Nariz Del Diablo

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Wednesday 21st March - Baños to Alausi

Again we both felt a little better so it was time to take the opportunity to get out of dodge and get away from the hostel which seemed to be a magnet for chumps. 2 hours on the bus and we were in Riobamba, followed by a walk and another 2 hours on a different bus and we were in Alausi, a small town and home to Ecuador´s most famous railway tourist attraction, "Nariz Del Diablo". We´d hopefully ride the train the following morning but judging by the complete absence of gringos in town it wasn´t looking promising. In the meantime we got to enjoy the delights of our new hotel, The Panamericano and what appeared to be a crumbling flee pit. Nice! Being a small town there wasn´t a lot of choice so we decided to just make the best of it being it was only 1 night.

Thursday 22nd March - Alausi to Cuenca

Up nice and early and we were pleased to arrive at the station to find out the 8am train would be running. It seems that the older, wealthier and more sensible holiday makers choose to stay out of the town and get minibused in and so explaining the lack of gringos about. Off we went on our choo choo train and we were treated to a delightful 45 minute ride down through the valleys and over the devils nose with the train utilising an unusual set of zig zag switch backs to make the descent into the tiny remote village of Sibambe. The railway line drops 500 metres in the space of 18 kilometres which was tremendously hard to achieve 100 years ago and sadly resulted in 3000 of the 4000 Jamaican railway workers dieing during its construction. The legacy of their hardwork and toil has left a spectacular journey for people to enjoy and the recent renovation of the Sibambe station and museum has been completed to a high standard. Farewell to the train and back on the bus at Alausi for a 4 hour ride to Cuenca, Ecuador´s 3rd most populous city. For the 1st time on our trip we were turned away from a full hostel that we´d arrived at and not only that one but also the next so it was starnge to turn up at the 3rd one where we would stay as the only guests in the place for the next 3 nights.

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