Day 128: Quito, Ecuador
So Day One of my family’s visit was eventful but I was hoping for a calmer Day Two so we did what all tourists do in Ecuador – venture to the Equator.
The bus ride is anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on traffic.
The distance was comforting as I thought it would be good to get outside the city to remove the sting from the robbery.
I heard there were two equator museums but as we exited the bus we only found the more touristy Mitad del Mundo, which was fine as it was such a large site.
We spent the morning touring the site and taking all of the obligatory photos, which may have seen pointless on my own but was a lot of fun to do with them.
Somehow cheesiness is okay when you’re with family.
As much fun as the site was, the highlight of the trip for me was a couple who entered the bus on the way home and treated everyone to a song.
Like others, they were looking to sell CDs and while I was prepared to just give them $1 for the song, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the cost of a CD and a very cheap souvenir for the day.
Hi there
It was nice to see pictures of you with your family! Hope it was fun!!!
Awesome souvenir idea!
Best robbery story of my entire trip (not me). Buddy of mine got robbed by 4 guys with knives in that Equator park. He was pissed that he should have known enough to avoid them, because he saw them coming. He pulls his last cigarette out of his back pocket and lights it. Five minutes later, another guy with a knife walks up and tells him to give all his stuff. My buddy says, “I just got robbed 5 minutes ago — I’ve got nothing, buddy.” Guy looks at him for a second and says, “give me the cigarette.”
Twice robbed in 10 minutes. The second time for a half smoked cig.
@Michael Wow people really do get robbed everywhere in Ecuador.
What a great day with the fam. Glad you had fun and have moved past the robbery incident. Love the music clip by the way!
@Laura
Thanks, I have no idea what the song is but I’ve been hearing it all throughout Ecuador.
That is a great souvenir…
I think the challenge for you would be to take the cheesiest tourist photo for every country 🙂 Familia or not! haha
I had no clue they had something like this. Im putting this on my bucket list.
How cool you were at the Equator!!! Sry but I am very easily amused and amazed! This cool. LOVE IT!!!
Traversing the equator sounds as exciting as when I crossed the Prime Meridian. We are all just hokey tourists at one point…..and all have the photos to prove it. Thanks for dropping by.
I too, have the obligatory tourist photos. My companions and I decided to have a pretend shoving match over who could stand in which hemisphere. Amusing stuff, at least for my students with whom I now share these adventures!
Ayngelina, what a fun post.
Your post and Claire’s response take me back to the trip my wife, Dottie, and I took to the Arctic Circle in March, 2008. I looked for a line to stand on the north side of. Maybe the snow had covered it. Up there, there’s nothing–no restaurant, no museum, just a sign that this is the AC. Still it was a fun and instructive trip. We had a hot meal up there at 4 deg. F. Pretty cool. I’ll post something in Scribblers’ Travels in Dec. about that trip. I’ll let you know when I do so.