On June 6 we arrived at the centre of the world. What a ride! From the "end of the world" to the "centre of the world"! This is marked by a small museum illustrating an indegenous house and way of life - "El Museo de Sitio Intiñan "Camino del Sol"" (http://www.museointinan.com.ec/). It was especially interesting to see the method used to shrink human skulls for war trophies! We also did four experiments on the line of the Equator, to prove that it was there. We tried hard to balance an egg on a nail - some succeeded! We also poured a bucket of water into a sink and then removed the plug. On the Equator, the water went straight down. It went clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and we had literally moved the sink a couple of feet either side of the Equator. Next we tried some hand grapling and discovered it was much easier to break through the other person´s grip on the Equator, and finally, we tried to walk a straight line on the Equator - it was impossible - the centre of gravity pulled you off! An interesting hour and a half - oh, and I forgot the best - you are two pounds lighter on the Equator! There is another momument to the centre of the world about 250 meters away, but this is not the real Equator. Apparently this was erected despite the fact that the Indians said the centre was where we went. Then the army came in and tested the Indian site with a GPS and discovered that the Indians were correct and that the spot that we visited was in fact the real centre of the world. Needless to say, we did not bother visiting the old spot as we felt it was a little touristy and we were anxious to reach Quito about half an hour away. In Quito we are staying in the Amazonas Inn on Joachim Pinto and Amazonas in the Mariscal Neighbourhood. Its quite acceptable and the staff are really friendly and warm. We arrived late in the afternoon of the 6th, marking the official end of our 105 day trip. That night we had a group dinner in an Indian restaurant nearby, followed by a couple of drinks in a nightclub. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, and we couldn´t believe that our odyssey was over. Some driving facts about the trip: We drove 20,767 km in 103 days, or 2520 hours. We used 8306 litres of diesel which cost about US$6000. We had 840 hours sleep (other than the illicit-sleep hours on the Truck!). We had 47 driving days and averaged 442 km a day. The longest drive was from Saint Julien to San Sebastian down in Patagonia when we drove 852 km in one day. The shortest drive was Shangrila to Tena in Ecuador when we drove 11km. The next day, Thursday, June 7, we were up around 6.30 a.m. and off to the airport for our 9.30 a.m. flight to the Galapagos. This part of our trip deserves a separate post and I will try to do that before we leave Quito. We were back in Quito on Tuesday, June 12 around 3.00 p.m. We checked back into the hotel and to our amazement, the lady at the desk recognized us. We have a great little room with one of these typical Spanish balconies overlooking the street, and it was so nice to be greeted with such a smile. The hotel also kept our luggage for us, and she even remembered that and had one of the other hotel staff take us immediately to get it out of the storage room. We dumped everything in the room and went out to have some lunch at the Cafe Espanola. The food since we hit Quito on the 6th has been amazing, and its so good to have familiar tastes in your mouth again, such as the butter, bread, and ham. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and is nestled in the Guayllabamba river basin on the slopes of Pinchincha, one of the active volcanoes in the Andes. It is located at about 2,8oo meters (9,200 ft) above sea level making it the second highest capital city in the world, and so of course there are altitude issues to be dealt with, although I must say that apart from breathlessness, I have not suffered any other symptoms, although Ray woke up with a splitting headache this morning, which seems to have now disappeared. Quito is also the headquarters for the Union of South American Nations and thus the de facto capital of South American integration. It is a growing city, currently about 1 1/2 million people with about 2 million in the extended metropolitan area. It has an old colonial district which is quite pretty, and then the modern polluted sprawl. The way of life is greatly influenced by the American culture and there is a much larger middle class here then anywhere else we have noticed in Ecuador. None the less, the City is very attractive, reasonable clean, and has a good feel to it. Of course there is an underbelly, and you can never walk alone in Quito after dark, not even just around the corner. In fact, the nightclub we were at was literally just around the corner from the hotel - maybe 100 feet - and still we had the bouncer walk us home. If you go out at night, you must take a taxi, even a block or two away. And going to the ATM is quite a dangerous affair at night. One of the girls on our Galapagos trip was robbed after getting money out of the ATM at night, and we have heard of numerous stories like this. The bottom line is, you just don´t do something like that at night on your own, and you certainly don´t walk in the streets alone or as a couple. There are two or three hotels-hostels in the street we are staying in and they have hired their own security guard who has a little cabin at the end of the street where he can sit. One of the issues that we read about in the local paper are the young kids (around 10 for example) who are forced into working on the street selling cigarattes, etc. to help survive. They do this from 3 in the afternoon to after 9 at night - no mention of whether or not they attended school which they are supposed to do. I believe the figure is 16% of the kids between the ages of 5 and 17. Yet another issue that the government and the people of Ecuador have to address. We did a walking tour of the "centro historico" which was established as the first UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site in 1978 (along with a site in Poland) and that was really quite lovely. Despite 3 major earthquakes, the city boasts some 87 churches. We chose a selection of these to visit and as each one was quite different, it was quite a special day. We caught a taxi from the Hotel to the Basilica del Voto Nacional (http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/basilica.htm) which was our first stop. The Basilica was built in 1873 to celebrate the consecration of Ecuador to the sacred heart of Jesus. We climbed up the bell tower about 115 meters and rang the bells. Quite thrilling!! This also gave us a beautiful view over the city and the mountains surrounding the city. The Basilica is compared with St. Patricks in New York and Notre Dame in Paris because of its style. It is simple and plain inside, but the stunning architecture makes it quite outstanding. Next we walked along Calle Cuenca to the church of San Francisco (http://www.in-quito.com/churches-quito-ecuador/quito-churches-san-francisco.htm, and pictures http://www.in-quito.com/pictures/san-francisco-church.htm). This church was one of the first churches built by the Spanish and was started in 1534. It is beautifully old, and does not appear to have been recently restored. It has delightfully creaking wooden floors and the pews are made of heavily carved wood. Unfortunately, we were not able to get inside many of the historical buildings due to restoration taking place in Quito. Calle Cuenca is quite unique with its little clothes stores. We went to the Plaza de la Indepencia via La Merced which was also closed. Around this Plaza we saw the beautiful Cathedral, and the Palacio de Gobierno with the Ecuadorian guard dressed in their ceremonial outfits. Saw an interesting episode in this Plaza. All of a sudden one of the police officers patrolling outside the cathedral blew his whistle, started shouting and waving his arms, and ran across the front of the cathedral towards the corner of the low wall in front of the cathedral overlooking the Plaza. He ran towards a big, well-dressed man who was standing in the corner very blatantly peeing! We were interested to see what would happen. The police officer took the man down to the Plaza and into a little shop. When they emerged, the man was carrying a broom. Curious, we watched as the police officer led the man back up the stairs, across the front of the cathedral and back to the corner where he peed. At this point there were police officers emerging from each direction, but the man was quite calm about the whole affair. The police officer then made him sweep up his pee, and then he was led back down to the plaza to return the broom. Unfortunately, many of the streets in these South American cities have the putrid smell of urine, and we have seen many men openly peeing on walls at the side of the streets. You often smell the scent of disinfectant and it is obvious that the authorities are trying hard to change this rather uncivilized habit. I was glad to see the police officer take action, as this was a rather obvious spot in which to relieve yourself. However, I think he should have had a bucket of disinfectant-water as well to remove the smell! We walked past the San Augustin church, through the pedestrian-only street Calle Eugenio and went into La Compania (http://www.in-quito.com/churches-quito-ecuador/quito-churches-la-compania.htm, and pictures http://www.in-quito.com/pictures/la-compania-church.htm) said to be the most ornate church in Quito. This was built by the Jesuits between 1605 and 1768. It is said to contain 7 tons of gold, and the altar is solid gold. The walls are covered with highly decorated gold plating and there are many interesting paintings including one which depicts the levels of punishment doled out to the sinners in Hell. It is quite gruesome! The final church we saw from the outside was the Santa Domingo. We walked through Calle Ronda which was a quiet little cobbled lane with renovated 16th century houses with their balconies dripping with flowers. Our second and last day in Quito we visited the Museo Nacional Banco Central del Ecuador (http://www.museobibliotecabce.com/). Here we saw some wonderful exhibitions which showed the arrival of man in South America and all of the significant tribes that have inhabited Ecuador from about 6000 BC up to the time of the Incas in the 1500s. There was also a wonderful exhibition of Ecuadorian paintings from the 1500s forward showing the influence of the Spanish and the French over the years to the current day. It is also interesting that it was the US Independence, and the French Revolution that greatly influenced the independence of Ecuador from Spain in the early 1800s (around 1822 I think). We have enjoyed Quito, and once the safety issues are addressed, I am sure it will become much safer and more attractive to tourists. A final fact: Toronto is a sister city to Quito.
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