It’s no surprise that the equator goes through Ecuador. We even passed over it twice in the Galapagos. But we wanted to investigate further, so we visited Middle of the World, less than an hour outside of Quito.
There are two places to go: 1) the true, military-grade GPS-located equator with a fun museum and “scientific” interactions, and 2) the giant monument erected to commemorate the equatorial line calculated in 1736, which is really only off about 800 feet, so mad props to 18th-century technology!
We started at the Museo de Sitio, where we divided our family by hemisphere and learned about indigenous culture. Piper took notes on how to make a shrunken head. Wes showed a remarkable skill for getting an egg to balance on a nail head–steadiest hands around. Kyla succeeded once, and the rest of us were egg dunces.
We also did fun experiments, like drain water from tub right on the line, to the north and to the south–scientifically proving that the water drains straight down at exactly 0 degrees, flushes clockwise in the north, and counterclockwise in the south. It also proves that Dwayne spoils the magic when he researches further to find that tubs drain straight when the water has sat for a while, and you can control the direction of flushing by how you dump the water in the tub right before pulling the plug. Ah, science, you slippery thing! But it didn’t make our morning there any less delightful.
Next, we made it to the historical equator, and I climbed to the top of the monument while the others got ice cream.
On the interior, the monument spiraled down to showcase Ecuador’s history over the centuries, as well as its different regions.
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