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Travel trivia: Does toitlet water always swirl clockwise or counter clockwise? No, it swirls clockwise south of the equator and counter clockwise north of the equator, but on the equator it doesn't swirl at all!
One of the various special things about Ecuador is that it is on the equator. And that's not entirely unique. Brazil, Indonesia and some African countries are as well. But Ecuador is at the highest altitude, putting it (along the equator) the furthest away from the core of the earth and the closest to the sun. There are so many unique things I can tell you about that. But we just don't have that kind of time. So a few cool highlights of the day.
The "moment" was definitely being at Latitude 0-0'-0". Every place on earth is unique, but none can claim the center of the entire surface of the earth, other than the spot we were at, about 30m north of Quito. What's unique about that? Let me raddle off a few things:
1) a horizontal stone can indicate the seasons. The shadow actually moves from one side to the other side of the rock as seasons cross from summer to fall (September 23) or from winter to spring (March 21).
2) really cool: water down the drain doesn't swirl. It swirls 6ft south of the equator or (in the other direction) 6ft north, but not ON the equator
3) if you "walk the line" (now I know some of us have had to do this before, but I pinky-swear we were totally sober) of the equator, putting heel to toe and your arms out (for balance, it's necessary), you walk like what we are used to seeing on COPS - like you're drunk. That's because forces from both side are pulling you in different directions. I'm not kidding, folks, this is real
4) you could (if you're good) balance an egg on a nail on the equator. See pictures of Liz under "Photos". I couldn't do it, but she did and earned a diploma for it.
5) 3ft away from the equator someone would try to pull my outstretched arms down, and it took some real effort. On the equator, I had no resistance to the same person at all. Fortunately, I didn't tell the girl she may have a problem because I'm doing crossfit and can lift mucho .
I'm not a science major. I don't get all of it. What I get is that this was such a fantastic visit, worth the trip. If you ever come out here, don't miss it.
We continued on to Otavalo, a local arts and crafts market another 2hrs out. The big market day is Saturday. We came Friday and were pretty much the only ones walking a very reduced market. We all got our Panema hats, and Luis, our guide for the day, helped us negotiate better than we ever could have. Funny part was that when we tried to negotiate on another item, he walked away shaking his head - we got 30% instead of 35% off, but he acted like we didn't learn anything!
We loved the day so much we locked Luis down for the day tomorrow. Then Sunday we leave crazy early for Galapagos. Great day, loved it.
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