Kissing Llamas in the Middle of the World

Verse of the day: “We love because God first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

President's White House

We had a very full day bopping around Quito trying to see as much as we could. We started in the town center where the president’s palace is.  We were sure to go in the morning because the protest against the government is still going on and we wouldn’t be able to get there in the afternoon.  It was a quick stay there just looking around before we zoomed off to the cable car that would take us for a mountain-top view of Quito.  Quito is a large city of over 1 million people and located in a valley and surrounded by many mountains and volcanoes.  We were 14,000 feet up with a little huffing and puffing to see the highest views.  But there was a lovely rest stop along the way for a llama photo shoot donned in a traditional poncho and sombrero.  The mountain area where the cable car is located used to be a very booming area with many shops and a small amusement park, but now it is mostly used for tourists because those in Quito have seen the view enough.  As nice as it was, you could tell by the many empty buildings and abandoned parking lots that it used to be even nicer.

Cable Car to overlook Quito

Both hemispheres at once!

Overlooking a piece of Quito

We then took a short bop over to the middle of the world, or Mitad Del Mundo.  It was actually not very short at all—it took a while in Friday afternoon city traffic, but we eventually got there. We even had street jugglers to entertain us while stopped J  This is where the equator lies—well sort of.  Fun Fact: technically the equator is a 5 km wide strip around the center of the world and the exact location is constantly changing due the changing physical forces, rotation, translation, and nutation. None-the-less there is a very large statue and a big to do in a supposed center of the world at Latitude 0°0’0” with a large line down the center of the park where you can be standing in both hemispheres at once—pretty cool!  We had lunch there then bopped again back into the city to go for shopping in a large indigenous marketplace.

We finished the day with a farewell dinner at a restaurant called La Vaca Morocha, which was all decked out with cows—very fitting for a bunch of farmers J  We had a great time reminiscing about the week and preparing for goodbyes to new friends tomorrow.