Five and half hours after crossing the border into Ecuador, I arrived in the capital city of Quito. At 2850 meters(about 9400 feet) in elevation, this is the second highest capital city in the world. I checked into one of the zillion hostels mentioned in the guide book and discovered they have free rum and coke night every Monday, Wed. and Friday. Good deal! They mix several bottles in a big pot and you just help yourself.

I explored downtown Quito for a day. They have an Old Town, which has most of the churches, parks, and colonial architecture, and a New Town, which has all the hostels, bars and restaurants. It really isn't the most appealing city I've seen but there is a lot to do from here. The following day, I went on a trip with 3 others to a snow capped mountain called Cayambe. It is the highest point in the world that lies on the equator. Our driver took us up to about 4700 meters until the mountain road was too difficult to pass. From there we hiked up to 5000 meters(16,400 feet) to a small mountain lagoon. The air is thin at this elevation and breathing is difficult... only 3 out of 4 of us made it. It was weird to see snow again ... and in June.

And a trip to Quito would not be complete without visiting the tourist trap they have set up at the equator. They have two locations, the fake equator and the real one. At the fake equator there is a huge monument. This is the location that some scientist from France calculated a long time ago. It's not correct and it was discovered later that the real equator lies some 200 feet away. It was worth a picture anyway. At the real equator, there is a museum and that was great. They have several demonstrations that can only be done along the equator. First was the balancing egg trick. You can balance an egg on the head of a nail when you are exactly on the equator. Why? See the photo and the story. The other famous experiment is demonstrating how water swirls in opposite directions when it drains in the north and southern hemispheres. There was a lot more and the photos have their own stories.

I have no idea what's next as I have no plan. We'll see......