Cuy & Mitad del Mundo

I've been sick. It sucked. But it was raining the whole last week. So at least I didn't miss much. As a result, no blog updates.

However, I'm back into tip top shape and ready to share my adventures. Cuy is the sound that a guinea pig makes. Cuy, cuy, cuy. The spanish school I'm at offers trips to various places and one of those places was a little town outside of Quito which serves the best cuy in the country. Cuy is a delicacy in these parts. And the restaurant was full. It's a really simple preparation and it's thrown on the grill. Then it's cut into quarters and buen provencho.

On Saturday, I arranged to go to the middle of the world with my fellow hostel-dwellers. Ecuador is named after the equator. So we rented a few cars for $10 a person and were on our way. The first stop was Pululahua Park. I didn't know we were going here, so it was a nice treat. There was some sort of sun ceremony going on which was kind of neat. And the view from the lookout point was spectacular.

Below are some pics and vids of the ceremony.

They also had some cultural dancing and songs. It was interesting to see this side of Ecuador's culture. I dare you to try to not have that song in the first video stuck in your head.

After the park, we went to the "real" middle of the world monument. The place the natives said it was and not where the French built their monument. On the Equator line, were were shown a bunch of cool demonstrations with water going clockwise, counterclockwise and straight down a drain. I don't know if I believed it. I'm still trying to figure out that magic trick. The forces on the equator line also allow you to balance an egg on the head of a nail, which I did, and they gave me a certificate for it. Eggmaster Beemsigne. My new rap name. This place also did a little tour and showed us all how to shrink someone's head if we wanted to. The video below has some nice pictures as well.

Step 1, kill the person and cut off their head. Remove the skull. Then boil their head. Sew their mouth shut so that their soul doesn't escape. Stick a stone in it for it to shrink around. Then wear it on your neck if it's someone you love, or on your staff if it's an enemy. Easy as pie. 

Both middle of the worlds also stamp your passport! The fake middle has the more official looking stamp. Go figure. Tomorrow, it's out of Quito and onwards to Baños.