Journey to the center of the Earth...

....or at least the middle. I spent this morning finishing up an exploration of Quito's old town. While it is billed to be a quaint old town with cobblestone streets, think more a bustling active area with lots of people working and going about their life. What is striking about the old town (although not necessarily unique) is the number of churches. These are big churches. Gothic. Baroque. Older. Newer. Colonial. Ornate. There are so many churches and chapels in such a small part of the world. It is truly amazing. While the number of churches in the little old town maybe impressive, what is even more striking to me is the amount of art work (paintings, sculptures, etc.) that are dedicated to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Every city in Latin and South America I have been to has had multiple museums dedicated to religious artwork. These museums have hundreds of pieces of religious art. And this is only the stuff that has survived over the centuries. Clearly the Catholic church had a major impact on the word of art. And on the people of the world. After hitting the old town for a while, I decided to make my way to the center (or middle) of the earth. La Mitad del Mundo! The Equator! It is only about 22km (or 13 miles) from Quito, but the journey is not short. Starts with finding the right bus stop, followed by about an hour bus ride to the end of the line. Once you arrive at Ofelia Station, switch buses and ride another 30-40 minutes to the monument. Mercifully, the bus lets you off right in front of the park and it is only a short walk up to the "official" equator. Only it isn't. Apparently in the eighteenth century soe french guys did all sorts of calculations and set the line. (Ecuador and Quito are actually named for the equator.) Everyone believed this to be right until the advent of GPS technology. Apparently the equator (according to the GPS) is actually 250 meters more north. Imagine the luck of the local Quito family who went to bed with a huge monument to the equator out their window, only to wake up with the equator actually in their backyard! This family has actually created their own museum to the indigenous people of the area. Small but interesting, especially knowing that this tribe remains living in the jungle with very little contact with "modern" people. One crazy fact about them though (and this is nt for the squeamish): due to the fact that they live the Amazon jungle in and out of the water, and due to the fact that there is a water borne parasite that swims up a man's penis and urethra, these indigenous men use jungle vines tied around their waists to tie the foreskins up so their junk points up to the sky. No pesky parasites that way. But I digress. This little museum (on actual site of the equator), takes you through all sorts of demonstrations to prove that they are actually the right line. There is a water test, balancing a n egg of a nail, shadow test, walkings a straight line, etc. Very fun. Just to be safe I got pictures at both sites. Standing in both hemispheres. Both claiming to be 0 latitude. Rather be safe than sorry.