Nariz del Diablo

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Riobamba was the starting point for our descent south into Peru. The town is famous for the spectacular train ride to Sibambe, stopping in Alausi before making its way down to the world famous Nariz del Diablo or "Devil´s Nose"

We didn´t do a whole lot in Riobamba except wait for a few hours for the train tickets to go on sale. We stayed here one night and set off early the following morning

Neil and I rented some cushions and sat on the roof, which is the done thing for this trip. Vicki and Laura were cold and tired so they enjoyed the first part of the journey in the warmth of the only cabin on the train. The rest of the train consists of cargo carriages on top of which everyone sits. By the time we got there the top of most of the carriages were full so I asked a conductor where the best place was to sit. To our delight he informed us that the train would be going to collect another carriage and we would therefore be at the front of the train. There were about 400 people on the train and we were at the very front. It was pretty sweet. The only downside was that this was an old train, probably from the late 70´s according to Neil, our engineer friend. The result was the fumes were pretty strong and we were the first people they hit. A small price to pay

We were soon on our way. It quickly became clear why this trip was such an attraction as it stopped within the first 30 minutes. Much to our surprise some of the local boys got off the train and began fixing the tracks. They must have done this at least 6 times and on a number of ocassions they were actually changing the sleepers. It was really something else. After about the second stop Vicki and Laura hopped out of the carriage and joined us up in first class. They had realised that they were the only people under 60 who were not on the roof. They threw on their woolies and experienced this crazy journey from a much better perspective

The route that the train took was fantastic and the sights were consistently spectacular. We couldn´t have been going faster than 30 miles an hour for the whole time but it didn´t matter because there was so much to see. The tracks snaked in and around the mountains, past rivers, through towns and villages and across massive plains. When we passed through the towns all the kids made huge efforts to follow the train and the workers in the fields would stop their work and stood by the tracks waving and smiling with the 400 of us smiling and waving back. On numerous ocassions throughout our journey the locals would hop up on the train and sold all sorts of refreshments and snacks. We took full advantage of this and we munched on popcorn and drank beer as we took it all in. From the expressions on the people behind us and due to our sloppy eating we saw that popcorn can be surprisingly sore when you´re hit in the face on the top of a train. One elderly gentleman had obviously had a little more drink than he should have and he crawled up towards us and showing us an empty bottle said "I gotta take a piss!" Delightful stuff altogether

Gradually as more and more time passed without a stop we got a little comfortable and then after a loud noise and an immediate brake the unthinkable happened...the train had de-railed!!! We climbed down to take a look and get some pictures. The boys fixed the problem in no time, or so we thought. They told us to get back on the train and Vicki began her climb up the ladder when they decided to try to drive the train back on the tracks. Half way up the ladder Vicki bashed her shin off one of the bars and fell onto the roof of the train. This manoeuvre ended up de-railing another carriage and they had to begin the process again. At this stage Vicki and Laura were on top of the train screaming wildly clutching railings and trying to discuss a contingency plan should the train topple over much to the amusement of the other passengers who were laughing and taking pictures of this spectacle. Eventually we were back on track and on our way

When we got to the town of Alausi more people boarded and we headed over to the Devil´s Nose. This was actually quite a short journey and the highlight of this famous journey is the series of switch backs involved to get the train down a particularly steep mountain. When we arrived back at Alausi which was our final destination, we all agreed that the initial trip to Alausi was a lot more entertaining than the actual Devil´s Nose part. All things considered it was a great day however what was meant to be a 4 hour trip turned out to be ten hours and by the time we hopped on the bus to Cuenca we were all knackered

Cuenca is a really nice town but we only stayed there for one night as we had to continue our journey south to Peru

Ecuador is an stunningly beautiful country with something for everybody! It puzzles us as to why people skip it and go straight to Peru

Viva Ecuador!

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