Ecuador – On the Equator
La Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World), the huge Equatorial monument north of Quito isn’t on the equator at all. The screw-up was caused by a French expedition in 1736 that marked the wrong spot. The mistake wasn’t realized until just a few years ago when the Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented.
The real equator is about 250 yards away. But if you want to visit the “real equator” you need to go to the Inti Nan museum (shown above), which is about five minutes away.
Someone’s head is gonna fly over that, lol.
Laura, you are right about that!
Now ain’t that interesting. Enjoyed this little snippet. I think they might just have some difficulty locating the heads now though.
Interesting that the Government has built a huge site on the wrong location and tour operators continue to highlight that as THE tourist destination.
I’m surprised the tour operators don’t tell the true story…it’s much more intriguing. We Aussies would jump at the chance to tell the actual story if it happened here and probably embellish it with a little joke or two just for good measure.
Michelle, I was impressed when I visited Sydney and noted that there was no shame in describing how the colony was started
People actually take pride in having a convict in their lineage from way back too. I think Aussies generally have an enormous sense of humour.