A Crater and the Equator in Ecuador

We had a few days between some big trips in Ecuador (more to come on those soon!), so we looked for somewhere not too far from the Quito airport, but a little outside of the city itself. I think we found a real winner with our stay in the crater of a (dormant) volcano, along with a visit to the nearby equator.

Mitad del Mundo

Ecuador lies on (as the name would indicate) the equator. Near Quito sits a monument called Mitad del Mundo, or Middle of the World, on the equator line. C and the big boys took a quick trip to the Mitad del Mundo, and enjoyed straddling the imaginary line.

The boys couldn’t quite wrap their heads around why this was the center of the world – “Shouldn’t it be where the equator and prime meridian meet?” Yes, it probably should but I believe that’s in the Atlantic Ocean some miles off the coast of Ghana. “Couldn’t this be anywhere on the equator?” Again, correct, technically it could be anywhere along the equator…and even more inexplicably in Felicity, California. “So why is it here?” Partly to commemorate the first French Geodesic Mission, but mostly as a tourist trap!

Cynicism aside, we had a very enjoyable half day there visiting the chocolate museum among others as well as checking out some of the quirky features that allegedly exist on the equator line – an egg balancing on its end – water flushing straight down instead of swirling clock or counter-clock wise – and others (spoiler alert – all myths, double spoiler – the Mitad del Mundo is not even on the equator but about 250 yards away, due to an error in measurement back before GPS was invented.) Still an enjoyable visit!

Pululahua Crater

This stunning spot is one of two inhabited volcanic craters in the world. The volcano is obviously long extinct and the healthy volcanic soil has attracted people to farm within the crater, even though getting into and out of the crater, even today, takes more than half an hour.

We spent a few days at the Pululahua Ecolodge, which was in a great location at the bottom of the crater. We enjoyed our stay there, having tasty (though kind of pricey) meals cooked on-site by the hotel staff, and playing in the game room, swinging in hammocks and using the hot tub.

One day while I was working, the boys even got to take a nice hike around the bottom of the crater.

With those two fun little trips, our stay in the Quito area was pretty much over (unless you count one night at the Wyndam Quito Airport hotel, which the boys were way too excited about 🙄 ). Luckily, we had some really amazing trips while visiting the rest of Ecuador. Stay tuned cause those posts are coming up next!