We had breakfast at 9am, checked out out of the Hilton and then at just before 10am picked up our pre-booked guide to the Mitad del Mundo as arranged for us by the concierge last night. Our guide's name was Jose, he spoke reasonable English and his vehicle was a modern SUV so we had a comfortable, elevated ride as we drove north to the Equator. He took us to the Intinan Museum rather than the Mitad del Mundo monument. Apparently the monument is sited where the first global geodesic mission in 1739 placed the equator but modern GPS measurements place it about 250 metres away at the Intinan. It is amazing they were so close all those years ago. Entrance fee was a reasonable $4 each and included a guided tour which had an amazing amount of padding around the actual photo op on the Equator line itself. By coincidence we met Connette and T there and joined the tour with them.
The guided tour, which was a bit of a joke, included a section on shrunken heads, a replica of a Pre-Columbian tomb, some ridiculous pseudo science about Coriolis Force and whirlpools in sinks, egg balancing, tightrope walking and strength of grip, plus a retail opportunity dressed up as a short presentation on the origin of chocolate. The guide claimed that new archeological evidence showed that the ancient Ecuadorians actually discovered chocolate before the Mayans in Mexico. Anyway we bought some Chilli Chocolate for Mum. When we were left to our own devices, which was more fun, we found that our iPhones were showing the purported Equator line as 0.0009 degrees south which would mean it was about 100 metres south of the real line of zero latitude. Now they claim that the line was fixed using military GPS which is more accurate than civilian devices but we walked across the road outside and both of our phones showed that point to be 0 degrees. It was all a bit of fun anyway.
Jose let us stop for a photo of the official Mitad del Mundo monument, and the impressive UNASUR (confederation of S American nations – which we hear is in disarray) building next door, and then we drove to Quito airport.
Easy checkin, reasonable lounge, decent flight to Panama, back into the lounge, missed the call for the Paris flight so had to run/walk smartly to the gate (getting there when the economy passengers were loading ). We had a couple of pods, 2E and 2F, which was the only way of sitting together but they are clearly designed for single travellers who prefer privacy because their angled design meant that it was difficult to talk to each other.
Dinner soon after boarding, time for a couple of films and then sleep on a good flat bed. Landed in Paris a little late, around 1.45pm Friday local time. We then walked straight to our gate for the Edinburgh plane, and were taken on a very round about bus route to the Hop plane. Landed in Edinburgh about 3.30 local time. I got a text saying our luggage wasn’t loaded with us, but on checking we discovered both cases were there. So a taxi and home. Sad it’s all over after a tremendous trip.
