Crossing the Equator and visit to the Middle of the World

After the excitement of the Panama Canal we spent a day at sea and celebrated the crossing of the Equator with some excitement. Those who hadn’t crossed the line before were encouraged to kiss a dead fish and then jump into the pool fully clothed. There was also a ceremony where they ad hocked an operation of removing all the innards of a person tossing them into the pool and then disposing of the body. Good entertainment.

We woke the next day in Manta Ecuador, absolutely p.....g with rain and fog down to sea level. We were due to leave the ship at 9am to the airport on our way to Quito and the Middle of the Earth. Whoops! Our disappointment at a 1 hour delay and an inevitable cancellation was greeted by an announcement that both m

Manta and Quito airports were open and our trip was on! woo hoo. We soon set off and after a 40 min. flight we land in Quito virtually right in the middle of the City and then whisked off to our Hotel for the night the Swissotel. Quito is a big city of around 2 million an very narrow City but very long.

Quito is 9400 ft. above sea level and many feared altitude sickness, we were prepared and initially felt a little strange but in a short time after lunch and and good doses of water and Coco tea felt quite ok.That afternoon we travelled to the old town of Quito and did a walking tour of the City and saw two Cathedrals. We were warned prior too,to wear no jewelry, don’t show signs of having any money and beware of pickpockets. There were people everywhere as it was Sunday, but luckily no-one had a problem.

The first church was the Cathedral La Compania de Jesus a sight to behold,we are definitely not people who enjoy these type of highlights, but this was very different, the whole interior of the church was covered in gold leaf. Amazing. It had survived earthquakes, fires, attacks by the Spanish army during early wars, unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos, so we can’t show you. The next was the San Francisco Monastery the largest  religious complex in SA. which took 70 years to build commencing in 1536.

That evening we returned to the Monastery for a dinner. commencing with cocktails, hors dvrs and a visit to a museum of religious paintings. We were then served dinner in one of the rooms which was very nice and then transported back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we took a ride to the Middle of the world about an hour south of Quito where the equator was discovered in the 18th century and so were able to place 1 foot on both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. That location where the memorial stands was discovered to not be the actual middle of the world so we transferred about 1 hundred yards to the actual location where there is a museum that identifies different activities that occur either side of the equator. e.g a demonstration how Cyclones travel anti clockwise in the NH and clockwise in the SH. Like how you can stand an egg on the head of a nail and also viewing a solar clock with face on both hemispheres. Altogether a great morning before heading back to the airport and a flight of 30 mins. to Guayaquil where the ship had transferred overnight. We were met by the crew of about 100 personnel who were all lined up at the gang way with the band playing and a glasses of champagne. Even the Captain was involved, he was swiping everyones key cards normally done by security but highly amusing to those who were coming aboard. Such a lovely trip, a real highlight so far.

Today is a sea day with recovery the  name of the day, tomorrow we sail into Salavery Peru. 

Sorry internet access is dreadful so I'll send some piccies tomorrow.