Day 89 - Banos to Quito, Centre of the Earth

Our day started in the rain at Banos (like "Bath") but this quickly reduced to a dribble and the sun came out as we headed north.

I was taught about Quito when I was a child at school, and it had always been on my bucket list to visit. We were told it was the only city on the equator, but it fact it is about 16 kilometres south of the equator in reality. It is the only capital city on the equator, as the suburbs have extended north and south of the city centre and reach the actual equator now. 

Quito was established by the Spaniards as their first city in South America around 1534, and is now the capital of Equador with a population of 2.7 million. The city sits at 2850 metres so our short ride yesterday took us "up hill" back to the high country from near the coast, and we wondered whether our altitude-legs had remained. Indeed they seemed to be fairly good. The riding was easy and useful as it was Ned's first full day with the group, so following the expressway was straightforward until the end when we rode up a very windy cobbled hill road to the Hotel Quito which is on the top of the ridge and outside of the city centre, which we will visit tomorrow. 

JC had organised us to take a mini bus to the north to the actual equator, where there is a large monument and museum. It shows a long yellow line down the pavement so that you can stand in both the northern and southern hemisphere at the same time, which we did, with photos. There is also a table where you can practise balancing an egg on the top of a nail, which is rather straight forward when you are at the equator! We were interested to know where the 00:00 point is in the world as this is actually 78 degrees west from Greenwich. The zero zero point is off the west coast of Africa near Guinea, and is known as "Null Island" an actual fictious point. 

The other thing of interest here, is that the sun passes straight overhead at the two solisitices of course, and there is a very large sundial where this can be experienced at the right time of the year - 22 June and December. 

After our tour and lunch, we returned to the hotel, and Sheryle and I prepared to go out to a very fancy restaurant call ZaZu, which was a $2 cab fare away. We did this and had a spectacular meal with a couple of glasses of wine. This included a flaming dessert.

However, we are not used to all the food so well, and I have lost a lot of weight due to eating only two meals per day. I was actually able to measure my weight for the first time in the hotel, at 95 kg, a signficant drop from my highpoint last year at 106 kg. I feel much better for it.