Quito and Mitad del Mundo

I'm working hard here to try and finish up these vacation blog posts, so forgive me if these last few on Ecuador seem a bit rushed. The last two weeks of our long vacation were spent chilling in Quito, Ecuador with our friends Alex and Caitlin. Our first two days we went downtown and visited some beautiful churches and cathedrals that they have there.

One of the churches is famous for its gold plating. Here is a short video showing the beautiful gold altar and insides of the church.



Below are pictures of the main plaza, and some other churches around the area.
Jesse and I climbed up a rickety staircase and ladder to get to this beautiful view of the city from the cathedral; built in the 1920's in a classic Gothic style. It really reminded me of France's cathedrals.
After exploring downtown, we went with Caitlin to the equator. It passes just north of Quito, and so a short bus ride later, we joined a few other travelers and enjoyed some interesting activities that are only true on the equator.

The interesting thing about the equator is that 60+ years ago, some Ecuadorians realized that the "Field of Dreams" mantra is true- if you build it, they will come. So a huge monument was built along with tons of little shops and restaurants where people thought the equator was. However, they were wrong. With the advent of GPS technology, they were about 200 meters off. So we went to the monument for the great pictures, and then headed for the real equator for some fun.
Now, I know everyone has heard of the Coriolis effect on water (water moving in different directions based on which side of the equator you're on. Well here are three short video clips showing water north of the equator, on the equator and south of the equator. Some people say its a hoax, but it looked pretty believable to me!






Watch all three videos and then let us know what you think by writing us a comment. Is it real, or is it a hoax??