Ground Zer0-Zer0-Zer0
Greg Palast reports from Center of the World, Ecuador
The equator is far more tacky than I imagined.
I’d taken time out from the state of siege in the capitol to take the twins on a quick holiday further up the Andes (or down, I don’t know which).
Anyway, the Ciudad Centro del Mundo — City at the Center of the World — had loudspeakers on poles scratching out some Inca-cum-New Age Muzak.
It cost a dollar and a half US to stand on the planet’s belly button — that’s a buck fifty in the local currency, too — Ecuador’s been “dollarized,” which is why everyone is flat broke and in a bad mood and why Quechua women in bowler hats were screaming into the cameras, “TODO FUERA! TODO FUERA !” — Everybody out! — in front of the Presidential Palace.
