Moving on to our next travel destination, we visited Mital del Mundo (Spanish for middle of the world). This is a tourist pueblo which is on the equateur (Latitude: 0 degrees, 0', 0"). In the picture, you see the Mital del Mundo Monument, which indicates the directions N/S/E/W, a globe at the top, a museum of Ecuador's indigeneous groups within the structure, and a viewing station at the top...
...also, it has a big bright line, denoting the equateur... except that it is a little off (300 meters to be exact, as noted by Dave's GPS -- Hurrah, for techie toys!).
The real middle of the world - latitudinally - was actually in this little museum just outside of the mega-government-sponsored-tourist site! (We found out about it through a fellow traveller!)
In this museum, we watched water go down through a sinkhole, without spinning around.
Tried to balance an egg on a nail (supposedly it is easier - but i couldn't do it, nor could Dave).
Did you know that you weigh a whole 1 lb. less on the equator!!!?
We looked at some sophisticated sundials (of course we ooh'd and ahh'd at the appropriate moments).
Dave saw his first cacti in Ecuador... just look at that smile! Don't point too close to the cactus though! (And this is just a fourty minutes bus ride away from Quito)
This magnificant flora is a species of Aloe Vera (there are several aloe vera species here in Ecuador). Our guide told us that you can make a bitter but Imune-system boosting drink by pureeing aloe vera leaves in a blender (mixing it with juice will make it taste better of course).
More types of cacti species. These all seem to be different from the very beautiful cacti I saw in Phoenix, Arizona, SouthWestern USA. These however, also bear the fruit Prickly Pear... not easy to eat for it is just too full of seeds.
Here is another plant from the area that resembled a Canadian Maple leaf... ahh, the nostalgia.
Still within the museum, here is a traditional house. Nice straw roof!
Aloe vera hanging from the ceiling within the house for medicinal purposes (and it is decorative too!).
The museum guide, who lives here, also keeps a hoard (hoard? :cD) of very cute Guinea Pigs ("Cuy"). As mentioned earlier (in the previous journal), the Cuy is a sacred animal to people of the Andes (in Peru, Bolivia and here in Ecuador). Traditionally, Cuy is also rubbed (alive, poor little guy) on oneself for spiritual purification. Don't worry, I did not partake in any Cuy rubbing! hehe.
This is one of the totem poles in the museum. This one in particular has been donated from Chile.
Here is a local totem pole... with every inch engraved. It is actually 200 years old.
... a closer look at the same totem pole. The design really reminds me of Canadian indegeneous art here.
A FAKE shrunken head... one of the previous (!!) traditions of the tribal indigenes groups in Ecuador. It is a nice one though (this one is made with goat skin and hair), but I can pass from having this souvenir in my collection.
Here is one of the "reference manuals" to the art (?) of shrinking heads!
Part two of the reference manual. An interesting note is that they sowed the lips together, making infinity symbols with the string to symbollize that the spirit is infinitively locked into the shrunken head.
Here is a REAL shrunken head... much smaller than the former (about 3" high). Note: they just shrink the skin not the skull). Ok, ok, I'll stop!
