The Equator

We finally made our visit to el Mitad del Mundo (on Sunday). It was everything we could have hoped for...a tourist trap. There were gift shops with hats that said ¨I visited Ecuador¨ and some very overpriced restaurants. But hey, we had to do it and for the most part we enjoyed it. The bus ride there was a little over an hour. We invited some people from our hostal. It ended up being the three of us, a New Zealand couple, a girl from Austrailia and Willie (our friend from Haiti). It was an interesting group because we all spoke fluent English except Willie. The New Zealanders did not speak Spanish. Willie speaks French and a fair amount of English but does not understand most of what you say to him. His favorite words are ´okay´ and ¨ooo lala.¨
The main piece of the Mitad del Mundo complex is a huge monument with a stone earth sitting on top. We each took pictures standing on the equator and even took some goofy pictures acting like we were holding the world. There were tons of other tourists there as well as Ecuadorians and their adorable children. We brought cheese sandwiches and Oritos (little bananas) and ate them in the shadow of the huge monument. We visited an insect house where we saw huge bugs and spiders. I (Hallye) am not fond of spiders. I am not scared of being bit, but of their legs and bodies. They creep me out. I have already had an experience with one spider here...One morning I came into our room from brushing my teeth and sitting on my bed was a spider that was probably two quarters big. That is a guess. I did not really absorb its size because I was in shock that it was on bed. I brushed it off my bed with a shirt but then could not find it. So, the past four or five days, the first thing I do when I walk into our room is scan it for spiders. Before I go to sleep, I look behind my bed. When I sleep, I am all the way under the covers with just a little hole to breathe. I feel like I am at war with this spider and will let you know who wins.
Anyways...The best part about our visit to the ¨Mitad del Mundo¨was that it does not exactly sit on the equator! Their equator is around 250 meters off. Supposedly, there is a second, newer monument that is more accurate. We decided that we were close enough and that if we come back to Ecuador they will have a third equator and we can visit that!
We returned to our hostal at dinner time and started cooking. We decided that sunday night would be a good night to make dinner at the hostal since most places shut down pretty early in Old Town. Katie informed us that she had a little recipe in mind so we let her get to work. She made a creamy, garlic alfredo sauce and mixed it with our pasta that we had purchased from the market the other day. It was delicious! We enjoyed the meal on the terrace since it was such a beautiful night.
Speaking of food...we made a visit Saturday night to ¨Los Hot Dogs de la Plaza¨ where Katie and I (Hallye) decided that a ¨superdog¨ would be a good snack. The superdog was probably about a foot long, had thousand island dressing, ketchup, mustand, mayo and crumbled potato chips. It was amazing and awful at the same time. But we decided that we received enough exercise earlier that day to enjoy the dog. That morning we went to the park with Jonathan (8 years) and Sergei (20 years). They are the hostal owner´s sons. We kicked around the soccer ball and then played an actual game (girls versus boys). It was fun and exhausting. The park´s altitude really affected our lungs. A little jog across the field wiped me out. When we returned to the hostal around two thirty, the owners invited us to eat with them downstairs in their kitchen and dining area. They cooked us rice, beans, chicken and a yummy cucumber and green pepper salad. The meal was great and it was fun to hang out with the family.