Travelling Around Ecuador Part 2

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Day 85 - Thursday 24th November - Banos and Alausi

The morning was spent looking around the town of Banos a bit more, including a visit to the church where we had been told there was a display about the town but actually there wasn't all that much to see. The highlight of the morning was a lovely cafe we found for breakfast. Banos is a nice town but I preferred Mindo. Around about lunch time we were on a bus to Riobamba. The journey to Riobamba took us past Chimborazo, the highest volcano in Ecuador. Unfortunately it was covered in clouds, but you could still see the base of the glacier.

Our bus dropped us off in quite a random spot in Riobamba, which is where we had to change buses to go to Alausi. Fortunately I had read the blog of a family who had done the same journey so I knew we needed to get a taxi to the bus station or we could have got quite lost at this point. The bus station was well organised and it wasn't long before we were on the next bus. This one was much more full of locals wearing the traditional dress of the mountain region of Ecuador. The bus stopped regularly on our journey in increasingly remote spots. The local people would get off in places that were nowhere near any signs of accommodation. The views were spectacular as we wound our way through the mountains. Eventually the bus made its way down the mountainside into the small town of Alausi.

The only reason for going to Alausi is to catch the Devils Nose train. Many people don't even stay the night. However I really liked it. It had fantastic views over the valley; and when we wandered around in the evening there were lots of kids playing out in the street. Many of them appeared to be rehearsing song and dance routines. The main downside to the town was the distinct lack of food options. In the end we went for Chinese which was ok but nothing special. The place where we stayed seemed to be a room in someone's house. It was clean, pretty and extremely close to the station, but a bit on the pricey side. On our way to our accommodation another wheel fell off my suitcase.

Day 86 - Friday 25th November - The Devil's Nose train and on to Cuenca

We had quite an early start the next morning. I had been really looking forward to our train trip because I had so enjoyed the one in Quito. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to expectations, possibly due to overhype. The Devil's Nose is the name of part of a mountain that is particularly steep. The train line weaves backwards and forwards down the side of it from Alausi to a small town at the bottom. Once at the bottom, the train goes slightly further on so everybody can get got photos of the nose, and then returns to the town where it waits for an hour. There is time to get a drink and watch some traditional dance before going back up the mountain. The scenery was spectacular and the track an impressive feat of engineering, but I preferred the avenue of the volcanoes trip.

We didn't hang around in Alausi when we got back as we were keen to have as much time in Cuenca as possible. It took a bit of time to work out where to get the bus from. The woman in the tourist information had rather misleadingly said we would be able to walk there with suitcases. Admittedly it wasn't that far from the centre, but it was up a steep hill and I was down to two wheels on my suitcase. In the end we got a taxi to what was essentially a hut on the side of the road. Despite appearances, it was an efficient service and it wasn't long before we were on our next bus journey.

We arrived in Cuenca late afternoon. Once we had settled into our hotel room (which was massive), we went on a suitcase and trouser hunt. This turned out to be a mistake as it was Black Friday (how is this now an international thing?) and the shops were rammed. In the end I didn't buy anything but I did return for the much needed suitcase the next day. In the evening we headed into town and had a nice meal on the main square.

Day 87 - Saturday 26th November - Ingapica

Another early start, this time to head out to Ingapica. I had been in two minds about whether or not to go, but I'm really pleased I did. Ingapica is the Ecuadorean equivalent of Machu Picchu. It was nowhere near as impressive as its Peruvian counterpart, but it was very interesting nonetheless and we had a great guide. He explained how the Incas had conquered the tribes around them and pointed out parts of the site that belonged to the previous civilisations. They were in the process of trying to retrieve the stones from the buildings that the local farmers now use in the construction of their buildings. My favourite part was seeing the path that originally went all the way to Machu Picchu. After the tour of the site, we still had time to walk out to a rock formation that looked like a face and to have a look round the museum. The museum was a blessing because it was raining quite heavily by then.

We returned to Cuenca at about 1. It was more or less the same route we had done the day before. It would have been good to stop off and do Ingapica on the way, but it wouldn't have been practical with out bags. When we got back to Cuenca, we had some cake and then went for a walk around town. We stumbled across a big parade with lots of local school groups in it. I have no idea what it was in aid of, but we stopped to watch for a bit. Later in the day I invested in my new suitcase (much bigger than the broken one so I now had lots of room for souvenirs), but did not find any trousers for the Galapagos/the jungle.

In the evening we had decided to go to the cinema to see "Fantastic Beasts", but it did not start until late. On the way to buy my suitcase I had spotted an exhibition of orchids that was open until 8 so we stopped in on the way. It turned out to be free - bonus - and there were great flower displays everywhere. The cinema was outside the old part of the city so it was a good opportunity to get a glimpse of a more modern side to the city. It was still possible to walk there, but I began to realise that Cuenca was bigger than I had initially thought. "Fantastic Beasts" was fun but not as good as the last two Harry Potter films.

Day 88 - Sunday 27th November - Cuenca and Guayaquil

On Sunday morning we took an open-top bus tour of the city. This was a good move as we were able to get a good sense of the city in the short amount of time we had. The tour included a trip to a great viewpoint over the city. Here I finally found some lightweight trousers that I liked too. I can understand why people like Cuenca so much. It was very pretty with French influences in some of the architecture in the old town. Personally I prefer Quito as I thought Cuenca was a bit too small, but I would like to go back to Cuenca one day as I feel there is more to see.

By lunchtime we were back on the road again, this time on a coach to Guayaquil. This was my favourite bus journey in Ecuador, especially the first part through the mountains. At one point it looked like it was snowing, and actually the bus pulled over so everybody could get out and take photos. It turned out to be hail but the locals were excited nonetheless - and it still looked pretty. This bus was also the most comfortable one that I travelled on in Ecuador. It was a pleasant few hours. As we got closer to the coast the weather gig much warmer and the style of house changed. Some of the areas we passed through appeared to be significantly poorer than anything else I had seen in Ecuador.

I had read and heard many bad things about Guayaquil, and especially about the bus station, so I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in a bus station that seemed very similar to an airport in many ways. It was certainly huge but it didn't feel particularly unsafe. We were able to get a taxi to our hostel without any problems. Guayaquil was muggy and we were grateful for the air conditioning in our room. We saw very little of Guayaquil, but what I saw I liked a lot. It was dark most of the time we were there so it's hard to get an accurate picture of the place. Mainly we walked along the river front. There was a huge Christmas market place with a massive Christmas tree and several large models of various scenes from the Christmas story.

At one end of the walk you can climb up to a view over the city. The staircase is flanked by places to eat and drink. The atmosphere was good because the local football team were playing. A week later they won the Ecuadorean league. We had planned to eat at that end of town but struggled to find anywhere decent once we had gone back down the steps. We ended up at KFC! We had strict instructions about where to avoid to ensure we stayed safe, but there were definitely parts of the city that I would like to go back and explore further, including some impressive-looking colonial buildings and multicoloured houses that lose their effect in the dark. However we couldn't stay for more than one night because the Galapagos Islands were calling...

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