Ecuador Day 10: Mitad del Mundo

Today was our last day with my dad and Sharon. We decided it would be fun to go to el Mitad del Mundo (the Equator). It is close enough by that it can be done in half a day, so we opted to keep our morning routine and go in the afternoon. We woke up, got ready, had breakfast, and got the house cleaned in two hours. Hallie is really loving doing the bathrooms. She scrubs the floors on her hands and knees even. I hope this lasts forever (though I know full well it won't. She will probably be like me and pay the neighbor boy to clean the bathroom like I did when I was a teenager. Thanks, Andrew!)

Anyway, we then had school for an hour. Hallie is trudging her way through her packets. Mishell is doing an online preschool program. Yeah, we opted to start at preschool because we thought it would be a good foundation for English. Jace watched a video on volcanoes since he has asked 101 million questions about them since yesterday. And Flor colored. Sort of. Anyway that was school. We then went down the the market to go grocery shopping and across the street to the fruit and vegetable market. 

All this for $19. Not too bad, I'd say.

 After lunch, we headed out to the equator. Luis was our driver today because Ramiro has a "black day" meaning he can't drive past 4 pm. I think each person has a day or two of black days each week in order to help control traffic and air pollution. Anyway, so Luis was our driver today. It took about an hour to get to the equator. There are actually two equator museums right next to each other, one with a huge monument and touristy type stop and another right down the road that is the actual equator. The first was created after the French did some sort of figuring and decided that was the equator. The second came about in 2000 when GPS proved that the actual equator line was some 200 meters away. Most people go and see the fake monument and think it's great, but if you are ever in Ecuador, don't settle for that! Go see the real one; it's worth it. It's not nearly as flashy, but it is really neat.

We had a tour in English with some Australians, English, and other Americans. We learned some history of different indigenous people who live in the Amazons. There are seven different groups in the Amazon in Ecuador and they have a large population in the country still. It is really interesting to learn about them. Each time I go I learn more- this is my 3rd time there, I think.  We then got to do all these fun experiments right on the equator line. For example, water right on the line goes directly down with no spin. A few feet over in the southern hemisphere, and it spins clockwise (like all tsunamis, etc. on this side of the world) and a few feet over on the northern hemisphere, it spins counterclockwise. We tried to balance an egg on a nail, which is much easier on the line as well. Devin was able to do it, but I still have never managed it. There are also all these experiments with gravity and not having a lot of resistance right on the line. It's crazy! Anyway, that was a lot of fun for the day.

A shrunken head. A real one belonging to a 12 year old boy. In the jungle, they used to shrink the heads of both their most beloved people (chiefs and such) and would wear those around their necks to keep their spirit close and also of their enemies, which they would put on spears and carry around. Luckily, this is no longer practiced.

Right on the line. We are seriously failing at family pictures these days. Can anyone spot the Mishell?

He's really special and he got the egg to stand on the nail.

Walking a straight line on the equator is really quite difficult.

My father took this picture. It was the best we had. The rest chopped Devin's head plum off. Apparently photography is not your thing, Dad!

He's studly

They've added a new little museum about the cacao bean, a large export in Ecuador. It was really interesting! They export their beans to make some of the worlds best chocolate.

After the equator, we had some yummy and colorful ice cream!

Jace with his lovely dyed blue face

 We ended the day with a trip to Papa Johns for pizza (Tuesday 2 for 1 day! Reminds me of the Schinnerers- we used to hit it up every week when we were here together!)

On the walk home from pizza, we found Spiderman! Jace was loving it. This sort of thing is common for people around here as a way to earn money. This guy was really funny and was hamming it up for Jace. He also spoke English- a bonus.

Things continue to go swimmingly well with Mishell. Honestly, I am kind of looking over my shoulder waiting for the problems to arise. I had a conversation with one of our friends from the last go round yesterday and she reminded me how hard things had been for them the first six months with their daughter.This is what I have been preparing for and expecting.  So far, Mishell is really a good girl. She has her moments, like I described yesterday, but I think what we have seen in her so far is definitely normal for any pre-teen girl. We also totally recognize that this is still the honeymoon phase and things can change, but we are really pleased with how things are going so far. On our walk home from pizza, I was quizzing her on English/Spanish words and she was a little more engaged in this than she has been. If we make it a game of sorts, she does better. I think the language will take some time, but she has started to pick up on some and that is encouraging!

We would really love prayers for our bonding reports to be completed ASAP. MJB checked in today and said that she hasn't gotten them yet. I looked at the calendar today and Devin is only here 2 weeks and 3 days more. WOW. Let's  hope things get flying quickly!! We need to keep his original flights if at all possible. Thanks all.