Riding the Nariz Del Diablo (eventually!)

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Day 39: Thursday 7th August - A day with a few twists and turns

As I awake today I'm planning to cyyle the 60km from Banos to Puyo on the edge of the Amazon jungle. I'm planning to do this with a guy in my dorm and then catch a bus late in the day to Riobamba to ride on the famous train ride that goes from there. However, its a wet morning and I'm still feeling the effects of Cotopaxi so decide to knock on the head the ride to Puyo. Its a shame as its supposed to be the best way to see Banos and the surrounding countryside, and the route is lined with waterfalls. Some things aren't to be though.....I can't postpone until tomorrow as I want to catch the train in Riobamba and it only departs on Friday's, Sunday's and Wednesday's and I can't afford to wait until Sunday as I have a flight to Galapagos Islands on Monday and that would leave it too tight for time.

Instead, after a lazy morning I catch a bus at 11am to Riobamba which takes about 2 hours. After getting off the bus head down to the train station to try to get some information. It is deserted however, but the information office will open in a couple of hours at 3pm. Get some lunch with a guy from Bristol called Eddie who I met on the bus who also wants to catch the train from Riobamba. At 3pm we return to the station to find that there is no longer a train from Riobamba (A guy in Quito told me it was due to a landslide) but rather it now departs from Alausi at 8am tomorrow. We can buy a bus ticket from Riobamba to Alausi which leaves at 6am tomorrow to meet up with the train or alternatively make our own arrangements. We decide to catch a bus to Alausi, a further hour and a half south of Riobamba that afternoon rather than have a ridiculously early start the next day.

We arrive in Alausi late in the afternoon and are pleasantly surprised, its set in a spectacular location again, surrounded by hills and it is also relatively untouched by tourism, which makes a pleasant change. Its perhaps the first place on my travels so far that is relatively untouched by tourism. We wander around the town - its small, population must be less than 10,000 including checking out the giant statue of St Peter which towers over the place. After some dinner we play some pool in one of the bars over a few beers. The day ends well but differently to how I imagined at the start....didn't expect to be Alausi!

Day 40: Friday 8th August - Riding the Nariz Del Diablo

Its a relatively early start as we want to be ready in the queue to get tickets for the train. When we get there however we have been beaten to the gun and we can't get a ticket for 8am. The train does make several other trips during the day though so we do manage to get a ticket for 12.30pm. We've now got a morning to waste which we do through various means (having a coffee, chess, connect 4, and wandering around the countryside). before making our way back to the train station. The town is now swarming with tourists and the train is one tourist extravaganza. We are hoping that the train ride will not be a let down after spending the best part the last 24 hours trying to get on it and thankfully we are not disappointed. The train races down steep hillsides known as the Nariz Del Diablo (The Devil's Nose), negotiating several switchbacks for around 40 minutes before it turns around and those who sat inside now sit on the roof (and vice versa) and then makes its way back up. We have the pleasure of sitting on the roof - a first for me on a train - on its return, which being uphill takes slightly longer. The countryside is spectacular and the train ride is definitely one of the highlights of Ecuador to date.

After collecting our bags we head for the bus stop to Cuenca (we're both heading in the same direction) and catch a bus which arrives in Cuenca some 4 hours later in mid evening after passing through some spectacular mountain scenery on the way. After getting dinner in the hostel we head out for a few beers in Cuenca. The bar scene is good and with more energy tomorrow I'm sure to pay a return visit!

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