"I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world." -Mary Anne Radmacher
I've now visited all 4 hemispheres. Today, Jacquie, a friend of Becca's took me to La Mitad del Mundo, which is the middle of the world at 0° latitude. After all, Ecuador means equator in Spanish. An early 1700's French-led expedition conducted experiments to test the shape of the world and conducted other measurements and in turn, they found the equatorial line. Since then GPS has proved their work was off by 240 meters. Not too shabby for 1700's technology. Side note: Jacquie recommended I read the The Map Maker's Wife because it goes into detail about the entire process this expedition went through with their experiments and research.
After that, we traveled back to Quito to venture up in the TelefériQo. This is a gondola lift running up the side of Pichincha Volcano to lookout on the city. It is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world, rising 2000 (more) feet to put us at an elevation of nearly 13,000ft. The views of the city, countryside, mountains and volcanoes were gorgeous.
After sending the day with Jacquie, I walked back to my hostel, a mile up-hill mind you, and located a cute bakery less than a block from my hostel. That's going to be fun!
A few things I've found interesting here so far:
*Police ride around with their lights on. I guess when you hear the siren you know you're in trouble.
*Cars and buses have the right-of-way; NOT pedestrians, at all. Road rules seem pretty lacking in general.
*Ecuador uses the US dollar, including paper money, our typical coins, as well as the old $0.50 pieces and unused gold dollars.
*Gas is sold by the gallon. Their top level gas is $2.10 which is octane equivalent to our low level gas. Their low level gas is $1.50.
*Speed limits, distance and temperature are in the metric system.
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