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Published: February 13th 2007
WERE IN SOUTH AMERICA!!!!! Thats what Ian and I keep telling ourselves when were travelling outside of Quito!! (Sometimes in Quito too, lol) This weekend was no objection! Emily, Ian and I decided, Friday night, that we were leaving for Riobamba the next morning... when we got there, Saturday at like 11h we didnt do a whole lot, visited the big bad town of Riobamba, went to the market and bought some good old indigenous wear!
I have to mention that Carnival is next weekend. Carnival is some sort of religious celebration before lent or something, BUT most importantly its for FUN and FIESTAS. In Ecuador, for Carnival, kids throw water at people on the street. Either with water ballons or squirt guns!! What they throw varies on the city your in. Riobamba, luckily, is just water! But kids usually start like two weeks before Carnival. My first experience with this was at the market with two little boys squirting us with a water gun, I was seriously looking to buy a water gun myself to play along but couldnt find one. Im definetly buying one for the Carnival weekend, were going to the beach... Beach is supposebly crazy for
Carnival! Im pumped!
But anyways that night we just went out for supper/Sangria at a GREAT Argentine style restaurant it was fabulous! A little too much Sangria but no worries! Sunday morning we had to get up super early at like 5h30 cuz we were leaving by train for NARIZ DEL DIABLO!! Which is Devils Nose in English.
The famous trip starts in Riobamba from there we go south until Alausi. From Alausi we go down the Devils Nose and come back up ... (Need to mention lucky people who get there early enough get to ride on top of the train, not inside.)
Now, brief history: In like 1895 they started building a railway from Guayaquil to Quito (two major cities in Ecuador) building this was super hard cuz it was in the Highlands, of course. They got to a point where they encountered "an almost perpendicular wall of rock" which is called "Nariz del Diablo" (Devils Nose). So they carved the track in a zig-zag form and the train had to advance and back up in order to get to Alausi (a small town higher up in the mountains)!! A lot of lives were lost
Niños malos jaja
They were running around squirting everyone with their supersoakers!! in this process, but they finally arrived in Quito in 1908.
It was really cool to experience this, although its totally touristic, it was really interesting and not to mention gorgeous! We got to meet a lot of cool people and saw some amazing views that I still cant even believe exist. The pictures dont even do them justice! It was really cool to see how the track works. When the train has to switch tracks, theres a man that runs out of the train to do so, I though that was pretty interesting! I definetely recommend this to EVERYONE, but bring hot clothes, gloves and a hat if you plan on riding the top, cuz its super cold especially in the morning!
When we got back to Riobamba, everyone was in Carnival mode! There were kids in the back of trucks everywhere throwing water on people on the streets. We had to have like one person looking forward, one backwards, one all around and one to look above. We still got caught but its all fun and games. I loved it!! It was like a mission of something! haha
Anyways thats my weekend in Riobamba. I
absolutely loved it! Cant wait for next weekend (long weekend for Carnival) ... were hittin up the beach... Canoa!!!
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kimberly
non-member comment
amazed
Jehanne, your pictures are beautiful and your stories are very entertaining