Mitad del Mundo
19/08/11 22:11 Filed in: Ecuador
Another lovely sunny morning. My day started with a visit to Movistar. Due to a network software implementation problem my new phone would not work. Don't worry they said, it will be working in 4 hours.
We had lunch at the El Bosque centre overlooking Quito airport.
Afterwards we visited Mitad del Mundo just north of Quito. This monument was completed in 1982, and marks a point on the equator. The 4.5 metre sphere on top weighs 5 tons.
Smaller towers on each side of the monument give position and altitude.
Nancy straddling the equator. However, using WGS84 datum, she isn't. That datum places the equator 240m further north.
The yellow line was marked using a different datum in use in Ecuador in 1982.
Facing west. Don't try this at sea.
Further north and west the road drops down into temperate rainforest, often obscured by clouds.
Returning to Quito from the north with and afternoon thunderstorm looming.
Back in Quito it rained heavily at around 17:00. As usual.
We had lunch at the El Bosque centre overlooking Quito airport.
Afterwards we visited Mitad del Mundo just north of Quito. This monument was completed in 1982, and marks a point on the equator. The 4.5 metre sphere on top weighs 5 tons.
Smaller towers on each side of the monument give position and altitude.
Nancy straddling the equator. However, using WGS84 datum, she isn't. That datum places the equator 240m further north.
The yellow line was marked using a different datum in use in Ecuador in 1982.
Facing west. Don't try this at sea.
Further north and west the road drops down into temperate rainforest, often obscured by clouds.
Returning to Quito from the north with and afternoon thunderstorm looming.
Back in Quito it rained heavily at around 17:00. As usual.