Rest Ahoused

We have been in a frantic, headlong rush to complete as much of the restoration as possible  before the first volunteer/intern arrives Wednesday night. Necessity hastens.

The interior bedroom was the first priority. We painted the floor a terracotta color and unpacked even our long-packed luggages into the dresser. The two nights since have been quiet and peaceful in a way completely opposite of nights in Ana Lucia's house across from the karaoke bar.

Next was to complete the netting around the Veranda and install the outdoor kitchen area, comprised of preparation spaces, a sink and an oven with built-in stovetop. We ran out of assembly pieces -- nails, bolts, wall plugs, etc. -- and will be heading to Ibarra in a few hours for a small shopping trip.

Meanwhile, now that the evening drive has been eliminated and we can sit down to discuss our ideas for the house we have finally had time to prepare a small model, more or less to scale. Here it is:

View of the bedroom, lounge, kitchenette, storage room and entrance -- facing south.

View of yoga room with human figurine for scale. Figurine represents a height of roughly 5'8" (172 cm). Yoga room is on a lower level than rest of house.

View of lounge with human figurine for scale. Lounge is also on a lower level.

Top view of house. North is the top of the plywood sheet, where the bedroom is. Yoga room to the east, entrance and storage to the south, lounge to the west.

View of entrance with human figurine for scale.

View of kitchenette with human figurine for scale.

Latitudinal Location Leavens Luxurious Allure

A short Astronomy primer for the Equator.

The location of Latitude and Longitude lines is measured in degrees (º), minutes (') and seconds ("). A standard measurement looks like this: 0º 28' 5,988".

1º is 69 miles or 111,2 km.

1º divided in 60 'minute' parts leaves 1,15 miles (1,853 km) per minute.

60' divided in 60 "second" parts leaves 0,019 miles (0,03 km) per second.

The standard measurement above --  0º 28' 5,988" -- is the location of the house in Chirimoyal, roughly 32,31 miles (51,99 km) North of the equator.

According to The Hand-Sculpted House, the degree above the horizon (the altitude) of the winter sun at noon can be calculated by subtracting the latitude of the site from the latitude of the Arctic Circle: 66º 33' 44". Amazingly, the arc of the winter sun throughout the day is also the path of the summer moon, which provides a second method for estimating solar and lunar location throughout the year.

Following the formula, the winter sun at noon above Chirimoyal has an altitude of

(66º 33' 44") - (0º 28' 5,988") = 66º 5' 38,012"

Equation for the winter sun at noon above Chirimoyal.

Using Find My Shadow I can verify that this equation is roughly accurate by comparing it to 

the location of the sun in mid December (66,183º) and mid January (67,680º).

Chirimoyal - Summer sunset

Reckoning the summer sun is done by adding 46º to the winter sun's position, but this is where the Astronomy becomes interesting and also where I had to do some research into the Astronomical implications of being on the Equator in order to understand where the Sun is throughout the year.

There are several wonders of being at the middle of the world.

First, light leaks from the sky much faster here than anywhere else. Far into the Northern or Southern hemisphere, the sun follows an oblique arc through the sky. When the sun sets it continues to move horizontally and vertically, tracing a slanted line and casting visible light into the growing dark for the duration of its perceived descent into the west.

On or near to the Equator, the sun travels close to directly overhead, in a relatively straight line with regard to the horizon. According to Euclid's "Triangle Inequality" proposition, 

In any triangle the sum of any two sides is greater than the remaining one.

This proposition is part of the statement that the shortest path between two points is a straight line. Whereas in the Northern and Southern hemispheres the sun does not follow a straight line toward the horizon, at the Equator the sun travels relatively directly across the sky and sets relatively perpendicularly with regard to the horizon. The period of descent is therefore more rapid and consequently the length of sunset much shorter at the Equator.

Second, while in the Northern and Southern hemispheres the sun appears to be higher or lower in the summer and winter seasons, on or near the Equator the sun is always high in the sky but passes between the south and north of the sky twice per year. From roughly April to September the sun is in the North, from October to March it is in the South.

Thereby in Chirimoyal we expect to find the summer sun above the southern horizon at

(66º 5' 38,012") + 46º = 112º 5' 38,012"

Equation for the summer sun at noon above Chirimoyal.

This is an obtuse angle -- greater than 90º -- and means, of course, that the summer sun is actually (180º - 112º 5' 38,012") = 67º 54' 21,988" above the northern horizon.