Show Through the Years With i Ernie Pyle Py Lunching on Equator Proves Chilly and Unpleasant OYAMBARO Ecuador Ecuador After After a man sits right straddle a-straddle of the equator and eats his lunch I guess there isn't much left In Inthe inthe inthe the world for him to do So today I am very bored with it all and if it weren't so far I would go back to the farm and settle down among the cornstalks cornstalks cornstalks corn corn- stalks after this life of ture Yes sir J I have a actually stood with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other In the southern How did it feel Well it felt cold and the wind was blowing sand in my eyes Since it isn't everybody who actually sits on the equator I think Ill I'll just go right through the whole thing in detail First I happen to know an Englishman in Quito by the un- un English name of Victor Von Rau He is tall and middle aged and has a blond mustache and andis andis andis is so obviously English that he could easily make malte a living by posing for Ceylon tea-planter tea ads Well Mr Von Rau volunteered volunteered volunteered volun volun- to take take- us out to the equator So we had the hotel fix up three box lunches and then we hired a car It is 15 miles from Quito to Oyambaro It takes about an hour to drive it Not far north of Quito the valley turns to desert desert desert des des- ert dust and there is almost no life at all Pretty soon you start to choke When you get to Oyambaro you wouldn't know it Just some adobe shacks along the road But at Oyambaro you turn off the main road and strike out across the bare desert over a sandy trail You reach the equator equator equator equa equa- tor monument in about a a. mile So far as I know this is the only monument in the world marking the exact and scientific location of the equator It was put up two years ago by a Spanish French-Spanish geodetic com com- mission I It is on a concrete base probably probably probably ably 30 feet square Above the base rises a stone shaft probably probably probably ably 30 feet high and pretty thick On the top is a great stone ball representing the globe with the continents faintly carved on it Around it runs a bright metal strip signifying the equator On the east side of the monument monument monument ment a sidewalk runs out for about 50 feet Down the center center center cen cen- ter of this sidewalk is a groove That is the exact line of the equator You stand on this sidewalk sidewalk sidewalk side side- walk and you stand in two hemispheres The first thing I did when we got there was run and stand on the sidewalk Nothing happened happened happened hap hap- so I stepped off a minI minute min min- I ute then went back and straddled straddled strad strad- the equator again Still nothing happened Mr Von Rau stood on the sidewalk Nothing happened Then we decided may maybe e the equator needed needed needed need need- ed the feminine touch Come stand on the equator and get the womans woman's angle we said to That Girl She stood on the equator Nothing hap- hap So then we said lets let's eat lunch The driver brought our three box lunches We sat on the stone steps right in line with the groove so we would be on the equator W We e gave a dozen sandwiches to the driver An Indian and his woman and kids went by with a dozen burros Mr Von Rau called and the Indian Indian Indian In In- dian came over and took several sandwiches He didn't say anything anything anything any any- thing but you could tell he was pleased The wind blew so we could hardly eat It blew v all the sandwIch sandwich sandwich sand sand- papers away It blew sand onto our fried chicken and made our teeth grind It got in our eyes Indians with bunches of loaded loaded load load- ed burros kept passing close by on the desert trail The view in all directions was an Immense immense immense Im im- im- im mense one Long miles of rolling rolling rolling roll roll- ing brown land land bare bare lifeless sweeping sweeping and and then on all sides the gaunt Andes mountains covered covered cov COy ered with a great nothingness f You feel It must be the equator But it You dont don't get very hot at feet s The sun was shining brightly You didn't have to have a topcoat topcoat topcoat top top- coat but a topcoat wouldn't have felt bad The constancy and immensity of the wind was wa what went Into your soul Already Already Al Al- ready in two years the driving sand has chipped the Inscriptions Inscriptions inscriptions on the north and west sides side of the shaft We finished Our lunch boxes blew away We walked around the monument for a last view On three sides were the words France Spain Ecuador And what do you suppose was on the fourth side Must I tell It was Rotary International High up on each side of the monument was was a bronze letter about a foot high marking the directions There were N andS andS and ands S and E but on the west westside westside westside side was the the- letter O 0 Look I said to Mr Von Rau The W has fallen off Theres There's nothing there but the square base they had it screwed to Mr Von Rau looked at it It I INo No it hasn't fallen off he he said It is an 0 O It stands for oeste which means west I dont don't know why but for some j damn reason they speak Spanish Spanish Span Span- ish in this countr country |