Monday 29 August 2011
Nothing much to report today, did laundry (well, technically I dropped it off and collected it all washed, ironed and folded, so not much effort required on my part!) and pottered around.
Lx
Friday, 2 September 2011
La Mitad del Mundo
Sunday 28 August 2011
Today I went to La Mitad del Mundo, aka the equator, Ecuador's biggest claim to fame and also its name. La Mitad del Mundo is the place where Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements in 1736 showing that this was indeed the equatorial line. His expedition's measurements gave rise to the metric system and proved that the world is not perfectly round, but that it bulges at the equator.
The journey to get there involved three different buses. Quito is 55km long and I live in the south of Quito and La Mitad del Mundo is 22km north of Quito, so the journey across Quito took about 90 minutes and the journey from the bus terminal Ofelia in the north of Quito to La Mitad del Mundo only took about 20 minutes. The equator monument is incredibly touristy, but I could hardly go to Ecuador and not visit it. It would be like going to London and not seeing Big Ben!
Sundays are busy with Quito families as there is live music on the outdoor stage from 1pm to 6pm. I was really hoping for a salsa band, but no such luck. This afternoon's offerings were a hip-hop artist and a brass band, neither of which were to my liking. At the centre of La Mitad del Mundo stands a 30m-high, stone trapezoidal monument topped by a brass globe. It is the centrepiece of the park, containing a viewing platform and an ethnographic museum. The park also contains a planetarium, an insectarium, lots of souvenir shops and several cafés and restaurants. In one of the souvenir shops I had my passport stamped with a La Mitad del Mundo stamp. I also bought a pendant of South America from a small jewellery workshop. It is handmade in silver and has a small black stone marking where Ecuador is.
On the way back home I stopped off in Parque El Ejido and had a wander around the craft market. At the weekend, local artists set up an open-air gallery next to the craft market which is there all week. Most of the paintings weren't to my taste but it was interesting to see the different styles and subjects.
Lx
Today I went to La Mitad del Mundo, aka the equator, Ecuador's biggest claim to fame and also its name. La Mitad del Mundo is the place where Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements in 1736 showing that this was indeed the equatorial line. His expedition's measurements gave rise to the metric system and proved that the world is not perfectly round, but that it bulges at the equator.
The journey to get there involved three different buses. Quito is 55km long and I live in the south of Quito and La Mitad del Mundo is 22km north of Quito, so the journey across Quito took about 90 minutes and the journey from the bus terminal Ofelia in the north of Quito to La Mitad del Mundo only took about 20 minutes. The equator monument is incredibly touristy, but I could hardly go to Ecuador and not visit it. It would be like going to London and not seeing Big Ben!
Sundays are busy with Quito families as there is live music on the outdoor stage from 1pm to 6pm. I was really hoping for a salsa band, but no such luck. This afternoon's offerings were a hip-hop artist and a brass band, neither of which were to my liking. At the centre of La Mitad del Mundo stands a 30m-high, stone trapezoidal monument topped by a brass globe. It is the centrepiece of the park, containing a viewing platform and an ethnographic museum. The park also contains a planetarium, an insectarium, lots of souvenir shops and several cafés and restaurants. In one of the souvenir shops I had my passport stamped with a La Mitad del Mundo stamp. I also bought a pendant of South America from a small jewellery workshop. It is handmade in silver and has a small black stone marking where Ecuador is.
On the way back home I stopped off in Parque El Ejido and had a wander around the craft market. At the weekend, local artists set up an open-air gallery next to the craft market which is there all week. Most of the paintings weren't to my taste but it was interesting to see the different styles and subjects.
Lx
Monday, 29 August 2011
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Telefériqo
Saturday 27 August 2011
This morning I got up early to visit the Telefériqo, a cable car that runs to the top of a nearby volcano and has fantastic views over the city of Quito.
Lx
This morning I got up early to visit the Telefériqo, a cable car that runs to the top of a nearby volcano and has fantastic views over the city of Quito.
Lx
Relaxing
Friday 26 August 2011
Today I had a relaxing day. I met up with a former volunteer (the girl I went to Cuenca with) as she's leaving this weekend. We had lunch in La Mariscal and then walked all the way along to the handicrafts market at Parque El Ejido as she still needed some souvenirs and I'm still looking and making small purchases. It was quite hot and the sun was really strong, not pleasant! We took a taxi to the centro histórico and wandered round there a bit before heading our separate ways. I headed home and then later in the afternoon walked down to the big shopping centre near my home and have a look at all the shops. The names of the shops might be different but the basic idea is the same as in Europe.
Lx
Today I had a relaxing day. I met up with a former volunteer (the girl I went to Cuenca with) as she's leaving this weekend. We had lunch in La Mariscal and then walked all the way along to the handicrafts market at Parque El Ejido as she still needed some souvenirs and I'm still looking and making small purchases. It was quite hot and the sun was really strong, not pleasant! We took a taxi to the centro histórico and wandered round there a bit before heading our separate ways. I headed home and then later in the afternoon walked down to the big shopping centre near my home and have a look at all the shops. The names of the shops might be different but the basic idea is the same as in Europe.
Lx
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