Cuenca

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We travelled down to the South of Ecuador, taking 2 days from Quito, through glorious countryside and mountains, to Cuenca, a beautiful city containing many spanish colonial style buildings, old cobbled streets and many lovely churches and public buildings.
There were only the four of us travelling with our own driver and seperate guide, so it felt quite exclusive - real small group travel.

The first day involved many hours of travelling down the Avenue of the Volcanoes. Leaving Quito took some time, as the city is so long, but the journey gave a fantastic glimpse at various aspects of rural life in Ecuador. We stopped at the fascinating market in Latacunga, where all sorts of fruit, veg, grain, and some handicrafts were on sale. We then climbed higher and higher ( in the vehicle) skirting the highest mountain in Eccuador, Chimborazo, 6,300 metres high, a volcano which fortuntely is not presently active. We stopped at the base camp refuge for lunch, which was situated in the most stunning wild setting beneath the snow covered volcano, with its summit towering a bove us masked in cloud. Once there, it transpired there had been a problem with communication,and no lunch, which perhaps was as well, as Bill was feeling the effects of the altitude - 4,600 metres - so we headed on down to the town where we were staying the night - Riobamba, and had lunch there - at 3 pm. - before heading off to our hotel.

We stayed there relaxing in the beautiful hotel, which nevertheless had its foibles - flashing light which wouldn't switch off in the bedroom, leak in the roof into the beautifully furnished lounge ( it had started to rain), non flushing loo, beds made for the indigenous population - that is, rather short and taps which turned the other way from what you expect. Bill must have been feeling ill, as he went to bed and skipped dinner. The rest of us also had an early night as we were getting up at 5 a.m. next morning to ride the Devil Nose train - a trip described as one of the great railway journeys of the world - and the only real reason to stay at Riobamba, the starting point.

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Photos

Latacunga
Market Day

Latacunga
Market Day

Latacunga
The market

Latacunga
The market

Latacunga
The market

Latacunga
Grain for sale at the market

Latacunga
All things wooden at the market

Chimborazo
Vicuna grazing on the paramo

Chimborazo
Tallest mountain in the world -measured from the centre of the earth to the summit. Highest mountain in Ecuador - 6,310 metres or 20,571 feet .

Chimborazo
Entrance to Base Camp

Chimborazo
Base Camp sign

Chimborazo
Base camp, but no lunch.

Chimborazo
Andes flowers

Chimborazo
Montane flowers - crocus family

Riobamba
Andean night at the hotel - but there was not that much playing, and rather a lot of background accompaniment on the CD player.