La Mitad Del Mundo

Last night Pat and I went to La Mariscal with some kids we met from Virginia Tech who will also be studying at USFQ. Because we didn't want to wander around like the first Mariscal night, I took it upon myself to look up the best bars to go to in Quito. Well, I am gonna assume that whoever posted the blog that I read was purposely trying to trick dumb Americans because when the cab got to the bar there there were three people inside (two fugly old ladies and one overly serious man staring out the window). Needless to say, Pat and I did not enter but rather, we found a bar that sells humongous cervezas for $1.50. We had a few drinks and then met up with the Virginia Tech kids. Somehow, the entire first hour that Pat and I were in the bar we failed to notice that there were 3-4 rooms in the back for dancing. We thought we were legit the only people in the bar but, in fact, there were probably almost 100. I can confidently say that Pat and I stole the dance floor. Hands Down.

This morning Jaime, Marta, Isabel, and I went to La Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the Earth) or, in other words, the Equator. There is a monument dedicated to the Equator but it's not even the real equator so we chose to go to the museum that hosts the actual line. There were different tests to prove that it was, in fact, the equator. For example, there was some egg balancing going on and demonstrations with water which I found to the coolest. To the left and right of the equator (just a couple of steps) the water spun a different way when the drain was pulled. However, when placed directly over the equator line, the water simply sink down without spinning in either direction. There were also homes from the early 19th century on site, which belonged to early indigenous tribes. In these tribes, which still exist today, they make houses that are no bigger than maybe 20 feet by 25 feet and house 20 people each. In each house there are 4 hammock beds.. so yes, 5 people share a hammock each night. Mitad del Mundo was definitely the highlight of my weekend and made for some great photo opportunities.

Lastly, my dog, whose name is actually spelled Kobe not Coby was named after Kobe Bryant... thought that was really cool. Also, on Ecuador's version of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" contestants can only win up to $50,000. I found that to be somewhat contradictory to the name of the show but interesting because proportionally $50,000 to an Ecuadorian is like a million dollars to most Americans.