Our first stop on the way to the equator was the Galeria Latina, an upper end textile store, where we had time to do some browsing and shopping.
Unfortunately, it was a little too pricey for my wallet, but it was one of those places that I could have spent an entire day just looking around.
Our next stop was an sorbet shop, where they showed us how they made their sorbets from scratch in a copper kettle.
Of course, we got to try the flavor he made for us, which was strawberry.
Then we got to choose two scoops of any flavors we wanted. In Ecuador they have so many fruits that we have never heard of, which made it really hard to decide.
The two most unique flavors we tried were tamerind and guanabana. They were both really good!
We all realize that the equator is just an imaginary line around the center of the earth, and we expected that it would be pretty touristy like four corners in the United States. But none the less, we were excited to experience being in two hemispheres at once. It's just kind of a weird thing to think about.
When they measured the Equator they weren't entirely sure of the shape of the earth. They were trying to prove Newtons theory that the earth was truly round, but there were still a lot of people that believed it was more of an oval. The King of France paid for two different expeditions, the first one was to the closest land mass to the north pole, and the second one was sent to Ecuador. At that point Ecuador was ruled by Spain, and they didn't want the French meddling in their country. With international pressure the Spainsh rulers finally let the French scientists come in 1736. It took the French scientists 7 years to determine that Newtons theory was correct, and using triangular measurements they determined that the equator was the center of the Earth. Two different groups began measuring in two different locations to make sure that their measurements agreed and their calculations were correct.
Now with GPS, we can determine that their measurements were indeed accurate that long ago.
Once Ecuador gained it's independence from Spain, they adopted their name based on their proximity to the Equator.
As we walked into the park we passed through the Avenue of Scientists which commemorated all of the men who were part of the expedition. It was made up of one Ecuadorian, two Spanish scientists and 10 French scientists.
The park is beautifully decorated and has these fun hummingbird pods lining the Avenue of Scientists.
We decided to grab some lunch before we visited the Middle of the World Monument, so we really just got a glimpse at first.
There are several restaurants in the park, but we decided to try one called Yaravi, which was recommended by our guide Giovanna.
Here in Ecuador their currency is the U.S. dollar, so no conversions were necessary, which was really nice.
We placed our lunch order, and while we were waiting for our food to be delivered, we went up to the counter where we could each get a souvenir stamp in our passports showing that we have been to the Equator.
The grilled chicken had really good flavor.
This was the fritada especial. Also very good.
They also had these souvenir bottles of wine on the table that were available for purchase.
Our youngest daughter is the queen of the hand stand. She loves to do a hand stand everywhere she goes.
Total Tourists!
We walked through the museum and learned all about how to measure the world, just in case we might get an inkling to try it on our own.
And we found out that four tall Americans can not fit in one of the humming bird pods for a picture, so we had to compromise.
After we returned from the Equator, we had a meet and greet in one of the conference rooms of the hotel and then enjoyed dinner on our own and a swim in he pool.
It was a really nice way to relax after a full day in Quito and the Equinoccial Valley.
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