but it still wasnt done and they said come back at 9. A bit frustrated we went back to the hostel and consoled ourselves with free rum and coke which is a cool offer by the hostel every mon, wed and fri evenings. They provide the first 'bucket' then everyone pays $1 if they want more once its gone. As there were only 4 of us to begin with the 2 bottle strong saucepan full looked like a lot, but as other guests started filing in it soon disappeared but at least we got 2 glasses each, enough to make us a little tipsy. We chatted with the other travellers for a while, but when it seemed like it was going to turn into a drunken rabble (they'd nearly cleared the second 'bucket' in 10 minutes) we excused ourselves and went bac to see about Andy's dvd player. Again it wasn't ready and after explaining that we were leaving the next day agreed to come back at 10 the next morning, we then went to a small indian restaurant for dinner as they had set meals for $3 and we hadn't actually spent much today. It turned out the place also had wifi so we sat there for an hour or more doing bits on the internet whilst we ate what turned out to be a very tasty meal. Heading back to the hostel around 10.30 after warnings from the owner to be careful whilst walking around, we found the other guests very drunk and decided to go to bed rather than join the shouting match as they were all talking over one another across the room so no one could hear what was going on.