Today I stood on the middle of the earth. The equator. One foot on the Southern Hemisphere and the other on the Northern. Mitad del Mundo is an impressive 35 meters high monument erected right on the division. Forty riders gathered outside our hotel this morning and successfully weaved our way 27 kilometers through buses, taxis, cars, motorbikes, other bikers and pedestrians. It was quite a procession – our numbers seemed to gain quite a bit of respect as even the taxis gave us the right of way. When we arrived we were given free access (no charge) and a guided tour of the museum located inside monument. Back outside, one of the elected officials greeted us from the podium, then we herded up for a group photograph in front of the monument. As an added surprise our suit and tie official was given a pump and inner tube which he pumped up till it exploded – we all roared and clapped.
The trip back home was a bit of a climb – now we were free to ride at different paces and with whomever we wanted. I rode with a pretty quick small group that I knew had GPS so I didn’t have to navigate myself.
My roomie James still doesn’t have his bag which contains all his camping gear plus bike supplies and clothes. We leave Quito tomorrow so he’s out shopping now. It was nice to see Quito but will also be good to get out of the diesel fumes, noise and traffic.
Tomorrow we head south. That will be the general direction from now on.!