Tourists visiting the Mitad del Mundo monument in Ecuador pay to stand on a yellow line painted on the ground, which was established in 1936 to mark the exact location of the Earth's equator.

A closer look

Tourists visiting the Mitad del Mundo monument in Ecuador pay to stand on a yellow line painted on the ground, which was established in 1936 to mark the exact location of the Earth's equator. Modern GPS technology has since revealed that the actual equator is located about two hundred and forty meters away, rendering the massive, elaborate monument completely geographically inaccurate. Yet, hordes of visitors still eagerly line up to straddle the fake line, confidently taking pictures of themselves standing in two hemispheres at once while actually just standing firmly in the Southern one. It is a beautiful testament to the travel industry's core philosophy: if you build a big enough gift shop, nobody will ever care about actual science!