arriving at the equator

I waited at the airport for a bajillion hours and somewhere in between that I just asked a bunch of random people if they were going to USFQ (the host institution for GAIAS) and they all were! I was so glad I had someone to talk to about the trip! And guess what? They all got a message beforehand saying that we could take 2 50 lb bags abroad because they would be weighing our luggage as a group and there would be no excess charge. Guess who never got that email? ME! I can safely say, that of all the girls AND boys, I brought the least amount of stuff. I will be wearing the same 3 outfits up until we go shopping and after that I am going to look like a confused gringo who is desperately trying to fit in... until I get tan, that is. Then I will look pretty Ecuadorian.
Speaking of tan, I was at the equator line today. I put sunblock on before we went, because it was noon and we were literally on the equator line. Now I have some funny tan lines on the upper half of my body... the sun rays went through my shirt and burned me... so my arms and legs and chest aren't nearly as bad as my shoulders (that were under my t shirt) and below the neckline... it's kind of like an opposite sunburn. Kind of funny, kind of itchy at the same time. Anyway, the equator was really cool. Scientists calculated it a million years ago using wacko tools and were actually 27 meters off (not bad) but there are a series of tests conducted at the exact line and they are really simple but crazy to see... At the equator, because of the centrifical (sp?) forces, a lot of weird stuff happens, like the currents that are created in the northern and southern hemispheres that Dr. Crandall probably told you about, blah blah. But what also happens at the equator is that you lose resistance at the exact line. So at the equator, you weigh 2.2 kilos less and have less resistance in your muscles. So a foot above the equator, we had someone push down our arms and we tried to resist it as much as possible. At the equator, we tried and our arms were almost instantly pushed down. It's a really weird feeling, and a great way for your muscles to get mushy... Kind of like astronauts except that they experience it times a thousand...
Then, on the equator line, I balanced an egg on a nail! HA! I was one of three people in my group who could do it. I got a certificate and everything. Aren't you proud guys? haha :(
Then my favorite one... And I have it on video... We put a sink on the equator and filled it will water and a few little leaves... The water went straight down! Ah! So we did it a foot above the equator and a foot below, and they swirled in opposite directions! One foot! How awesome is that?
Also at this location they had replicated some houses of the indigenous tribes and talked about some customs. I guess there are a few different groups in the mountains, outside of where we are at now. One of them is dying out because they are only reproducing with each other and they are getting pretty weak as a result of generations of incest and gene mutation. We saw some artifacts from the other groups... In their huts they have only one window, because the smoke in the house makes the surfaces waterproof. And their walls are made of animal poo, but it doesn't smell as bad as you might think. They also have little pens in their houses for their guinea pigs, or cuy as they call them (Apparently guinea pigs make a little cuy cuy cuy cuy sound so they are named as such. I LOVE english animal sounds versus spanish animal sounds) Cuy is really important because it's their main food supply and they want to protect them so they keep them in their house. Also, if someone is sick, the town doctor will take one of their cuy and rub it all over their bodies and when they are done with that, they will cut open the cuy and whatever is wrong with the little pig is what is ailing the sick person. I wonder how that's working out for them.
And then I saw some dead things from the Amazon including but not limited to, the skin of an anaconda, a couple huge spiders, that little fishy that swims up your urethra if you pee in the water and latches on with their teeth and needs to be surgically removed, some poisonous snakes, a boa constrictor, and a shrunken head of a 12 year old boy. And I also learned how to prepare a human head for shrinkage. And I did get a copy of those directions.