Sunday, December 9, 2007

Mitad del Mundo, Peruvian Consulate, Bloody Visa and the like ...

There are lots of things to tell you!
I´ll start from yesterday, 8th of Dec, Fri. We were told by the Peruvian Consulate to call them. Piril and I decided to pretend as if we misundertood and go to the consulate. On Ecovia (bumpy bus) in QuitoWe had our breakfast at Cafe Modelo right next to our hotel, took the ecovia and went to the consulate. The reply was to call them back sometime between 4 pm to 5 pm. We were a little pissed, as it really did not make sense to wait a couple days to give a simple answer, yes or no...Well, there was nothing to do, then we decided to go to the "Mitad del Mundo" which means "The middle of the world", which is the equator line. I seemed a thrilling experience, so we walked from the consulate to the Calle Amazonas, Amazonas Street and took a bus to change for a Mitad del Mundo bus. It was a bumpy experience, they play tropical music in high volume on the buses and yell like "mitaaadddd deeell mundooooo", just like our old "Uskudaar, Asssaraayyyy assaraay yoh mu hemserim" style to attract the customers...It was funny. We changed the bus and after an 1 hour journey, we arrived in Mitad del Mundo. Mitad del Mundo StatueThe official site is like a park, they charge 2 USD to enter and charge separate for the separate sections. There is a statue, which the N and S of the planet is clearly marked with a yellow line. We had our pictures there of course, however the site seemed a little poor.Equator line on the official spot We took a little tour around, there were small souvenir shops and cafes available. We sat down somewhere, had something to eat and decided to go the other museum which we read from Lonely Planet that it was much nicer than the official site. We walked a little bit to the left of the road and came to the museum. It is called Inti Ñan Museum. Inti Ñan MuseumOur guide Andrés, together with some other Gringos told us about shrunken heads, Shrunken Headthe clocks, the homes of the quechua people etc...We had interesting experiments to proove the actual equator line. He poured water in a mobile sink on the equator line and the flow of the water was just straight down. Then he pulled it to the north (our side) and the flow was counter clockwise. Then he pulled the mobile sink to the south and the flow was clockwise. It was pretty interesting!!! Then he asked for a volunteer (Piril), asked her to make a zero with her thumb and index finger and he tried to break the zero on the north of the equator line. Piril and Andres having the experimentIt was hard for him to do!!! (my strong friend!!!). Then he asked her to move onto the equator line and repeated the same thing. She told us that she felt less strong on the equator line. Andrés also told us to close our eyes and try to walk on the equator line, many of us could not make it!!! Finally he showed us a nail and asked us to bring the egg on the balance on the nail. It seemed impossible to me!!! Piril and I tried but could not make it. One of the gringos made it and had a certificate!!! It was very interesting. At the equator line!!! We weigh one kg less!!!Andrés also told us that we weighed 1 kg (2,2 lbs) less on the equator line due to less gravity. I did not want to leave there, hehe...When the tour was over, we gave Andrés a "nazar boncugu" (Turkish evil eye) as he was quite a good looking and knowledgeable guide...I had even seen a Turkish Flag, on the floor though, so we should have given him an evil eye...We took the bus back to the city. It was about 4 when we were back. We went to a Cabina and called the consulate. They told me to call back in 45 mins and I lost my temper for a second. When I lose temper, I speak Spanish very well!!!!I was a little insistent that we really needed an answer, they were standing us up,etc...Piril told me to be a little more quiet but I was a little pissed...Well, I said ok and hung up to call back in 45 mins. Meanwhile I updated the page and waited...Then I called and got the answer!!!YES WE GIVE YOU A VISA!!!! BRING US YOUR CONFIRMED TRIP FROM LIMA TO LA PAZ AND 30 USD AND GET YOUR VISA!!!My flag!!!! (on the floor though)That was what we needed to hear for days!!!We could not believe it for some couple minutes!!! Good news...We just got to Ormeño, the bus company and got our tickets from Lima to La Paz. We came back to our neighborhood (kendi coplugumuz) happily and relaxed, Piril went back home, I went to the supermarket, got fresh fruits and made a fresh fruit salad for dinner to celebrate the good news!!!

A continuación: Otavalo

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