Mitad del Mundo
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
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216
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Quito,
Ecuador
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Quito, Ecuador
Exchange rate: Ecuador uses the US dollar
Big Mac sandwich - $1.30
We left Mancora yesterday after a long delay as the bus that was supposed to take us from Mancora to the border never showed up. After waiting for 3 hours the ticket agent put us on a collectivo to the boarder. There we met our handler, a young lady hired by the bus company to walk us through the immigration process. She put us on a second collectivo to immigration and finally to the bus on the Ecuador side. Our transportation from Mancora all the way to Quito cost us 120 soles each. We got a room at the Amazonas Inn in the New Town of Quito for $26 per night. This was a bad trip for Arvid. In all the hassle of changing collectivos, he lost his camera. Then when we checked into the hotel he discovered he had left his passport on the bus to Quito
01
. He rushed back to the bus station but the bus had left for Colombia. The clerk at the Quito station phoned the bus in route and fortunately the attendant on the bus found the passport. He'll get it back tomorrow when the bus returns to Quito. But the camera is gone for good. These are symptoms of travel fatigue. We've accumulated over 12 kilos of stuff from Bolivia, and Peru which we need to mail home. We had read that the mail from Bolivia and Peru was unreliable so we've waited until we got to Ecuador. Today is Friday and we aren't sure if the post office will be open tomorrow, so, even though we are tired from the journey, we pack the stuff up and ship it out today. Shipping cost us $96.50. Our bags are a lot lighter.
May 24, 2008
Quito, Ecuador
Quito is a very nice town, although it is also chilly here in its high Andean valley. Today, we take a series of city buses out to see the equator at Mitad del Mundo about 22 kilometers outside of Quito. There is a monument there which is supposed to mark the equator line. Actually, according to modern GPS readings, it is slightly off. Still this excursion is very exciting for us. That is because when we were in Tucson (our first stop on this long journey) our friend Sandy took us to a used book store where we found "The Map Maker's Wife", by Robert Whitaker. It is a fascinating book and we've been telling people all over the world about it. Finally, we are where the story takes place. It is really a story within a story. The main story is about the French Geodesic Mission of 1735, sponsored by the French Academy, which came here to take measurements to determine whether the earth bulged at the equator as Isaac Newton theorized or was egg shaped like the French astronomer Jacque Cassini believed
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. To do this they needed to measure one degree of latitude (about 70 miles) in a north/south direction. They needed relatively flat land and choose a site about 58 km from the present Mita del Mundo monument. It took the scientists 8 years to complete their mission. Louis Godin lead the expedition and brought along his nephew, Jean Godin, just to do menial work like stretching out the measuring chains. Jean fell in love with Isabel Grameson, a young local woman, and they got married. This is the second story. He wanted to take her back to Paris and so took off down the Amazon River to French Guiana to get a visa for her. A trip no one had ever made and few thought was possible. He never returned and so after 20 years she followed him. She made it and found him but nearly died as everyone who traveled with her did. There's not much at Mita del Mundo about Jean and Isabel but there are busts of all the members of the French Mission, including Jean. We were so excited.May 25, 2008
Quito, Ecuador
Quito is the oldest capital in South America and has some great colonial architecture. It was one of the first designated World Heritage Cultural sites. We wander around the old city in awe. Unfortunately Arvid's mind is not focused and he leaves a bag, which Irina entrusted to him, on a park bench. Until this spate of loses we haven't lost anything on this trip. Fortunately nothing too valuable was in the bag, but it is another bad sign.
May 26, 2008
Quito, Ecuador
Today we bought a camera to replace the one Arvid lost. Then we climb the towers of the Basilica del Voto National for spectacular views of the city.
