Today we went on a guided tour of Old Town Quito, the Equatorial line and to Pululahua Volcano. It was a lot of fun. We have been to Old Town but not with a tour guide. He told us a lot of history and took us to 3 beautiful churches. We also went to a convent where the nuns inside do not communicate at all with the outside world yet they make things and sell them. In their entrance way there is a revolving wood window where you say what you want and put your money in the window. The window revolves into where the nuns are, they give you what you wanted, your change and then spin the window back to you. All of this is done without them speaking or you seeing them. Today they did have a little store open - the nuns do not work it - there is a volunteer who runs the store who also never sees the nuns inside. No one knows just how many nuns are there. We bought some wine and cookies that they made. The man who was the tour guide told us that as a boy his grandmother would send him here to get her wine. It was pretty cool. We walked around town and toured for a couple of hours. Both Emma and Danni were exhauted so it was time to head to the Equator which was about a 40 minute drive. There is actually 2 lines. The first line is where they originally thought the equator dating back to the days of the Inca and then the US Army GPS disproved that line and it is actually 200 meters away. We went to the "real" line where they have a really cool outdoor museum. Emma and I are "Egg Masters" meaning we were able to balance an egg on the head of a nail - you can do this everywhere but its easiest at the equator. They also showed us how water flows straight down at the equator. When we moved 4 feet to the left it went counter clock wise and 4 feet to the right it went clockwise. It was amazing! Oh, you are also 2.2 lbs smaller at the line!! It was vey fun!! A short ways past the line is Pululahua Volcano. This volcano last errupted 2500 years ago. Unlike the volcano that we saw a few weeks ago and turned into a lake this volcano has been a farming community as the soil is very rich and fertile. It was beautiful!! Every afternoon the clouds roll in and you cant see the bottom. We got there just in time as the clouds were starting to roll over the mountains. Beautiful!! Our drive back to Quito was also quite interesting as a huge rain storm rolled . The traffic was a mess, the streets were flooded, huge lightning bolts, the thunder roared and there was even a little hail! It was kind of fun! Danni kept yelling "Mucho, mucho agua!". It was a really fun day and we have tons of pictures to share.
