Journey to the centre of the Earth

Today´s grand adventure was to the centre of the earth no less. Just north of Quito lies the exact line of the equator, with as you can see a latitude of 0 degrees. Now you might expect a grand monument and perhaps a tourist trap to mark this point and indeed there is one. As you can see on the left is a rather large monument. Now this was built by the French a couple of hundred years ago and they got their calculations wrong. The big tourist complex at la Mitad del Monde (Middle of the Earth) where this monument lives, is in reality in the wrong place, a couple of hundred metres in the wrong place. I did not go to the tourist complex but instead to the museum behind it, where the actual equator lies (proven by global positioning systems). It had no grand monument, instead it had a red line painted on the floor. What it did have though is the science that proves it is the equator. I watched the famous water test. A sink is filled with water and then the plug is removed. When the sink is placed in the northern hemisphere the water goes down the plug anti clockwise, in the southern hemisphere it goes down clockwise. When the sink is placed exactly on the equator the water goes straight down the plug. It is all to do with the fact that the equator is the widest point of the earth and fractionally closer to the sun and moon and therefore has different gravitational forces. Sounds boring but trust me, its fascinating to observe. Something I did not expect is that it is practically impossible to stand on the equator, hold your arms out, close your eyes and try to walk forward. It is impossible to balance - you just fall over! You also have alot less strength on the equator again due to gravity. This was proven to us by the following experiment. You stand in either the northern or southern hemisphere, clench your fists together and hold them above your head. Another person then applies pressure to your fists and tries to lower them. Using all your strength, you try to keep you fists above your head. Then you do this again whilst standing on the equator. Well there was no contest. With only one hand, the other person could lower your fists - try as you might, you have alot less strength. It was bizarre. You can also balance an egg on a nail on the equator - I saw it done. It was a truly fascinating, interesting afternoon and as a special treat the guide was allowed to speak to me in English - so I didn´t miss anything!