Day 5 (and 6): John's journey to the middle of the earth

Yesterday I met an American couple at lunch. It appeared they had arrived in the evening before. We talked a bit about this and that, volcanic ashes in Europe and a new health system in the US. They were not going to stay long, though, because they would leave to the Galápagos the next day. But they will come back a couple of times to the same hotel, so Barney and I will get a chance to drink his bottle of rum, háááárg!

They were too busy arranging things, so they weren’t able to join me to la mitad del mundo: the middle of the world. I went by bus, which is rather slow and painful, but one bus ride costs only 25 cents and I only needed 3 buses to get to la mitad. It looks a bit like an amusement park without all the wild attractions. There is this big monument with a globe on top, which the builder thought was the middle of the world at the time (unfortunately they missed the equator by a couple of hundred meters). Around this monument are a lot of buildings with souvenirs and artesanias. I didn’t buy anything yet, because I don’t want to drag anything with me for the whole trip. Inside the monument is an ethnographic museum with a lot of stuff and photos of the indígenas of Ecuador with some explanations. It’s a bit of a dry exhibition, but something you should see anyway because you’re there.

The fun part was supposed to be my trip to Pululahua, a volcanic crater which is inhabited (one of the largest craters in the world). There only live a couple of hundred farmers, who carry their produce up (1 hour walk) with animals. Cars are only able to go by the other side, away from Quito. The guide said that the government declared the volcano has 50% chance of erupting again, so that means it is active. Apparently the farmers don’t mind, they have cheap and fertile soil.
At first I wanted to go down myself, as it is only half hour walk down and it is supposed to be a beautiful place. When I got there however, the clouds began invading the whole crater, blocking every view. I was just in time with my pictures, because when we left, we couldn’t see anything down there anymore.

Back at the complex, there wasn’t much left to do. Bernardo told me that on Sundays, there are shows and live music. The dancing shows were nice, but the music terrible. Especially the first music act was more about the sexy dancing (not complaining here, mind you), than the singing. During the second music show, I got talking with a Dutch couple, also passing through, going to the galápagos. Of course we had spotted each others’ Dutchness a mile away.

They wanted to go to a museum outside the complex and I thought they were talking about Inti ñan. When we got there, they apparently weren’t talking about this one, but we went in anyway... luckily. Because Inti ñan is really chévere (cool). And it’s really on the equator. A guide led us through the open air museum, showing us all things from the indígenas, like shrunken heads, totems and houses. But what was really awesome were the cool tricks we could do on the equator. Your weight is 1 kg lower, you are weaker and the water in the sink goes straight down (North and south, it whirls counter clockwise or clockwise). You’re supposed to be able to balance an egg on a nail much easier on the equator, but I still couldn’t do it. And walking a straight line with your eyes closed is impossible.
After that we took a taxi back with the 3 of us and that was about the end of the day.

Day 6

Today was a normal day: Spanish classes, big lunch and studies. We talked a bit about Geert Wilders today in Spanish classes, because a New Zealand student brought it up. It appears he’s not really known in Ecuador, but probably will be in the future. Around here they have opened the borders wide and according to mi profesora, Muslims are immigrating in big numbers. For the rest, totally normal day.