Climbing The Equator

by Neville Shulman

  You are of course able to ‘circle’ the world by crossing over the centre from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere and back again, or vice versa. The Centre of the World also has the unique distinction of being set at 0 degrees latitude. To be even more precise, it is at 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds and this is also listed in the shorter and more evocative form, as 0-0-0. The Ecuadorians are rightly very proud of it. And close to or across the Equator Line there are a number of other interesting and special places worth visiting, including the coastal shrimp fishing town of Pedernales within the coastal region, the exotic birders’ village of Mindo in the northern lowlands, the third highest mountain in Ecuador, Cayambe in the mountains of the Sierra Volcano, and in the jungles of the Northern Oriente the newly-created oil town of Lago Agrio (Sour Lake). Unfortunately, because of the way the environment has been misused around it, the Lago Agrio inhabitants have plenty to be sour about and no amount of oil will create a bridge over those troubled waters.

  Latitude positions have always been relatively easy to establish, but the extreme difficulty for travellers, explorers and primarily sailors, was always in agreeing the longitude of any place. Many seafaring nations used their own prime meridians of longitude, so that charts and maps were drawn up differently in many countries, creating considerable confusion and conflict and sadly resulting in a large number of shipwrecks. Finally in Washington in 1884, the International Meridian Conference was organised specifically to consider the issue, and resolved the Meridian point of the city of Greenwich, England, already world famous for its first class astronomical observatory, to be the universal Prime Meridian of Longitude.

  The story of how longitude was finally established is a fascinating one and told brilliantly in Dava Sobel’s book, Longitude. From 1884 the longitude positions of every point on the Earth’s surface have been described as either east or west of Greenwich, which itself therefore is given the privilege of having its own unique zero longitude position and listed as being 0 degrees. Like the latitude bearing at the Equator, it is also recorded on maps as 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds and often listed in the exact short form as 0-0-0. It is therefore very simple for anyone at Greenwich, similar to straddling the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at the Equator, to stand across the Western and Eastern Hemispheres, with one foot in each.

  The longitude lines or meridians connecting the points of the same longitude originate from the North Pole to the South Pole, radiating out from Greenwich to east and west. The latitude lines or parallels measure out from the Equator, to the North or to the South. At the exact opposite position of Greenwich, 180 degrees east or west of it on the world map, more easily shown on a globe, is where the International Date Line (IDL) is sited, a point also confirmed in the same 1884 international conference. In 1879 Sandford Fleming, also responsible for inventing the 24-hour clock and designing Canada’s first postage stamp, had come up with the concept of Standard Time. Fleming proposed that 24 equal time zones should be created, each representing 15 degrees of longitude, therefore equating to the total 360 degrees circumference of the Earth. Fleming also proposed that the time within each zone would be exactly the same, one hour. Before then recorded time had varied from place to place somewhat arbitrarily and indeed the United States had around 300 different and confusing local times. In fact it was the US railways that were the first to realise how much this regularised and simplified rail timetables and they quickly adopted the system. By 1890 all countries had also adopted it. At the 1884 conference the British, who in those days had more influence on world decisions than most others, were able to persuade the other European countries that it served all their interests to site the IDL on the other side of the world from Greenwich at its 0 degrees longitude and sited at the measurement of 180 degrees longitude. This decision has caused some interesting consequences and effects. By crossing it, depending in which direction you are travelling, you are able to gain or lose one complete day of time. If you travel west across the IDL you move gradually into the next day and if you travel east you gradually move back into the previous day.

  In another classic tale by Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days, Phileas Fogg thinks initially that he has arrived back in London too late to win his race and bet to circle the world in 80 days. Fortunately at the eleventh hour his quick-witted manservant, Passepartout, realises they had previously crossed the International Date Line to the east and Fogg had forgotten to adjust his otherwise accurate watch timepiece by 24 hours. There are then some thrilling, suspenseful moments while the two of them race across London in a hansom cab (a fast two-wheeled carriage drawn by one or two horses), before managing to reach the Reform Club in Pall Mall with literally a split second to spare.

  The same situation and confusion actually occurred in real travel history with Magellan’s circumnavigation of the Globe in 1519, although as he was travelling in the opposite direction to the west, he had actually lost a day. Magellan couldn’t believe at first that he was a day adrift and it took him some time to accept he hadn’t been robbed of one day. The imaginary IDL line does not always follow exactly the 180 degrees longitude line as it should, because then it would divide certain areas where it wouldn’t make sense for there to be different time zones. So the line is deflected eastwards through the Bering Straits (part of Russia) and westwards of the Aleutians and also eastwards of Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. One of the oddities created with these slight changes, is that the neighbouring islands of Tonga and Samoa run on different times and jointly have two consecutive Sundays. It probably provides an excuse to work less. Newfoundland is actually divided down the centre by a time zone and therefore made the interesting decision to adjust its time overall by only half an hour, which means it is always half an hour later in Newfoundland than those places having Atlantic Standard Time.

  The meridians of longitude and the parallels of latitude, obviously invisible in themselves, are drawn onto most maps to form a grid, circling the earth. This allows every place to have its unique measurement designation, thus enabling all of us to know where we are, or perhaps more importantly, where we are going to. The astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, Fellow of the Royal Society, lists his personal bearings on his notepaper, as being at Latitude 50, 43, 49.25 N and Longitude 00, 41, 41.25 W. Moore, who is always being asked to give his comments on space-related events, explains this with some celestial witticism: ‘It’s so everyone will know my position’.

  Due to the Earth having this physical ‘bulge’ at the Equator, it is a fact that if one were to measure from the Earth’s core to the summit of Ecuador’s highest mountain, Chimborazo, they would find that this mountain reaches further into the Earth’s atmosphere than any other mountain in the world. It is therefore correctly considered the ‘tallest’ mountain in the world. Of course it is not the highest, which is the magnificent Everest, measuring from sea level, the normal basis of calculating the heights of mountains, 8,848 metres (29,028 feet). However, now knowing this special aspect of Chimborazo and the zero positions of longitude and latitude, I am now able to formulate an expedition itinerary which has never been undertaken before.

  My decision, simplistic and even minimalistic in concept, when undertaking the plans for my trip, is to commence my expedition from the city of Greenwich, London, starting out at 0-0-0 longitude, to arrive to the Equator point north of Quito in Ecuador at 0-0-0 latitude and cross the Centre of the World. Whilst in Ecuador I will climb in the country’s high mountains and endeavour to reach the summit of Chimborazo, the ‘tallest’ in the world. This is in addition to my hopes to see what Darwin discovered.

  To commence any journey you only need to begin. However it’s always important to learn more about where you are going and what you can hope and expect to find there. There was so much to explore before I even reached Ecuador.

  CHAPTER 5

  THE BUMPY RIDE OF INDEPENDENCE

  One of the important screen goddesses, although from many light years ago, was Bette
Davis, and one of her most memorable roles was in a film called All About Eve. In one of the central scenes, in a clipped, staccato voice, she utters the famous words, always afterwards associated with her and the persona she created as an imperious Hollywood film star, ‘Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!’ Those words have become part of film lore and are always listed in the top ten of quoted movie lines. Ecuador as a country has had many ‘bumpy nights’ and indeed ‘bumpy days’ for several centuries, and unfortunately in many ways they are still continuing. Its story is also one of passion, power and greed.

  It’s a digression, but at one time I worked in Hollywood and owned a duplex apartment off Sunset Boulevard. Bette Davis, by then retired, although not by her own choice, owned the apartment directly above mine and hers had a narrow balcony, always filled with potted plants, built over my living room. Every once in a while water would run down from her balcony and stain my main living room wall. Whenever I discovered this, I would quickly rush upstairs, ring her apartment bell and when she opened her front door, would gently, apologetically, say something along the lines of, “Miss Davis, there’s water coming down my wall again.” She would just arch one eyebrow and declare, with much emotion and a great deal of artistry, I being after all a captive audience, ‘Neville, it can’t be me, certainly not me, I never water the plants.’ The fact that she might be holding a watering can in one hand, as if daring me to refute her statement, was of no consequence of course. Naturally, I never would contradict her; how can you argue with one of the great film legends? And so each time I would just arrange to re-paint the wall again. I think that wall ended up with more coats of paint than a vintage Rolls Royce.

  But back to Ecuador, and specifically my research into its history.

  The first inhabitants of the region now known as Ecuador were hunters and fishermen who lived in and around the Andes, possibly up to 50,000 years ago. Traces of early inhabitants have been discovered dating back to at least 10,000 BC. They gradually turned to farming of a kind, harvesting the wild crops before learning how to grow their own. Pottery and other objects have been found and dated back to the Valdivia Culture, to approximately 3,000 BC. Sites of their many small towns and villages containing earthenware figures have been excavated throughout this area and are some of the oldest in the whole of South America. The figures or figurines are often found broken – thought to have been destroyed deliberately – and it is assumed that this occurred as part of fertility and healing rites. There were also carvings of pregnant women (the so-called Venus figures) and again these seem to be part of fertility rituals and historic stylisations. The tribes living in the region were thought to have traded with other tribes living in areas that are now known as Peru and Brazil, as well as with some of the more remote Amazonian tribes within the rainforests. Most of the tribes developed metalworking skills, lived in harmony with each other and in peaceful surroundings, until the most well known of all of the tribes of those regions, the Incas living to the south from what is now Peru, decided to expand forcibly their own territory.

  The Inca kingdom existed from at least the eleventh century, initially being situated around Lake Titicaca in the area of southern Peru. The Incas believed their sun god, Pachacamac, had created the moon, the stars, the planets and everything else, himself rising out of Lake Titicaca after a terrible flood had destroyed the people living on earth as punishment for their great sins. He was also known as Viracocha, the creator. Pachacamac’s son was the first Inca Emperor. The Incas started to explore northwards in the early fifteenth century under the leadership of Yupanquil and his son Tupac-Yupanquil and initially made peace treaties with their northern neighbours and a certain amount of open trading took place. Soon, however, Tupac-Yupanquil wanted to conquer this territory as well and began to push aggressively northwards with his armies. There was of course strong resistance from the two main tribal groupings, the Quitucaras and the Cañaris but they were not capable of defeating the Incas who were ferocious warriors. The Incas soon destroyed the Cañari city – which they subsequently renamed as Ingapirca – taking the Cañaris living there as prisoners and building a sun temple and an astronomical observatory. The Cañaris, like the Quitucaras, were moon worshippers and as part of their humiliation they were now forced to worship the sun as the Incas did. The Incan king, Huayna-Capac, the son of Tupac-Yupanquil, was born in Tomebamba and his mother was a princess from the Cañaris. She was reputed to sing as sweetly as any bird.

  Once Huayna-Capac had extended his Inca kingdom by adding parts of north-west Argentina and northern Chile, he decided he would finally conquer all the Quitucaras as well. They were then led by a woman, Quiloga, and she was induced with false promises by Huyana-Capac to come to his camp and discuss peace terms. Entering his tent she immediately fell into a concealed pit and was impaled on spears and knives fixed into the ground. Her killing had a very dispiriting effect on her followers but they still continued to struggle on for some time and to try and resist the more powerful Incas. The Laguna de Yaguarcoche (the Lake of Blood) is named to commemorate the massacres suffered by many of the Quitucaras in that region. After some fierce fighting, eventually in 1492, one of HuayanaCapac’s generals captured the city of Quitus, eventually renamed as Quito. The Quitucaras still continued to resist fiercely and it took another twenty years before the Incas were totally triumphant throughout the territory. As part of their domination they made everyone use their Quechua language.

  Huayna-Capac made Quitus his residence and married Paccha, the daughter of Carchi, the captured Quitu leader. Their son, Atahualpa, was to become the Incan king, remembered in Ecuador even to this day, and many places and areas have been named after him. Huayna-Capac died in 1526 of an epidemic which was sweeping the country, probably brought in by the Spanish adventurers and conquistadors. Before he died he arranged to divide his empire into two, allowing his son Atahualpa to rule the northern region from Tombebamba and Quitus, with his other son, Huáscar, ruling from the south, from Cuzco in Peru. Huáscar’s mother was an Incan princess and the two half-brothers, sharing only the blood of their father, were always quarrelling bitterly. You could say there was definitely bad blood between them.

  Eventually Atahualpa decided to march against his half-brother, and after defeating him in battle arranged for his murder together with the murder of his whole family. That was the Inca way. Atahualpa immediately became the ruler of the whole region but this fighting amongst the Incas weakened his hold over the kingdom which left the country more susceptible to defeat by the Spanish. In 1532, the Spanish adventurer Francisco Pizarro, landed on the coast and started his trek inland from Tumbez. Pizarro had been greatly influenced by Bartolmé Ruiz, a noted Spanish explorer, into believing there were considerable gold treasures just waiting to be gathered throughout the Inca kingdom. The Incas were in awe of the bearded Spaniards with their ‘rods of fire’, regarding them almost as gods. They were not able to put up much resistance.

  The conquistadors easily entrapped Atahualpa, imprisoned him and then held him for ransom, demanding gold and silver sufficient to fill a cell. The Incas, who worshipped the Sun and only used gold as a reflection of the Sun’s power, didn’t think that highly of it, quickly collected the huge amount required and paid it over. It proved of no avail as despite receiving this enormous ransom, in July 1533 the Spaniards decided anyhow to murder him, actually by strangling, certainly a very unpleasant, long-drawn out way of dying. That was the Spanish way. First, however, by threatening to burn him alive, which he believed would prevent his journeying into the afterlife, they forced him to become baptised. I suppose it was lucky they didn’t believe in circumcision.

  Atahualpa’s followers then had his body secretly dug up and transported it away to bury it in a special place near Quitus. The burial site has never been found and is still waiting to be re-discovered, possibly containing all the many Incan gold and precious objects that would have been placed alongside the Incan Emperor’s body. Meanwhi
le, the Guatemalan Governor, Pédro de Alvarado, had also decided to invade and with his army landed on the coast at Manta and set off to conquer Quito. He badly misjudged the situation, however, by attempting to head across the high mountain passes near to the mountain of Chimborazo, not realising how difficult that would be. Consequently he lost many of his men and his forces were severely delayed, meaning that he was unable to mount his attack in time.