A Welshman who puked up a hill and rode down a mountain
Our travels took us from Baños to Riobamba where Dylan was hoping to find some decent off road mountain biking. We found a good company that did us a deal so that I could come along in the support vehicle as there was some good sightseeing to be had. The ride was down part of the highest volcano in Ecuador, Volcan Chimborazo (6310m).
Just in time for his biking extravaganza, Dylan contracted food poisoning from an innocent looking pizza. Still, he solidered on and our guide drove us up to the first climbers refuge on the mountain (4,800m) where Dylan was to start his descent. Just before heading off he thought he´d get rid of the offending pizza and puked all over his shoes. He felt a bit better though. He soldiered on again and did most of the ride while I sat in the car chatting to the guide and looking at the beautiful scenery.
Dylan later collapsed into bed and I set off to buy tickets for a well known train trip between Riobamba and Sibambe, known as the Nariz del Diablo (the Devils Nose).
Going Loco
The train ride was great. It is totally unsafe with everyone sitting on the roof of a very old train (in fact, there is only one carriage with seats inside) chugging along what I would say is quite a dangerous track. Being able to see the scenery like that though is well worth the risk (maybe). The trip is called the Devils Nose due to the last 45 minutes of the track which is down the face of a mountain. All very amazing engineering-wise I´m told, but I´ll get the resident expert on such matters to talk about that.
Dylan (who is quite keen on railways) explains: This is fondly known as "The most Difficult Railway in the World", and after seeing the landscape you can see why. This is the steepest railway I have ever seen, and in some places on the track we would be jostled out of our seats as the train bounced out of its tracks (actually we only derailed three times), but the most staggering part of this run is the devils nose where the track makes two tight switch-backs via sets of points, being simply too steep to climb.
It took two famous american engineers to tackle the job and it´s a credit to them (and no doubt their workforce which must have been considerable) when you look at the sculpting of the mountains and sidings. The mountains don´t seem too happy at being conkerd, and after half an hour or so I noticed that they are continously moving in an attempt to recover the track and claim back what is theirs. Mostly just dust and small rocks as we passed but on one occasion a large boulder about two and a half feet across. Firstly this merely lodged itself under the brake truck which I guess could have been ok, but when we felt the jolt through the train we realised it was going to get worse. The boulder had manged to wedge itself in between the wheels of the boggie and the whole truck lifted a foot in the air as it rolled around underneath. I was pretty sure we would lose the coupling but it held. We stopped the train for about 4 seconds, but one of the many guardsmen was having nothing stop his train. "Vamos" he was shouting, and we continued. I guess that rock is still on the track.....
Devils Nose
Fixing the track
The second and third de-railments were classic tracks drifiting apart on the sleepers and the wheels "popping" out in between. At first I thought we would be walking back, but they managed to hammer a wedge under the loco and reversed over it to raise the boggie up enough to bash the rail straight. In my mind there is NO way this railway should be allowed to run passengers, but we are both happy to have made it off safely. Notice we don´t mention the sheer cliff drops or the moment we almost went "run away" at any point in this text.
Kat says: After making it safely off the train we got on a bus to a small and pretty city called Cuenca. A nice place to recover from bugs and hairy rail journeys. I also accidently bought 2 ponchos.
We decided then that it would be nice to spend a few days on the coast having a general beach relax session. After a suicidal bus journey (the young driver was definitey a boy racer on speed) we made it to Monteñita. We had heard Monteñita was a surfers hang out which was perfect for just chilling. It was that, I guess, and it was nice but we found it a bit manufactured. It seemed to be purpose made for tourists so was sort of a faux-surfer/hippy scene (if that makes any sense). We managed to stay at the main party hostel in the town which belted out unoriginal dance music 24 hours and was full of young girlies flirting with the bartenders (the hostel had a bar downstairs). I´m all for a bit of dance music but at 9.30am on a sunday morning sometimes you just want a bit of peace.
Anyway, we spent a couple of days in Monteñita laughing at the girlies and cringing at their shrieks then packed up our zimmerframes and got another suicidal bus up the coast a bit to Puerto Lopez. This bus ride was definitely the worst we´ve had so far (and we´ve had some doozies, I´m tellin´ ya). I thought the bus drivers in Bolivia were mad but they have nothing on the drivers in Ecuador.
In Puerto Lopez we found a gorgeous hostel on the beach devoid of 18 year old squealers and spent the afternoon relaxing. The coast of Ecuador at the moment isn´t sunny - warm but overcast - so I haven´t as yet satisfied my lying on beach for a few days urge. Never mind, Costa Rica is a day away!
Yesterday we spent 11 hours on a bus (several buses actually) making our way back to Quito, via the "alternative" route I´m sure. I´m always a bit circumspect when people hurry you onto a departing bus saying "Si, si, Quito" when the signs on the front of the bus indicate the bus is not going anywhere near Quito. Still, a few bus changes later shared with a rooster and a dog, and we made it. Tomorrow we fly to Costa Rica to see what awaits us there.
