We arrived in Quito late on Thursday, July 23rd. It was Friday by the time we got to our Airbnb. In the morning, we found an Asian cafe for breakfast and then went to rent a car. Once we had the car, we drove to Mitad del Mundo, the center of the world, where the equator is. We walked around and took pictures at the equator line. I’m going to let you in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. That’s not the real equator. They made a mistake. It’s pretty close though and it’s still a cool picture.

After that, we drove 5 minutes to the museum where the real equator is. We didn’t have time for the whole tour because Monica had to get back to see clients, so we walked straight to the equator line. We were able to balance an egg on a nail, as proof that it’s the real equator. We even got a certificate for doing so, since not everyone is able to get the egg to balance. Supposedly, when you walk on the equator with your eyes closed, you feel lighter, but neither of us felt that. Monica did feel lightheaded when she crossed back and forth over the line though. After getting our certificates, we went grocery shopping and then back to our Airbnb so Monica could work.

Over the next few days, we used Quito as a launching pad for day trips to different provinces. We did see a little bit more of Quito on Sunday, but that’ll be in a future blog post.