The centre of the world! Nearly.

The monument at the middle of the world.
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The day after we returned from Otavalo, we decided it was time to visit Quito's main tourist attraction, Mitad del Mundo, or the Centre of the World. Obviously enough, this is a monument marking the equator line which passes fairly close to Quito.

There were a few people heading off from the hostel, so we decided to go with them. Despite getting a little lost on the way ('It really is quicker this way, honest') we made it all the way out to Mitad del Mundo, about an hour out of town on the bus (if you don't get lost following an Aussie called Chris, of course).

The happy couple, Mitad del Mundo
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Given the amount of touristy emphasis placed on this attraction, it could be said to be a little bit of an anticlimax. The monument itself is a very tall plinth bearing a stone globe. The equator line is marked on the ground. That's it, really, apart from the fifty or so souvenir shops and restaurants surrounding it.

Quite a few people get a little disappointed when they learn that the big monument isn't quite in the right place, being about 250m away from the real site of the equator. It doesn't really bother me; it was surveyed in the 1700s by a French team, and I would say they got pretty close considering the technology available.

And here we are at the 'real' equator
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A little way down the road is Museo Inti Nan, which claims to be sited exactly on the equator, as indicated by GPS. I thought that commercial GPS had a built-in error of several metres, but never mind.

The museum is good fun, particularly the hilarious 'experiments', apparently intended to demonstrate that you really are on the equator.

The rest of the museum consists of two original huts built by the indigenous tribes who used to live in the area, a display of pickled jungle animals and a real, honest-to-god shrunken head. If that isn't enough, you get to use a blow-pipe; worth the price of admission in itself.