The Middle of the World

Today we went to the equator! It was wicked sweet! We watched water flow counter clockwise a couple feet north of the line, clockwise south of the line and straight down right on the equator. We also tried to balance an egg, but weren't successful. :-( While we were there, we learned about the indigenous people of the amazon... They don't wear clothes- the men only wear this rope thing that they use to tie their foreskin up against their abdomen. You may think this a weird ritual, but they have good motivation to do so: lurking in the waters where they are native to resides the "penis fish." This fish will swim up an unsuspecting man's penis then fan out so it can't be removed. The only treatment: SURGERY! No swimming in the rivers for me!

We also travelled to the "old town" portion of Quito. It was beautiful! There were so many churches, and the streets were really steep (reminded me of San Francisco). We climbed up to the top of one of the steeples and got a great view of the city (although safety was not the first priority of the people who designed the stairs to the top, we survived). We also went to a church that had 52 kg of gold painted on the walls... It was INSANE!

We traveled around the city via bus. Which means we got to experience, first hand, the bus system. The way public transportation works here is that instead of a subway or a trolley or a train of some kind they have buses that travel in bus only lanes. IT WAS CRAZY! The buses take corners and travel at a speed as if they were a subway trains! Talk about getting jostled around. Anyway, we are back at the Hostal Junior Plaza safe and sound. Off for some dinner in a bit! We leave for Banos at 10am tomorrow.