So I've now visited the equator three times...possibly. First of all we visited Mitad del Mundo which is the official Ecuadorian monument to mark the Equator. Problem is that after they put up the enormous monument and built 99 shops and restaurants around it, someone went and invented GPS and unfortunately it didn't agree that the equator crossed through the site. Looks nice though...
A few hundred metres away some enterprising locals have set up a small museum where the 'real' equator apparently lies. They also show you a bunch of tricks to demonstrate things like the coriolis effect (you know how water supposedly goes down the drain in different directions in both hemispheres). Apparently it's all trickery but amusing nonetheless.
Next we went to a town called Cayambe where they have a giant sundial...and a stamp from the army(!) to certify that their site is at 0 latitude. I also learnt that from the Equator you can see the Southern Cross AND the Big Dipper when you can only usually see one or the other depending on your hemisphere. Fascinating, no?!
No comments:
Post a Comment