Rain, clouds and the equator

Time to play catch up with the blog again- we've been moving pretty fast through Ecuador (trying to get past the bad weather- unsuccessfully) so here's what I've been up to:
After leaving Cuenca we travelled to Riobamba, our original plan had been to get off the bus at Alausi which is where the train to the Nariz del Diablo (Devil's nose- a spectacular trainride through the mountains) calls before setting off for the gorge, however the weather was completely rubbish- overcast and rainy so we skipped Alausi and carried on to Riobamba. Our stay was short but long enough for us to visit the nearby (inactive) volcano of Chimborazo- The volcano is 6310m high and has the claim to fame of being the highest mountain on eat is measured as terms of distance from the earth's core to the summit. This is because the volcano is so near the equator where the Earth bulges. We didn't make it to the summit however- to do so requires a guide and proper equipment to cope with the snow and ice. Instead we went to the refuge at 4800m in a taxi and walked from there to the refuge at 5000m. That is the highest I have ever been and it was the hardest 1km I have ever walked in my life!!! The altitude really makes any kind of activity difficult and I needed a sit down and a cup of mate de coca (coca tea) to revive me at the refuge! Disappointingly we couldn't see the summit as clouds obscurred it but it was still beautiful up there in the snow. Needless to say the walk down was considerably easier than the walk up!
From Riobamba we continued northwards to Baños which is set at the foot of a very active volcano- Tungurahua which came to life in 1999 prompting the town to be evacuated. Following a lack of brimstone and ashes or rivers of molten lava through the town the people moved back a year or so later but the volcano has continued to smoke and spew out flames and ashes, which we were hoping to witness. No such luck however- clouds continued to thwart our efforts to see volcano summits! Nevertheless we spent a pleasant couple of days relaxing in Baños and made the mandatory visit to one of the thermal baths which give the town its name. Heated by the volcano the waters smelt distinctly sulphurous, although that could also have been attributed to the numerous bodies which had soaked in them. 40C waters were very pleasant in the cool mountain air!
After the road from Riobamba to Baños, which was crossed several times by mudslides which the bus had to edge its way across (a little nailbiting when the mudslide disappears over the edge of the road straight down into a steep-sided valley) we were relieved that the road onwards to Latacunga was uneventful. We had stopped here only to be able to visit the market at nearby Saquisili which is apparently one of the most important in Ecuador. This market is where the campesinos (peasants) come to trade animals, fruit and veg and to buy and sell clothes, pots and pans and everything else you can imagine. It was very colourful and full of interesting sights, particularly in the food section where pig's head and guinea pig were among the delicacies on offer. I resisted those but did get very into the deep fried battered sweet banana slices- kind of healthy... There was a small artesania (handicraft) section but on the whole this is an authentic market and we saw very few gringos.
We continued on that day to Quito. It was raining. A lot. This was not how I had imagined the equator, on which Quito almost exactly sits, to be! The first hostel we went to was ridiculously overpriced so we headed out into the rain to find another. Taxis wouldn't stop but the buses whizzing past cunningly drove straight through the puddles at the edges of the roads soaking us as we attempeted to hail a cab. Quito was not finding a place in our hearts!!! The following day the sun was shining and Quito started to creep up in my estimation. A maze of steep cobbled streets and colonial style buildings, the old town is charming and good exercise to walk around! We climbed to the bell tower of the unfinished but lovely Basilica for fantastic views across this huge city and after exploring the rest of the old town and getting my first south american haircut we headed for one of Quitos prime attractions- the Mitad del Mundo, or Middle of the World, where the equator lies just north of the city. There is a large park with shops and exhibitions and a large sculpture with compass points and a line showing exactly where the equator lies. Unfortunately 9 years ago GPS showed tht in fact the equator is not actually here at all but 200m away outside the park walls! Another museum has been built to exploit this fact and very well is does so! Here they demonstrated the effect of being on the equator; using a sink and some water we were shown how water in the northern hemisphere- literally 5 feet north of the line, goes down the plughole anticlockwise, while 5 ft south of the line it went down clockwise and directly on the line the water does not spiral at all but drops straight down the hole- weird!!! Another effect of the equator is apparently that your weight reduces due to the lower gravity and you become less strong- I didn't understand the scientific reasons for this but it was fascinating to see it proven! I had expected the equator to be tropical and sunny but we were again rained on and it was pretty chilly as we waited for a bus back to Quito.
Today the day dawned clear and we took advantage of this by taking the Teleferico (cable car) up to 4100m overlooking Quito. The view was spectacular- the city seems to go on forever along a valley surrounded by mountains, the peask of which were swathed in the inevitable clouds. As we headed back for the ride down the clouds moved in and the city below obscurred completely- good timing!
We have decided to leave Ecuador tomorrow and head north to Colombia in search of better weather, lower prices and the Amazon.

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