In 1735 a team of French scientists set off for what was
then known as the Viceroyalty of Peru, but now Ecuador. Their task was to take
an exact measurement of one degree of latitude at the equator. By comparing
this measurement at the equator with a measurement that had already been made
in France they could settle the then burning scientific debate whether the
earth was spherical or bulged at the middle. Why would anyone care? Well, then
as now scientists felt great passion about the competing theories (“round” earth
followers of Descartes vs a Newtonian “fat” earth society). Also, the answer
would allow for more accurate ocean navigation, something of military and
commercial importance at that time.
Quito became their base of operations, working out of the
building described in the early post as the municipal cultural center. The
story of this remarkable expedition is told in a book Evie and I read a few
years ago titled The Mapmaker’s Wife
by Robert Whitaker. It is a very interesting book and a great story. In
addition to adventures of the expedition, there is also a murder, a story of
love and devotion and a harrowing story of survival down the Amazon.
A few miles north of Quito is a monument called the Mitad
del Mundo (the middle of the world), which marks the location of the equator. The word Equator wouldn’t
work for the monument, since in Spanish that’s the same as the country name.
You can straddle the yellow line and be in both the north and southern
hemispheres.
But, unfortunately, that isn’t quite true. The monument marks a location identified by these French scientists in the early 18th century. With the benefit of modern GPS technology, we now know that
these Frenchmen were off by about 240 meters. Using GPS technology, some others
identified the real equator and built another monument called the Intiñan Solar
Museum to mark its location. They had used early
civilian GPS technology, however, and we now know from more advanced GPS systems
with military precision that they also were wrong, and in any event the exact
location moves a few feet throughout the year.
So, it you want to straddle the equator, you have several options
in Ecuador, each in its unique way probably wrong. But I’d still pick the Mitad
del Mundo because it is the better story. Off by 240 meters! The earth is a big
place and given that these Frenchmen were basically eyeballing this with early
18th century equipment they had carried into the jungle and up and down mountains,
taking their readings and making their calculations by hand in difficult circumstances
(altitude sickness, frostbite and violent winds in the mountains and
alligators, snakes, scorpions and ''moschitos'' along the rivers), it is
amazing they were able to do it at all, let alone get that close. And by the way,
they proved Newton correct; the earth bulges slightly at the equator.
This has nothing to do with our trip to Ecuador, however. We did not visit these monuments that we know with confidence do not actually mark the equator. Rather, we had a more interesting adventure planned. With the Johnsons in a borrowed car we headed out
Saturday on a fascinating tour through the countryside north and east of Quito.
Our first objective was Otavalo and its famous market.
Otavalo is about 20 miles north of Quito. (Since the equator is about 10 miles
north, we crossed the equator and into the northern hemisphere on the highway
north. I didn’t notice a sign signifying the momentous event.)
This is in the market. The shops were interesting,
especially the beautiful textiles and alpaca wool products.
The Church is quite strong in Otavalo and has been for some time. This is a mother and daughter we met at one of the
shops who were members and, of course, identified us first as missionaries. It
was fun to talk with them. The population of Otavalo is still mostly indigenous
and, like these sisters, the women still wear the traditional black skirt, white
embroidered blouse and a shawl; not just to dress up for the tourists in the
market, this is what they all wear on the street.
A one-man band making his way through the stalls.
After shopping we went to a small town farther north called
Cotacachi, which is famous for leather goods. Sister Johnson bought a nice
leather bag for temple clothes. The Johnson’s also had memories of a nice restaurant
that was run by a Danish family nearby. We went looking and, after winding around
some old dirt roads, fields and some of the less desirable neighborhoods, we
found this place, pretty much just as they had remembered it from years
earlier.
La Mirage Garden Hotel & Spa, a five-star resort located
just outside Cotacachi.
We had lunch, which was an interesting experience (the food
was also really good). The appetizer was served in a music box that played "Music of the Night"
from Phantom of the Opera when opened (a classy place for some old senior
missionaries).
A view of the back from the restaurant. Notice the birds in
the lawn.
Peacocks, along with other birds and animals, patrol the back
yard.
After
lunch we made our way back to Quito taking a different route through the
country side. All along the way we saw hundreds of these: green houses. Ecuador
is a large exporter of flowers. While most of Ecuador’s
revenues come from oil exports and it is famous for bananas, flower growing
(floriculture) is one of its most important industries. It is the third largest flower exporter in the
world, of mostly roses).
A band just a few miles north and south of the equator here is
the ideal place for growing flowers, especially long stem roses. It has the
maximum amount of natural light year around and, at this altitude with cool
evenings, Ecuador produces flowers with brighter contrasting colors than, for
example, neighboring Colombia. I’m told
Ecuadorian flowers sell at a premium.
When we were there, however, they were
almost giving them away. Hurricane Irma had closed the Miami airport, the entry
for these flowers to shops throughout the United States. Not surprisingly, many
of the large industrial scale floriculture operations are Dutch owned, such as De
Ruiter.
On our way back to Quito. For a brief moment, I thought we
were in Star Valley.
I like this picture taken in the country side on the way back. It’s one I think my father and
Grandfather would like too.
Ecuador was a great trip. We were lucky to be able to travel
with Dic and Jennifer Johnson. Dic is an interim ALC and we will miss them when
they leave in a few months.
