The yellow line of La Mitad del Mundo

Crossing the line between science and folklore on the equator.

I am in Ecuador with Fernanda. We mainly stay in Riobamba, the city where her family lives. From there, we travel to other cities and parts of the country. Recently, we visited the capital, Quito, and we spent five days there. On the first day, we did a free walking tour of the old town, and on the second day, we visited the Indigenous Market in Otavalo.

On the third day, we visited Mitad del Mundo. I had been waiting for this day, logically, it is just the equator, a line that we draw as a reference, but my heart wanted desperately to visit this place, to be there, and to cross that line.

Mitad del Mundo ("Middle of the World") is a famous landmark marking the general location of the equator. It’s a popular destination where you can stand with one foot in the Northern Hemisphere and the other in the Southern Hemisphere.

The centrepiece is the Mitad del Mundo monument, a 30-meter-tall stone structure topped with a globe. It commemorates the 18th-century French Geodesic Mission, which arrived in Ecuador to measure the shape of the Earth and confirm its equatorial bulge. The original monument was built in 1936, and the current one, erected in the late 1970s, replaced the original with a more modern structure.

Interestingly, modern GPS technology has revealed that the true equatorial line is about 240 meters north of the marked line at the monument. There is another site nearby called the Intiñan Museum, which claims to be located exactly on the equator and offers various exhibits and interactive demonstrations related to the unique physics of the equator, such as balancing eggs on nails and observing water draining in different directions on either side of the line.

Mitad del Mundo also has a cultural and historical component. A variety of museums showcase Ecuadorian history, Indigenous culture, and the scientific work done by the Geodesic Mission. The surrounding complex features restaurants, souvenir shops, and exhibits that provide insight into Ecuador's diversity.

With Fernanda we strolled around, we went up to the monument and we visited the coffee and cocoa museums. Ecuador is renowned for its high-quality coffee and chocolate, both of which play an important role in the country’s economy, culture, and gastronomy. Ecuador's diverse climate and geography, from the Andes Mountains to the Amazon rainforest and coastal regions, provide ideal conditions for cultivating premium coffee beans and cacao.

Ecuador produces both Arabica and Robusta coffee, with Arabica being the more prestigious variety. Coffee cultivation thrives in regions like the Andes and the Amazon, where high altitudes, volcanic soil, and temperate climates help create rich flavours.

Ecuador is a world leader in premium cacao production, often regarded as one of the best sources of fine chocolate. The country is known for its unique variety of cacao called Nacional, or Arriba cacao, which has a distinct floral aroma and complex flavour profile, often including hints of fruit, nuts, and spices. Nacional cacao is considered one of the oldest and most genetically pure cacao varieties, dating back thousands of years. It is highly prized by chocolatiers worldwide for making high-quality dark chocolate.

We went to Mitad del Mundo on a Sunday, not knowing that on that day there were traditional cultural performances, including dance shows. These performances typically feature Ecuadorian folk dances, showcasing the country's diverse cultural heritage. Dancers often wear colourful traditional costumes and perform various regional dances, such as those from the Andes, the Amazon, and the coastal areas, representing different indigenous and mestizo groups.

I wanted to visit the Intiñan Museum, mainly to be at the real equator, but in the end, I didn’t want to pay another 5-dollar ticket and the rain was coming, so we didn’t go.

At the Mitad del Mundo and Intiñan Museum, you can encounter interactive "scientific" experiments that claim to demonstrate unique effects at the equator. While these experiments are entertaining and contribute to the experience, their scientific validity is questionable.

One of the most famous experiments involves demonstrating how water drains differently in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Supposedly, a basin of water drains clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and straight down on the equator itself. While this is based on the Coriolis effect, the experiment is misleading because the Coriolis force, which does affect large-scale weather systems, is far too weak to influence the water in a small basin. The observed differences in water drainage are actually caused by how the water is poured and manipulated during the demonstration, rather than by the equator’s influence.

Another popular challenge is balancing an egg on a nail, which is said to be easier on the equator due to a supposed reduction in gravity's pull or the forces being perfectly aligned. While it is possible to balance an egg on a nail with enough patience, there is no significant change in gravitational forces that would make this task easier at the equator. It is more a matter of skill and careful positioning.

While the experiments conducted at the Intiñan Museum and Mitad del Mundo are fun and engaging for visitors, the scientific principles they claim to illustrate are not as straightforward as presented. I am a chemist and I support everything that makes science more popular or spreads knowledge, but what I saw was oversimplified and it was made just for economic interest, these "experiments" are more about showmanship than rigorous science, though they do offer a memorable way to engage with the idea of the equator’s uniqueness.

Anyway, I enjoyed visiting Mitad del Mundo, I liked the amusement park atmosphere, the dances with the beautiful costumes, and, of course, I was happy to see and cross that yellow line.

Because of the rain and the slow public transportation, on that day we didn’t do anything else, we just went back home and had dinner with Fernanda’s friend, I cooked something to thank her for the hospitality, the day after would have been the last one in Quito.

See you soon

Flavio