The night we arrived in Quito, Ecuador's capital at the base of the Andes, we went to a party with many of Maria's relatives. The next day we visited a monument at the equator, and saw a few sights of colonial Quito.

In Quito, we stayed at Hotel Café Cultura, a delightfully decorated hotel which used to be the French Embassy. We were thrilled that the decorations in Room 12 where we stayed were based on Botticelli's Birth of Venus. (It might not be entirely obvious why someone would be thrilled like that, but there was once a wonderful lady on Mercer Island, in Lake Washington, who collected parody images of the Birth of Venus, or at least politely accepted them when they were thrust upon her, and our devotion to her survived her interest in them, and ultimately her.) Here Rob's friends and relatives gather for the trip to the equator monument La Mitad Del Mundo.

On our first full day in Ecuador we were driven on a bus tour to a geography theme park called La Mitad del Mundo. Here's the monument, and its red line along the equator. Actually, it was about .18 minutes south of the equator as reported by our portable GPS unit. Perhaps the equator moved since the late 17th century when French scientists came to Ecuador to locate the equator and to study the shape of the earth (they discovered that it bulged slightly in the middle), or perhaps their measurements weren't perfect. I'm kind of thinking it was the latter: I know the arctic circles move as the axis wobbbles around but the equator ought to stay the same. Anyway, the actual location of the equator is classified information, along with all the other detailed gravitational geography of the earth required to guide nuclear missiles to any town where someone might have had a conversation objecting to the privatization of his country's resources in favor of Halliburton, or terrorism for short.

Ray went on a short walk to find the True Equator, and found this museum next to where it actually turned out to be. We forgot to test the egg -- what is the egg test anyway? We forgot to look at any drains either. Guess we'll have to go back. A quick trip to the bathroom indicates that the sink and the tub here both have a preference for clockwise and the toilet is straight down, one of the minimum flush types. Is that how it's supposed to be?

Here's the GPS showing the exact position of the equator.

We had lunch nearby in a "view restaurant" overlooking this crater.

Interesting leaves in a potted plant at the restaurant. Some plant akin to Oxalis tetraphylla I suppose.

Relaxing after lunch.

We didn't actually have much time to explore Quito, which has a charming colonial district with lots of interesting old buildings and churches. This is the main square where some people were just starting to demonstrate about something.

Columns on the fascinating Iglesia La Compania, which unfortunately was closed for restoration (it reopened the day after we left).

The Church of San Francisco, with a large public square in front.

Like most churches, this one featured scaffolding.

The Ecuadorian countryside on the way to the wedding, near Otavalo.

A big snowy volcano seen from the plane on the way from Quito to Guayaquil.

On to The Wedding