Visiting the Equator (Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador)

Last weekend, Jonathan and I went with our friends Alex and Kyra to visit the Mitad del Mundo (This is the CENTER OF THE WORLD! The place where the equator runs through Ecuador).

We met at 9:00 am at the bus station at Colon and Avenida Americas (on the blue bus line in the middle of Quito).  From there we rode that bus all the way to the north end of its line.  At that station, we picked up another bus to the Mitad del Mundo.

(This second bus was very clearly marked, and easy to find.)  The first bus ride out of Quito lasted about 40 minutes, and it cost us $0.25 each.  The second bus ride from Quito to the Mitad Del Mundo, was about 30 minutes, and it cost us $0.15 each.

The bus pulled off on the side of the road, and the money collector (every bus has a separate person who collects the money) yelled that we were there.  We couldn’t see much, but trusted that the bus driver knew where we were.

We saw the entrance to the “park/city”, as it is lined with flags and statues.

We debated at the entrance as to which ticket to get.

There is a “combo” ticket pack (for $3.00 each) that includes the planetarium.   Since it was only $1 more, we decided to get it.

Our first stop was the equator. 

We had a great time taking fun pictures. 

My favorite is the one where we’re all jumping from one hemisphere to the other.

Can you believe that we got this picture on the first try?!

From here, we went to the planetarium.  I don’t really think it was worth the entrance price, unless you have little kids. It was a bit frustrating.  It was all just very basic information about a small part of the solar system, and the people behind us talked the whole time. Jonathan says he really enjoyed it, but wished the people behind us would have been quiet for at least 5 combined minutes of the 35 minute presentation. We are, after all, attempting to apprender Espanol.

Our next stop was to see what kind of souvenirs we could find in the tourist traps (shops).  We didn’t quite make it in any of the shops though, because we were distracted by Llamitas (little llamas) that were making more baby llamas.

Alex realized that he was hungry, so we went for some lunch.  We had a nice, if a bit overpriced, almuerzo (set lunch menu) at the restaurant in the park..

Then we were off to the museum.  We’d read that you could do all kinds of fun “equator” experiments there.

We were disappointed to find out that it cost us another $3 per person to visit the museum.

We were even more disappointed that there were no experiments to be found.  The whole museum was a display of a few of the indigenous tribes of Ecuador.  It was interesting, but everything was mock-ups of the actuals (even though many tribes are still using actual pieces today), so that made it less interesting (for me), and thus not worth an additional entrance fee.

But, the top of the museum did have a great view.

Jonathan says one of his favorite parts of the Mitad Del Mundo was the Ecuador Insectarium, where you can see the various insects of Ecuador. You’re not allowed to take pictures, but if you pay another $2, they’ll take a picture of you with an average sized beetle hanging out on your shirt.

(Bear in mind that these are average-sized beetles.)

We’re going to have to go back to find the “correct” museum with all the experiments.  We asked 3 people, and no one knew where it was.

However, after we returned to Quito, people told us where it was (of course). 

We might just have to go back to see all the experiments at the Mitad Del Mundo.

Oh, and sometime, we’ll have to tell you the story about the man whose wife got left behind while his hand got trapped outside the door of the bus as it drove off. (The rest of him was inside). To the best of our knowledge, no one suffered any permanent damage, but we were all a bit shocked.

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