Middle Earth!

July 6

Day 3

Sunday began with Mass. Daniel and I walked to the church nearby his apartment. It was a nice service and I got the message of the Priest's homily! Upon returning to the apartment, we had breakfast and waited for Angiel (Daniel's wife) and Alejandra to return from her swim lesson. Once everyone was ready, we headed to the middle of the world!!







First we visited La Mitad del Mundo Monumento. We entered a park that was big and designed for the tourists. People were there from different countries and different events were taking place. We took a brief train ride that went around the park, and then we entered in the tower that contained information on the different peoples of Ecuador and the regions they live in. It was like a small museum.

Angiel, myself, Alejandra, and Daniel

At the top of the tower you could clearly the divide of the
two hemispheres, where the equator passes through.

After descending the tower, Angiel and I watched some dance groups perform, while Daniel and Alejandra went to the playground. Alejandra was a little restless, ha.

Intiñan Solar Museum

After visiting the big tourist attraction, we went to another place close by, what Daniel said was the "true" center of the world. This place wasn't as big nor as touristy. The name of the site was the Intiñan Museum and I enjoyed the more than the monument. We had a tour in Spanish around the grounds, and were told a lot of fascinating information about the indigenous people of the land. We learned about the shrunken-heads and how they came about, why they were used, and some scary information about the important people/leaders that died. There was a tradition of burying one's possessions with them, so that they would have those items with them in the after life. But apparently those items included loved ones for persons who had a high status within the community. For example, if the king were to die in that time, his wife and children would be given a drink that put then to sleep. When they woke up, they would be underground! [ahhhh!]

A sun clock. Unfortunately it was overcast that day.

The coolest part of the tour, for me, were the demonstrations in how the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have different pulls and gravitational forces affecting them. I volunteered to be a participant, and got to experience first hand how my strength differed in the two hemispheres. (Copy FBook description). One thing very cool to see there, was how water flows differently. There was a bucket under a sink, and they began by pouring the water through the sink on the line marked as the center of the Earth (equator). We then saw the water fall directly down, straight out of the sink in to the bucket. Then the guide took the sink and bucket over in to the Southern Hemisphere, just a few yards away, and did the same demonstration. Rather than falling straight down out of the sink, the water swirled clockwise. Following this, we crossed over in to the Northern Hemisphere and saw that the water friend counter-clockwise. TOO COOL!!! Finally, there was a challenge for the guests, which was to balance an egg on top of a nailhead situated on the equator.

I was able to accomplish the challenge, and received a diploma afterwards!

As we were leaving the museum, we watched a dance from a guy dressed in the colorful costume of what is worn during a certain celebration/time of year. 

We stopped by another volcano-formed crater afterwards to take a look.

Final trip of the day was a family trip to La Virgen del Panecillo.

There is a large statue of the Virgen Mary located on a hill near downtown Quito. I did not know of this monument before going, but it reminded me of my visit to Rio de Janeiro and going to see the Christ the Redeemer statue that stands atop of Mount Corcovado. Inside the base of the monument were various accounts and descriptions of apparitions of Mary throughout history. There were also displays about how different countries celebrate different religious holidays of the Catholic Church.

El Centro Histórico