Quito, Ecuador

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a city that lies at 2800 mt on the Andes and just few kilometres from the equator line. In a way, this city reminds me Naples, with no sea of course, as it's surrounded by mountains and the colorful houses have a true colonial Mediterranean taste. The colonial centre is pretty and the weather is pleasant, many beautiful churches and really really cheap prices. In the picture, it's me crossing the equator line: one leg in the Northern emisphere, one in the Southern one. The monument was built whereas the French geodesic expedition found the equator in 18th century, but the real equator line (as displayed by GPS) lies about 500 metres from that point. I've been there as well and the demonstration had was stunning: when the water was flushed from a washbasin on the equator line the water was falling straight, just one metre left to the equator, in the Southern emisphere, the water was flushing clockwise, and just one metre right to the equator the water was flushing anticlockwise with an very higher strenght, because of the higher magnetism of the Northern emisphere. Another curiosity: do you know why among all the countries crossed by the equator, it was chosen Ecuador to find it? Easy, because Ecuador is the highest one!