Riobamba - Chimborazo - Nariz del Diablo

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Un gros salut depuis Riobamba! Apres Guayaquil, j'ai pris un bus pour Riobamba, situee a environ 5 heures de Guayaquil. La premiere journee ici je me suis juste promene un peu partout pour connaitre la ville. Je me suis promene d'un parc a un autre, lisant mon livre, profitant de la vie! La ville est situee a environ 2700 metres mais il y a beaucoup de montagnes plus grandes aux alentours donc il y a des vues extraordinaire!

Hier, je suis alle avec une visite guidee au volcan Chimborazo, le plus haut sommet en Equateur a 6310 metres. Nous sommes alles au premier refuge, situe a 4800 metres. De la, nous avions grimpes jusqua 5000 metres (voir la photo) au second refuge. A cause de l'altitude, c'etait quand meme pas si facile! Ca nous a pris une demie-heure a gravir 200 metres sur une distance d'un kilometre. Apres le diner, nous avions descendu le volcan... en velo de montagne! C'etait super trippant! A certains endroit on atteignait des vitesses ridicules! A un moment donne, j'ai meme depasse un auto hahaha (parce qu'une partie du trajet se fait sur la route). En tout cas, c'etait super! A oui, j'ai presque oublie... je me suis reveille a 5:26 hier matin pour faire la file pour acheter un billet de train pour le voyage du Nariz del Diablo. J'etais en ligne a 5:30 et j'etais deja le 6e. Il n'y avait que 29 places a vendre et j'en voulais une absolument. Le pire c'est que la billeterie n'ouvre qu'a 8:00 donc j'ai fais la file pendant 2:30 mais j'ai eu mon billet!

Bon ben vous avez surement devinez que aujourd'hui j'ai fais le voyage en train du Nariz del Diablo. En fait, ce n'est pas vraiment un train mais plutot un bus modifier qui roule sur le chemin de fer. De plus, avant, tu avais le droit de voyager sur le toit mais l'annee passee deux touristes japonais se sont fait decapites (literalement!) parce qu'ils se sont mis debout donc on a plus le droit maintenant. En tout cas, c'etait un voyage spectaculaire. Ca a vraiment vallu la peine de se reveiller deux matins consecutifs a 5:30. Le paysage etait super! A la fin, j'ai dine avec des amis que j'ai fais sur le "train" avant de reprendre un bus pour riobamba.

Demain, je m'en vais a Cuenca (vers le Sud) pour eventuellement arriver au Peru! A la prochaine!


A big hello directly from Riobamba, Ecuador. I arrived here a few days ago from Guyaquil. My first day here I basically wandered around from parc to parc, reading a book, enjoying the weather, and getting to know the city. The city is at around 2700 metres but there are lots of taller mountains around so you get all these awesome views.

Yesterday I woke up at 5:26 to line up to get tickets for the Nariz del Diablo train ride. I was there by 5:30 but I was already the 6th one and they were only selling 29 tickets. The thing is the ticket office only opens at 8:00 so I had to wait 2:30 in line and it was quite cold but it was worth it in the end because I got my ticket. Anyways, after that whole ordeal I went with an organized tour to the Chimborazo volcano, the highest peak in Ecuador at 6,310 meters. The summit also happens to be the furthest point from the center of the earth (yes, further than the Everest because the earth is not a perfect sphere and bla bla bla... go on wikipedia to find out the real reason). We drove to 4,800 meters and from there we walked up to 5,000 meters (see proof on the picture). We walked up 200 meters over a distance of 1km and it took us 30 minutes! That is really long but because of the altitude it's a lot harder (but still not that hard). After lunch, we biked down the volcano. It was one of the coolest activities I have done in South America. You go super fast downhill over a distance of 38 km. At some point I even passed a car (part of it is on a road).

Today I obviously did the Nariz del Diablo train ride. It is actually not a train but a modified bus that rides on the tracks. You used to be able to ride the train on the roof but after a japonese tourist got decapited (literally) last year they have banned this. Anyways, it is an absolutely awesome (in terms of scenery) journey and it was worth lining up early in the morning for. After the train ride, I had lunch with people I met through the train ride and it was cool to just hang out in the sun. Then we took the bus back and it was packed and smelled like crap and a native girl puked on her mom and it dripped on the girl sitting next to me. Nasty!

Anyways, I'm off to Cuenca tomorrow because I have to somehow be in Lima by August 7th.

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Part of trip: La Locura

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