Ecuador — A trip to the Middle of the World

The Middle of the World — off by about 787 feet/240 meters!

As Agent 86 would say, “Missed it by that much.” Today we visit the Middle of the World City (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo). The Middle of the World is about 16 miles/26 kilometers north of downtown Quito, and our group arrived here after lunch and the Changing of the Guard (see last week’s articles).

Our Ecuador tour group

This site was determined to be at the Equator by a French expedition in 1736, and they missed. The marker in the background above is located at 0° 00′ 08″ south latitude, or 787 feet/240 meters south of the actual equator. Fortunately, our ancestors were a bit better at such measurements. There exists an Ecuadorian architectural site that in AD 800 was placed at exactly 0° 00′ 00″.

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

The walk from the parking lot to the Equatorial marker is lined with statuary, flags, and markers such as these:

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

Here are examples of the statuary:

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

And the “city” itself? Here are some of the buildings:

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo