The Intiñan Solar Museum proudly advertises itself as the home of the "true" equator. Located a short way from the "official" equatorial monument, the museum is bisected by a line of red paint which marks what proprietors claim is the unofficial-official site of the middle of the world. GPS tests come back with mixed results, and the rocky surroundings make accurate readings difficult to obtain, but you're close. Very close.

A museum guide conducts half-hour-long tours around the premises, stopping occasionally at life-size dioramas depicting Ecuadorian daily life. The tour offers a prix fixe sampling of native culture, peppered with the occasional interactive demonstration. The central focus of the museum is a totem pole surrounded by several stations, each designed to test the unique physical forces at work in the equatorial region. Some are clearly parlor tricks, but others are – at the very least – appreciable demonstrations of physics. Of course, if ethnographic jargon and science experiments aren't for you, there's the blow-dart range, pickled snakes, and "genuine shrunken head" to look forward to.