Cross the equator

and let yourself fly! _{Or if you want, you can go by boat.}

Club Med in Tahiti on the Island of Moorea.
Everything is included … food, wine, activities, scuba, sailing, bocce ball, nightly stage shows.

moves the other way around in the sky when you travel to the other side of the equator.

Did this repeatedly in Kenya, in particular each time we drove back and forth btwn Nairobi and Eldoret.

Twice on the way south and twice on the way north returning home. The first time I crossed it was on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. The second time was earlier this year on my trip to Peru. Each time I wasn’t really aware that we were crossing the equator.

I want to cross the equator again on visits to South Africa, Chile, Argentina and on a return to New Zealand. I’d also like to visit Antarctica, but that one is a long shot now.

I went to the Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) in Ecuador. It is this paved over village type area with little shops (of course) and this big line marking the equator. On the day we went, they had a festival with indigenos (native people) dancing. The native guy dancer picked me from the crowd to dance this native dance with him. It was fun, but kind of uncomfortable having my parents watch because I think it was some kind of wedding dance. Why do I think this? Because I had to hold this stick hoop with feathers on it while he stabbed through the hoop with a spear stick. Hmmm….

I guess that day was dancing day or something because they had this other dancing event going on. This radio station was there having an event, and they were with the Venezuelan national wrestling team. I danced with a few of them while the djs played music from the stage. No, they did not step on my feet. I am glad they didn’t, because that probably would have hurt.

Then they had a dance contest for the dance that goes with that song “Mayonesa” (Mayonesa/y se bate como siendo mayonesa…..duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh… se me subio contra la cabezaaaaa) I beat out a bunch of little kids, because I was a teen and had skills like that. haha. So it came down to me and this other lady, and we seemed to forget all about the mayonesa dance and just start dancing however. The announcer asked us what happened to the mayonesa, but I didn’t care, and I don’t think that she did either.

I received slightly more cheers than her, so I won a CD and was infinitely grateful. I think the announcer was disappointed to hear I was American. I thought he would take the CD back, but thankfully he didn’t. It was a smashingly good time.

I’ve always wanted to do this, but haven’t been anywhere close so far. There is a chance I might get to go to southeast Asia in the next year or two and I might be able to swing a weekend across the equator then if I’m close enough.

Yesterday I received a travel catalog in the mail from an agency that works with AARP. One of the tours to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji included RT airfare from Los Angeles and lodging for 18 days with 20 meals, priced at $4,079. There are stops in Melbourne, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Queenstown, Mt. Cook, Christchurch and Nadi. If I can start saving $250 a month now, I would actualy be able to afford it by the May 2008 departure date. Something worth considering.

I was on a ship from Mogadishu, Somalia to Mombasa, Kenya and remember the inercom on the ship claiming that we were passing over the equator. I looked out the window, shrugged my shoulders, and went back to sleep. Oh well…at least I did it. :)

When I traveled to Singapore, that’s only a couple of degrees north of the equator. And my friends invited me to go with them to Borneo, but I went north to the Philippines instead. I feel like I’m missing something big. A view of the Southern Cross? I’ve spent my entirely life north of this invisible line. Perhaps the best way to do this is to cross it on a ship and do the Neptune celebration.