Tuesday, July 12, 2005

On the Equator

Equator Equator Equator Equator

The kicker is...this isn´t even the real Equator! This is the site where a French research team placed the Equator in the 1820s, and it turns out they were off by a few hundred yards. Not bad, considering they were using sextants and whatnot. However, eight years ago a thousand-year-old site was found on a nearby mountaintop, on the exact equatorial line.

But it was still fun to play around at the "Mitad del Mundo" park, although the highlight of the day was the museum just down the road on the the real Equator. There I saw alll kinds of tricks you can only do on the Equator, such as balance an egg and force somebody´s hands apart with much less force than it takes only a couple of paces to the north or south. The highlight, though, is the sink demonstration: On the Equator, water pours directly down the drain. Just a few feet to the north, it goes down counter-clockwise. Just a few feet to the south, it goes down clockwise. Really, it does. I swear.

Well, I am off to the Galápagos tomorrow, so I will be in wildlife paradise for a week. I´ll be back late next week with photos galore!