La Mitad Del Mundo!

I´ve walked on the Equator!!!! We (my Ecuador school group, which consisted of me, Gwen, a Swiss, a Dane, and a Minnesotan + an Israeli group that added on) visited this little tourist site just south of Quito, and we LITERALLY walked on the Equator line as part of an experiment. We had to close our eyes, stick out our hands, and walk the line, like a DUI test. I couldn´t go more than a couple feet, it was SOOOO hard...something about the centrifical forces pulling you one way or the other. You physics majors will have to chime in on that one.

We also did the famed drain experiment....no toilet though. The thing with the toilets is they´re mechanized now so the flush doesn´t really show what hemisphere you´re in.....but a regular old sink will! We put the sink right on the equator and watched the water go STRAIGHT down. No spiral. Nothin´. Then a couple feet to the south.....it swirled clockwise! Then to the north....it swirled counterclockwise! Trust, no fancy tricks, it was just a rusty old tub with a hole in the middle.

Then the final, toughest experiment. Our guide showed us how she could balance a raw egg on a nail head hammered into a board.....no way, we thought. But she did! Then we all got to try! Out of our group, only me and this Israeli lady got it!!!! And we each got a diploma. And the weird thing was, we got it at exactly the same time and they both fell off the nail at the same time.....one of my classmates got a picture, so don´t worry, I have proof!

All in all, a really cool day. I´ve now stepped into the Southern Hemisphere!

Quitititititito!!!!

Hola a todos, estoy en Ecuador! I´m down here for a few weeks studying Spanish so I´ll be ready to hit the ground running when I get to Venezuela in October. It´s been great so far -- I had a huge lunch today of beans, chicken, rice, fried plantains....for $3.50! And the weather is perfect! Still getting used to the altitude (9,000 feet plus). Hopefully I´ll have some pictures and more stories soon. Hastas!

P.S. The Harry Potter reading (in Spanish) is still going well -- I´m on book 3! And I FINALLY had a dream in Spanish the other week. Pretty lame -- I tried on a football jersey and asked some local ladies wherever I was if it ¨worked¨in Spanish. Two words. Oh well, it´s something, right?