STRADDLING THE EQUATOR IN ECUADOR
An irresistible opportunity to stand in two hemispheres

Not too many people can say they've stood in both Northern and Southern hemispheres at the same time. That's quite a feat, but we've done it.

My husband and I, with 16 undergrads, left Quito on a guided bus trip to the Equator, about 23 km north of the city. It rained on and off all day, and Jorge, the guide, explained that the equator, the Andes, and two sea currents influence the weather, making it unpredictable. A local proverb says, "Weather is like a woman's heart: You never know". But, it didn't put a damper on the fun of our day.

Steep terraced hillsides rise into misty mountains and it was so cloudy we could easily imagine that some of the forested hills are cloud forest.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS IMAGINARY LINE THAT CIRCLES THE CENTER OF OUR GLOBE:
At the equator there are two sites and two museums. Jorge did a good job of trying to explain how and why there are two sites to mark the equator.
The first is the INTI-NAN SOLAR MUSEUM, which claims to be the "real" equator, as measured and established by GPS. When the GPS measurements were being done, the scientists also found ruins of an Incan Sun Temple directly east from this point, and a Moon Temple directly west, both on the same line, which the Incas called the Sun Line. In contrast, the other site, LA MITAD del MUNDO, was established in 1734, based on the calculations of the Geodesic Expedition: 10 French scientists, two Spanish scientists, and an Ecuadorian (named Moldonado), who did experiments for 10 years. This equator line' is only 200-300 m from the other, so actually it was remarkably accurate for that time, and La Mitad still celebrates it as such.

THE FIRST MUSEUM
Inti-Nan Solar Museum is wonderful.
At the entrance a small pen has three llamas, and some friendly ducks wander in a circular driveway. The rest of the site is a series of Andean-style buildings set in pretty gardens, with paths and beds or stone urns of succulents, aloes, other flowers and bushes. On the side, overlooking a very small river gulch, thick with overgrown vegetation, is the painted red equator line, where you can stand in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Feel the Force-or the lack of it-more here than (almost) any other spot on earth:
Try a series of experiments', which supposedly show that the equator is here, and what effect it has. They are very interesting and do demonstrate that something

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