Alausi

Friday 11th February 2011

We have very little to report today. This is due to our desire to get to Alausi for the infamous train ride. The 4.5hr trip saw us change buses in Riobamba, quite a large city by Ecuador standards. From what we saw of the city, it didn't look like we were missing much. The most remarkable part of the journey was again the amazing scenery surrounding us on our travels. That and Emma having a lady's shopping resting on her head for 20 minutes. The indigenous people here carry loads on their backs in big scarves and it was one particular load that was on Emma's head. This was obviously a bus on the school run so with all the kids plus a few extras, there was barely enough standing room.

Alausi and hills.

The train station.

We arrived in Alausi early afternoon and headed straight for the train station to see about tickets. We managed to reserve seats for 11am the next day and were told that if we turned up at 7am there may be a train going at 8am.

For the second time, we didn't have accommodation booked and a handy tip by the man at the station saw us stay at the La Posada del Tren. A good recommendation.

Emma and St Peter.

Most towns seem to have a religious symbol looking over them and Alausi is no different with a mosaic statue of St Peter keeping a watchful eye on us.

In the evening there was a procession through the town of the local amateur sports teams (police, local govt, etc). Once over the town basically shut down, at 8:30pm. Not the place for a late night out! Despite this, it's a lovely little town with beautiful surroundings so we were very happy to be staying here.

Saturday 12th March 2011

Our train, built in France.

We decided to take a chance and hoped there was an 8am train on. Luckily for us there was so we boarded with two Ecuadorians and a load of Russian youngsters to set off on the 13.5km journey to Sibambe to see the Devil's Nose. This is the place where the track from Quito in the north splits to Cuenca and Guayaquil in the south. The Devil's Nose isn't the original name of this mountain. Before it was called Condor Pununo as these birds inhabited the area. Unfortunately, as soon as the engineering work started, the birds fled. We asked a local if there was any kind of programme to reintroduce the birds but he didn't think there was.

Emma and the Devils nose.

Despite the impact on nature and the knowledge that much of the original track was laid by slaves brought from Jamaica, you have to appreciate that it's an amazing piece of engineering. It took place around 1900 and basically zig zags to allow the train to drop 500m over a relatively short distance. 2500 men died during the construction of this 13.5km section, many from Yellow Fever. Given that the train system is no longer functional you have to wonder 100 years in whether it was worth it!

Sibambe station and paths leading to Cuenca and Guayaquil.

 As a tourist, however, it was definitely worth the trip out of the way to experience the most difficult railway ever to be built.

Back in town we were lucky enough to jump straight on a bus to Cuenca, our penultimate stop in Ecuador. Our friendly bus driver even held the bus and pulled it up outside our hostel so we could grab our bags. We're pretty certain this wouldn't happen in the UK!

Not much to report from our first night in Cuenca other than some rather tasty 2 for 1 cocktails and time spent getting our bearings around a new city.

That train track is also ours!