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ECUADOR THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD, PANAMA HATS AND QUITOCAMAS
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Welcome to Ecuador...
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The Ecuadorian numberplate
Ecuadorian money, the Dollar ($), which comes in the form of 1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, 50c, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 denominations.
At 2007 exchange rates, $2 = £1. |
QUITO
Quito from the air
Quito is a UNESCO world heritage town
It is named after the Quitocamas, the indigenous peoples of precolombian Ecaudor. They named themselves after the equator - Quito and located their capital at where they thought the equator was
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Ecuador is the boot manufacturing capital of the world
The Panama Hat - officially the Panama hat comes from Ecuador but they are also made in Peru, Colombia and Panama. |
THE EQUATOR
When the French conquerers arrived in Ecuador 200 years ago they erected a monument at the equator.
Unfortunately they were out by 200m so the monument is located in the incorrect place.
The Inti Nan museum is located at the actual equator and show how it can be proved that the equator is there (not just with the GPS)
The water drains down the plug hole differently in the northern hemisphere to that of the southern hemisphere and also drains straight down when it is at the equator.
It is possible to balance an egg on a nail at the Equator as Greg demonstrates
The museum also has a collection of houses and information about the indigenous people of Ecuador. This includes information on the infamous headshrinkers.
The headshrinkers would chop the heads off their enemies, take out the brains, skull and eyeballs, then they would boil the heads for 3 days...
...then they would sew up the neck, the eyes and the mouth and wear the heads as trophies of their killings. |
SHIPPING
Our shipping route travelled up from Manta in Ecuador to Puerto Caldera in Costa Rica
Manta port on the Pacific Coast
Do you know the way to San Jose? The Beast waiting for the boat to Costa Rica, just a 3 day boat ride. |
