Quito, Ecuador: 24th – 25th Jan 10

Yesterday we visited the equator, which is 20km outside Quito. The government has tried to turn it into a tourist attraction by building a huge monument and lots of cafes. Unfortunately the government put the tourist attraction in the wrong place, the actual equator is 200 metres away!

After visiting the ‘official’ equator, we went to a museum next door (not sanctioned by the government) which is on the real equator. It was fascinating – they explained all about the spin of the earth and how the centrifugal forces work in opposite directions in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, then demonstrated how water goes directly down a plug hole on the actual equator, how it goes clockwise 3 feet away in the Southern Hemisphere, and anti-clockwise 3 feet in the other direction in the Northern Hemisphere – it really does work!

They also demonstrated how it’s really difficult to balance things on the actual equator as you have the different forces pulling in each direction – they challenged us to balance an egg on a pin, and Matt succeeded, so he got a certificate proving that he is now an official ‘egg master’ – who needs a degree?

The museum also had other exhibits about Ecuadorian culture, including a genuine shrunken head – gross!

Today we flew from Quito to the Galapagos Islands, a 2 hour flight – we had great views of Quito as we took off. The Galapagos Islands are famous for having many unique species of animals. It was here that Charles Darwin studied the animals, leading him to develop the ‘theory of evolution’, literally changing the way that we think about the world.


After transferring to our vessel, a catamaran called ‘Archipell 2’ we sailed into a small bay and went snorkeling. It was fab, we saw sea lions, loads of massive blue fish with yellow tails, and a marine iguana! The iguana was huge and swam right under us, looking like a dinosaur – we were both really stunned!

There are 13 people on our boat, all Americans apart from us and 2 Swedes. We are the youngest by far, but everyone is lovely, so we’re looking forward to the next few days!