La Mitad del Mundo
A monument standing on the equator, two hundred and forty metres from the equator.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
Mid-morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The monument was raised in 1979 on the line calculated by the French geodesic mission of 1736, the one meant to determine the shape of the Earth and which gave the country its name. The measurements were remarkable for their time, and wrong by two hundred and forty metres.
GPS established this in the 2000s. The yellow line painted on the ground in the complex is therefore not the equator, which runs a little further north, on neighbouring land where a second museum has set up to point it out. The two sites face each other and each sells its own ticket.
Getting there
Twenty-six kilometres north of Quito. Mitad del Mundo bus from Ofelia terminal, an hour, a few tens of cents.
What the price covers
paid entry to the complex and monument, rate to be checked; the neighbouring Intiñan museum has its own ticket
Rules on site
The demonstrations of water swirling the other way on each side of the line are sleight of hand: the Coriolis force is negligible at that scale. It is entertaining; it is not physics.
