Blogs from Riobamba, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 9

Riobamba probably deserves more investigation than I was willing to give it based on first impressions, so apologies to anyone who went there and loved it. Initially we'd planned to spend a couple of days there, we're not fond of turning up to a place and setting straight off the next day. Might be laziness but I prefer to think of it as giving every place a fair chance. Anyway we're on holiday!! Riobamba didn't capture either of our imaginations though, and as such we decided to take the much lauded train around the Devil's Nose (Nariz del Diablo) and carry on south directly. The train around Nariz del Diablo was apparently something of an engineering feat although these days is a tourist attraction and nothing more. You can't travel anywhere in Ecuador by train other ... read more

On arriving in Riobamba we checked into the Hotel Estation... A large old hotel with paper thin walls and large wooden hallways which seemed to have been designed with a concert halls acoustic in mind and therefore made a great job of amplifying any noise in the building - most of which seemed to come from a large Equadorian male in the room next to ours...... At 5.00am the next day we rose, threw on our clothes and after a quick bite to eat headed for the train and ticket office. The railway which incorporates the Devil´s Nose and Alausi Loop was built nearly 100 years ago and at its time was a major feat of engineering. It was built to connect Quito with Guayaquil on the coast, which meant starting the track at around 2800m ... read more

We are now taking a break from travelling and spending about a week in Riobamba in the house rented for Mike's project. The nice thing about this setup is that we don't have to pay for nightly accomodation, and the food is cheaper, although we have to cook it ourselves. And, we can watch movies, and TV shows I brought down with me, on the computer in privacy. The plan was for me to get free room & board in exchange for helping process samples (floatation, cleaning artifacts, etc.). Unfortunately, after my 3rd night here, I haven't been much help. I guess it was bound to happen: I got a little careless, and got sick. The first night I was hit by what I think was an allergic reaction to all the dust in the house, ... read more

Whew! We have been suitably chastised by a number of you for not writing often enough...and the year has just begun. What a week. The first Friday of work was a blast...apparently the town we are working in has a week-long fiesta celebrating the independence of the area - "The Fiesta De Colta". This fiesta just ended on August 2nd after 10-14 days of havoc. That friday (the 20th) we finished work with the field crew and decided to share some beers with everyone....well, 30 beers later we exited the site feeling refreshed, and managed to literally walk into a very colourful parade down the Pan-American highway and through the centre of town. Our Ecuadorian friends decided a parade just wasn´t a parade without a couple boxes of fruity wine and the liquor of choice down ... read more

Ecuadors hoegsta topp!!! Den snoeklaedda vulkanen, 6310meter,Chimborazo. daer var vi igaar!! Vilken kick! vi tog bussen tidigt fraan Quito, aakte soederut i 4 timmar till staden Riobamba. Kaend ocksaa som ¨Sultan of the Andes¨. I staden bor 126.000 personer, en ganska traditionellt gammaldags stad med Ecuadors stoersta ¨tjurfaektningsarena¨. Vaelframme i Riobamba ringde vi vaenner till Luis och Susanna som lovat att ¨ta hand om oss/visa oss¨the highlights. Det som vi verkligen ville se och uppleva var Chimborazo. Saa efter telefonsamtalet saa var vi helt ploetsligt hemma hos Junior Daniels familj paa familjemiddag. Fick mumsig potatis/kycklingsoppa somfoeraett och kyckling och ris&pasta daerefter. Tur att vi aat ordentligt! .....foer sen bar det ivaeg mot toppen av Chimborazo! En aeventyrlig faerd uppaat bergen med Daniels 4 wheel drive jeep. Det blev allt sandigare, dimmigare och ... read more