Hitting the Gringo Trail

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I know it's not been long since my last update, but wanted to post a short hello as I'm off to a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere tomorrow, it's so remote they only have one internet café(!) and that's $3 an hour, so being a tight-fisted traveller type I won't be using that much!

Stayed nearly a week in Baños, was very relaxing. Kind of like an Ecuatorian version of Bath, with spas, hot springs, waterfalls, volcanoes and lush jungley scenery (ok, so not too much like Bath!) Lots of nice easy walking, and sitting around reading. I went biking and rafting, which was excellent fun! Class III rapids down into the Amazon basin, which were scary but not life threatening, inducing lots of girly screaming from our boat as we all fell in time and time again!

I picked up a couple of travelling companions and we left to head further South, via the infamous 'Nariz del Diablo' ('Devil's Nose') railway. Everyone with a Lonely Planet looks forward to this train ride which is touted as 'hair-raising' and 'death-defying', and the book says that´'daredevils ride on the roof'! Of course, we all like to think of ourselves as daredevils and so at 6.30am we eagerly scrambled onto the roof of the train and bagged our spot. Various locals looked on in wonder at the idiot gringoes who pay $11 each to cram onto the roof when there's plenty of space inside.

To cut a very long story somewhat shorter, we spent eight long hours on the roof of this bl$$dy train. Started freezing cold and shivering, then got gradually warmer, then got burnt in the midday sun. We derailed twice, which was handy cos there were no toilets. Average speed was around 20mph. The chants of 'are we there yet?' began around four hours into it as we considered the feasibility of getting off to get a taxi. True, some of the views were stunning, but only a serious railway buff would appreciate this trip! Tip for future travellers, get on at Alausi for a much shorter trip.

Am now in Cuenca, which other people have raved about, but I don't know, I must be missing something, it's very pretty, but it's a city and I'm quite keen to move on to smaller, more rural Vilcabamba, my next stop.

One highlight was visiting the Panama Hat makers, Alberto Pulla, a world famous celebrity (true, he showed us the magazine articles). Here he makes and sells Panama Hats which are so fine you can roll them through a wedding ring. They sell for between $20 and $200 here, but an American guy assured us that in USA and Europe they'll sell for up to 5 times that. Very sweet guy, no voice, but very animated and full of beans (and loved posing for pics with us girls)!

I'm well and truly on the Gringo trail now, and it's really making me appreciate my experiences in Otovalo. It's great to meet so many people en-route and be able to travel with others, but real interaction with the people and the country are very limited for most independent travellers. For a start, despite having a few token lessons, very few gringoes I've met can speak Spanish. And seeing people discreetly snap pics of locals through their telephoto lenses is a world away from being at the school where I had kids bouncing up and down in front of me begging me to take their photo!

For this reason, I´ve decided to try to get a few more weeks volunteering in Guatemala, as it gets you so much closer to the people, and is great for the language too.

As I mentioned above, will be out of email contact for the next week or so. Am hoping to go to Guatemala next Thursday or so, will be back online then. Only 4 weeks left!!

Ciao!

Ali

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Photos

Death-defying daredevils!
(not!) Maggie, me and Anne on the roof of the train

Me and Alberto Pulla
Ecuador's most famous Panama Hat maker