We decided to explore the area and so we engaged a taxi to take us to the equator (both the right and the wrong one). It was so interesting as the Inca's had already determined the correct location of the equator and had built a number of temples along it long before the Europeans arrived. Upon their arrival the Europeans calculated the location of the equator using the modern methods of the time and were wrong by about 200 meters. One wonders how the Europeans got it so wrong in the end and even erected a monument and a church along the "equator" line, to stand forever as a testament to their error in calculations...
An aboriginal museum, located on the true equator, was a hands on experience with a guide explaining the customs of some of the aboriginals in the Amazon Basin, indigenous to Ecuador. Among the many artifacts and displays there was one of shrunken heads!
We made our way to the equator line and we performed a number of "experiments" to prove that we were indeed at the equator...this included balancing an egg on a nail (we saw this performed, but could not do it ourselves); seeing the water test performed, where the water flowed counter-clockwise in the north and clockwise in the south; and finding that certain things could not be done on the equator (like holding ones arms up against the pressure of someone pulling them down)...it was fascinating indeed.
Perhaps equally remarkable was our stop at an outlook over an old volcano Caldera which is now farmed by the aboriginals. The view was spectacular!
As to wildlife...we saw some birds, including a humming bird sitting in its nest; two llamas were engaged in the usual springtime activity; and guinea pigs were in captivity and also available as a meal...
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