Our One Day Vacation

We enjoyed a fun Saturday with the visitors who came to teach neo-natal resuscitation to doctors and midwives in Ecuador with the Yosts. Lots of us went to the Teleferico and also to La Mitad del Mundo. Both are in the city of Quito. First the Teleferico:





We headed up the mountain. The trip took about 20 minutes and since the day was clear (rare for this time of year - we are usually in the clouds) the view was amazing. Quito is at 10,000 ft and we went up to 14,000 feet. We were still in the city when we got into our gondolas and this is the view from above:



We watched this guy head down the mountain on his bike. Wow! I thought he was brave. It looked very steep to me. We did see him almost an hour later as we were coming down the mountain in the gondola and he was still descending on his bike. It is a long way down.

From the top of the mountain, Grandpa got a photo of the building where we live on my camera. Look here:

The arrow points to our window except we live on the opposite side of the building. We face away from the teleferico.

This is most of the group that enjoyed our Saturday outing:
Our next stop was El Mitad del Mundo. This is the center of the earth! If you look at the globe we are on the equator - the middle of the ball. My seventh grade teacher told us to remember that latitude rhymes with slat - the horizontal slats in your mini blinds. (Trivia - When I was in junior high we didn't have mini blinds. There were only venetian blinds which are wider.) Here in Quito we live right on the middle horizontal line of the globe. We are closer to the sun but so high in altitude that our climate in Quito is not as hot as other places near the equator.

This is a very fun place with lots of displays and interesting things to see and ways to learn about the early cultures in addition to explanations about the geographic location. Our time was very limited so we will definitely return. Here is our brief overview:

This man is weaving wall hangings on a hand made loom.

This big dish reflects the rays of the sun on the water in the bowl which is steaming.


This is a sundial and at noon on the Summer Solstice (which is Susan's birthday) there is no shadow because the sun is directly overhead.

The equator is the widest part of the globe and divides the northern hemisphere from the southern hemisphere.


We are standing on the equator and a GPS at this point has this reading:

Next we learned about the Coriolis effect -

On the equator (see the painted red line) water pours directly out of the open drain.

Then we moved (with this portable sink and bucket) about 10 feet to the south and did it again. The water swirled clockwise as it flowed out of the drain in the bottom.



Then we moved the same distance to the north of the equator and tried it again. The water really did swirl counterclockwise. I was impressed!


There was an explanation about how only on the equator can you balance a fresh egg on the head of a nail. The young doctor in our group did it.


Also our guide had several try to walk the equator with their eyes closed. They couldn't do it for more than two steps or so. I did not understand why you can balance an egg but you can't walk straight. Extra credit for anyone who comes up with a good...or at least a plausible explanation!



A fun day and now I know more about the Coriolis effect and why there is no need for daylight savings time in Ecuador. The sun comes up about 6:00 AM and goes down about 6:00 PM every day of the year. Early morning seminary students can't complain about going to class in the dark or trudging through the snow but they do have to climb a lot of hills.