Wandergliding: The Middle of the World

January 5^th, 2022

I had been told by some people in the hostel as well as a paragliding student of mine that visited the volcano Cotopaxi, just and a few hours outside of Quito was well worth it. As I previously mentioned, the weather was pretty crap with low clouds and rain when I first arrived in Ecuador in early December, so it didn’t seem worth trying to visit it then. I only had three days on my way out of the country and I had to schedule a Covid PCR test before I journeyed on to Peru, which I later find out was unnecessary as the regulations changed some time during that week. I have found that hostels are pretty good at helping schedule the tests and often the “tester” comes to the hostel…how convenient. I scheduled it for 9 am but that meant that there was no way that I could do the trip to Cotopaxi as that departed at 6 or 7 am. Oh well. It does look like a beautiful, conical volcano, just as you picture one to be when you are a kid, but I’ve seen another volcano like that in New Zealand just a few years ago.

After my unnecessary Covid test, what to do for the day. Well, I decided to be a true tourist and go the El Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World. Ecuador is one of the few countries of the world where the equator dissects its land mass…and hence its name. And in the few other places where the equator does pass through it, such as Colombia, Brazil, numerous countries in Africa and Malaysia and Indonesia, there aren’t any metropolises close by. Kampala in Uganda comes close.

Quito is an exception. Just 25 minutes away, in a suburb city called San Antonio, they have tried to capitalize on this situation. In fact, they have been working on this for almost a hundred years. Why not create a bit of a monument/tourist trap where visitors can relish the idea of having one foot on the northern hemisphere and the other on the southern?

I figured it was a great way to kill a few hours, see a bit of the outskirts of Quito, and hey, straddle the equator! I hopped in an Uber and off I went.

A short time later, there I was, at a somewhat tacky tourist trap paying my $8 to get in. The main attraction is a big brick tower at the center of a circular path with each face showing N, E, S and W. Out of the east and west side is a yellow line, like on a tennis court, discerning between the two hemispheres. I took the obligatory picture with one foot on each hemisphere.

Beside the Middle of the World entrance, is the UNASUR building. An interesting modern building with bit projecting out here and there. UNASUR is the Union of South American Nations. The place seemed vacant of people and you couldn't get that close to it.

This is what I was greeted by at the ticket counter...the Squid Games Green Light/Red Light robot...should I go in or not?!?

Yup, Canada's pretty far away.

This was about as best as I could frame this...I am right against a railing. I think they could have found a better location.

Cuy! AKA a Gerbil...come and eat me, I'm delicious!

Don't I look good on a spit!

In the center is the tower at the equator.

Splitting the equator.

There were some amazing wall murals nearby.

The view from the top of the tower. In the middle is that strange UNASUR building.

Pick a side people!

The only thing that jaded it was that I had read prior to coming to the Middle of the World, that the actual equator is about 240 meters to the north...huh, that kind of detracts from it a bit. I entered the tower and climbed the 6 storeys up to the top, passing some tacky displays on each floor of either the history of Equator, the wildlife and the French geodesic expedition from back in the 1700s. It was tacky primarily thanks to some sad looking mannequins dressed up in various costumes. Once at the top, I tried to guess roughly where the equator was actually located. Looked like it was near some road just beyond a deserted motel with an empty pool…

Where is the real equator?!?

The tacky displays.

For some strange tourist attraction reason, there were these statue figures here and there. Some were superheroes, and others, not sure what they were...

Like who is this?

Around the main attraction were numerous buildings that were either shops or small museums. Outside some of the shops was a little square board mounted on a post with a nail hammered part way in at the centre. Supposedly you can balance an egg on the head of the nail…because we’re at the equator. I didn’t try it as I didn’t want to deal with the shop owner coming out to hassle me into buying something, but perhaps I’ll have to try it at home to see if there is any validity to the hypothesis.

A very odd, and big, nativity scene out of spray painted foam.

One of the museums was science centric with some hand-on displays about the tilt of the Earth and how that affected seasons, or the Coriolis force. Sadly, half of the displays didn’t function.

England is far away too.

Another building had miniature representations of Quito and Cuenca along with a few small models of ships or farm equipment. The cities were made from paper and cardboard and it was fairly detailed, but not mind blowing that’s for sure.

Quito, small scale.

Turning to dusk.

Nighttime in tiny Quito.

Some model ships.

Grabbing an Uber back to the main part of the city, I decided to go for a bite and a drink at a place recommended by a friend back in Canada, Ryan, who has spent some significant time in this country. The place was called Café Mosaico and Ryan was right, it had a fantastic view of the city from the opposite side of the Teleferico. I enjoyed some chicken wings and a few beers and wandered back to the hostel.

Nice view.