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Published: August 11th 2007
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Railway stop
Bill gave these children a pen each - they seemed delighted with them. We arose at 5 a.m. to be collected to board the Devil's Nose train, which only runs on 3 days of the week. It is a 7 hour ride, culminating in the descent then ascent again of the Devil's Nose, a very steep hillside, which the train negotiates via a number of switchbacks, which involve the railway line being perched perilously close to sheer drops in a number of places. The line was a triumph of engineering, but costly in terms of lives lost building it. It used to run to the coast, but landslides have closed parts of the line, so now it just operates as a tourist train. Until recently it was possible to sit on top of the carriages for a fantastic view, but since 2 Japanese tourists were killed in recent times doing this, the practice is now not allowed.
We took our seats early - just after 6 am. - the coach was already pretty full, and the train set off at 7 a.m. The road runs parallel with the railway for parts of the journey, and all the tour buses head off as the train sets off to pick up their clients again further
Devils Nose railway
Family by the railway down the line. We kept meeting up and waving as the journey progressed. At first we travelled through the outskirts of Riobamba, but soon were out in the countryside.
Anyway, the journey was fairly uncomfortable, as the seats were so cramped, but the views of rural Ecuador fascinating. Whenever we passed any settlements, or people working on the land, they would stop to wave to us with great delight, and the children would often run along beside the train for a while. At the next stop, Jairo, our guide met us again and asked if we would like to ride in the driver's cab for the next part of the trip, as he was friends with the driver - so that explained how he had got on to the train early to get our seats!
So Eric and I climbed up and sat in the cab for the next hour and a half - a fascinating - if noisy - experience. The driver, his young son, the guard and conductor were all squashed in there - with us too, and engaged in constant loud and animated conversation. Needless to say, we had a fantastic view, and what was
Devils Nose railway
Mounting the driver's cab for our stint up front very surprising was the procedure for crossing roads. The train slows down on approaching a road and hoots like mad, but it seems traffic has priority - except the train can't stop without due warning. We crossed the Pan American Highway OK, but at the next road crossing, a car nipped across only about 50 metres ahead of us - followed a few seconds later by a huge trailer lorry, which we missed by yards - a bit scary. We were also able to see much better the state of the track and the rather flimsy wooden bridges we crossed - which I'd rather not have seen - and what was interesting was that every time we crossed any points or junctions, the driver slowed right down, and looked backwards out of the cab to ensure that all the coaches negotiated the points safely - we found out why later...
Back to our carriage at the next stop, which was the actual Devil's Nose section. The line makes its way round a very steep spur, changing direction down the switchbacks, with the rails being VERY close to a massively steep drop down into the river gorge. Once at the
bottom, the train stopped, we got out for a while, took photos, then climbed back in for the return journey back up the hillside.
Nearing the top again, we were feeling rather hungry, as it was near 2 pm by this time, and looking forward to our lunch at the end of the trip - when there was an almighty bang and judder and the train stopped. It had de-railed, and started to lean over - fortunately not next to a drop at this stage. Many of the passengers got out to see what had happened - and the engine and first 2 carriages were off the line. There then ensued 30 minutes or so of frantic activity - digging with shovels just in front of the train; big wooden T blocks and metal bars appeared; one of the rail workers crawled under the train and started working underneath, then others started throwing mud, leaves , rocks under the carriages on the line. Eventually, there was a series of big jerks, and the train seemed to be back on the tracks, so everyone got back on, and we proceeded without further mishap.
We were ravenous when Jairo met
us with our packed lunches, and also now delayed somewhat, so ate them in the van, on the drive to Cuenca. This took another 4 hours or so - through glorious countryside, although we were often in the mist on a rather basic road. We stopped briefly at the Inca ruins at Ingapirca - not quite Machu Picchu,
but well worth a visit, and very interesting to compare the similarities with ruins we had seen previously in Peru.
It was dark by the time we arrived at our hotel in Cuenca - the Santa Lucia. One of the loveliest hotels we have ever stayed in, furnished with beautiful antiques and furnishings, with bedrooms set off a 1st floor gallery which overlooked the ground floor restaurant. We had a lovely relaxing dinner there before collapsing, exhausted, to bed.
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