Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

The next day the Doctor had given Nora a `day off`so we headed out to the Ciudad Midad del Mundo - City at the Middle of the World. This is a seriously tacky tourist complex which claims to be positioned along the ecuator line. When you read a little deeper you in fact discover that this is in fact where a french scientist Bouguer actually calculated the true equator to be in 1736.....it is fact out by about 200metres....which is not that bad to be honest! Using GPS it has now been determined that the true equator lies 200m to the North of where Bouguer`s monument now stands.

A museum outside of the complex claims to lie exactly along the equator line and they demonstate this by letting water drain from a sink whilst the sink is positioned in the Northern hemisphere (just 2m from their painted equator line) ...the water drains out through the plug hole in a anti-clockwise direction, they then position the sink directly on their painted equator line and the water drains straight down through the plug hole with no clockwise or anti-clockwise movement and finally they position the sink in the Southern Hemisphere ( again just 2 m from the painted equator line) and this time the water drains from the sink in a clockwise movement. Now I know that you have anti-clockwise draining of water back home in Europe and that it drains in a clockwise direction in for example Australia but just metres away from each other seemed a bit dubious. There was some David Blane type trickery involved I`m sure Anyway they explain a lot of ancient Inca methodology (in basic terms) relating to Sun worship and explain how the incas actually established sun temples along the exact equator line (with GPS accuracy) 800 years ago...impressive indeed! In case you are passing, the museum is called Museo Solar Inti Nan and is located a short 200 m walk (left) from the Ciudad Mitad del mundo entrance gate and for the $3 entrance fee it is well worth a visit!

After one final, early morning (7am), visit to the dentist Nora was looking and feeling much much better...the dentist like to boast that he had in fact promised that he would have `healed` her within just 3 days!....and so far so good.....he had definitely improved the situation! After leaving the dentist we got a bus staright away to take us 2 hrs North of Quito to a place called Otavalo which is famous for its Saturday market - the biggest and best in all of the Americas! Well we weren`t dissapointed...it was certainly big, massive in fact, and it had a awful lot to offer and we took that offer and bought and bought and bought! I was knackered by the time our 5 hr shopping trip came to an end. The market itself though takes over the entire town with the main focus being on a few of its main plazas. We spend most time on Plaza de Ponchos which displays a beautiful coloured array of handicrafts and artesania from all over Ecuador and Peru. The shopping itself is so much fun and these guys love to haggle and everybody gets the deal they feel happy with and everybody is smiling! If you are travelling and your trip ends in Ecuador then leave all of the gift buying until Otalvalo....you can find something for everyone here and the prices are pretty good....if you can haggle of course

Sunday was our final day in Quito and it was our day of rest. We didn`t do much other than visit the top of the belfry of La Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito`s Old town....nice views over the city for $2 each. Then of course we watched with dissapointment as Italy beat France in the World Cup final.....is there no justice in this world!...ITALY??? How?

Early start on Monday morning for our flight to Guayaquil where we met a connecting international overnight bus heading for Lima, Peru.......