Pululau, Mitad del Mundo, Quito

Volcanic crater Pululalua

Volcan Pululahua the 5^th largest crater in the world with a diameter of 5-6 kilometers and the second inhabited in the earth.  It is just a few minutes bus ride from Mitad del mundo and a 15 minute walk uphill to the viewpoint.  From the viewpoint you can take a taxi or hike into the crater. We took the bus from terminal carcelen in the north to mitad del mundo where it lets you off right in front of the monument. 

We took a taxi back to the the museum Intinan where the ecuator is.  Its a very touristy museum but still fun. 

We went to see the monument at Calacalio that is famous but was built a little to the south of the ecuator.  

Lots of birds in Mitad del Mundo

On the ecuator in Ecuador

Mitad Del Mundo monument

La Ronda street with a view of el Panecillo

 La Ronda is a pedestrian street that opens up at night and has lots of restaurants and cafes and live music. This used to be a dangerous area and now is very safe and touristy. I am staying just around the corner from here and love the area. I have stayed in three different hotels in an area between old and new town and while the hotels were nice, I love staying in Old town.  It is beautiful and there are always lots of options for food and drink. 

The middle of the world (Mitad del mundo)

Indigenous sun dial that is two sided

 On Wednesday I went to Mitad del Mundo. This is where the ecuator is located.
$4 entrance fee to the museum intinan and took about 75 cents and one hour to get there by bus.  The picture above is a sundial. It has two sides because the shadow is on one the south side of the rock half the year and north side the other 6 months.

Me at the ecuator

 The tour was good.  He mentioned how the indigenous knew this was the ecuator and placed markings along it.  But that the French came in the 20th century and built a monument a few hundred meters from to the south that they had incorrectly declared as the exact ecuator.  The demonstration everyone liked most putting a sink of water on the ecuator and seeing it run directly down the hole without turning and then the guide bringing it a few feet south and watching it go run down clockwise as well as then bringing it a few feet to the north where it then went down the drain counter clockwise. I recommend the museum even though its kinda cheesy and touristy I am glad I went cause its fun. 

This is the monument built that was slightly off the center of the ecuator

We skipped going into this areas on the recommendations from others that it wasnt worth it.