Well our last two days in Quito were very cool. My favorite days here. We called the guy up who drove us from the airport (you have to be very careful with the taxi drivers.) VERY careful. he was not available for the day we wanted to go to the Equator. It was a 45 minute drive there and then back again. We had to agree on a price for half a day. He timed it to the minute too.
Anyway he took us to the offiicial monument. The story is that Ecuador is the only place in the world where the equator goes across highland. A group of french came in the 1800s and using math and instruments they measured where the equator was. Some Quechua told them that the the equator was actually several meters over from where they measured it.
Well they built a huge monument (and subsequent park around it all) to mark it. Next door to this park is a very understated, hard to find, but very cool park that marks where the Quechua(Inka) marked the equator and which was later confirmed by GPS as the actual equator line. Both sites coexist next to each other and compliment each other. To the french credit they were not too far off. The two sites could not be more contrasting. The french site is grandiose and amusement park whilst the Quechua site is a living museum of the tribes who lived in the area (not just Quechua). It is also a science lab for how gravity and physics work differently at and on either side of the line. We stayed too long at this second site (it was just so much fun) so our cab driver came to fetch us. he was really adept at making us feel guilty even though we were paying him extra.
That night we decided to hire the guy who drove us from the airport for our all day trip to Olatambo. This is where the famous indigenous textile market is held every day with the big one being on saturday. we missed the saturday market but still wanted to see what it was all about. Forrest loves markets more than i do. It was a two drive each way but our driver was fine letting us stay as long as we wanted. he was so much different than the other guy.
We had a great time and though we were not expecting to buy much we ended up buying a duffle (that Forrest bought from an alpaca dealer) to carry everything we bought. things were so cheap. Much less than any of the dealings we did in any market anywhere else. And the quality of everything we bought was unequaled. We had a great time and a very enjoyable day. IF you go to Quito make sure you take the time to go to Olatambo. You dont need to have a private driver like us. You can take a bus.
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