3 Jan 2007We made our way to Riobamba yesterday intent on riding the roof of the Devils Nose train. Its supposed to be an engineering masterpiece, with switchbacks allowing the train to shunt foward and back down a vertical cliff.
The mission starts suspisiously... The train itself is not being used just now, so we start the morning on a bus, at 7am. I didnt sleep well last night and pass out on this one instead. Its pretty odd cos i cant normally sleep on busses, and this one has us jammed into tiny little seats. (bloody midgets over here..). We get into a half way town at 9, and are told to wait till 11.15. Why we had to leave at 7am is anybodies guess...
The "train" is a bit of a joke really. Its only one "carriage"
with its own engine, and looks more like a truck, which just happens to run on tracks. Its crowded so the roof space fills quick.. I just get a spot.
So down we go. I had immagined a seriously bloody huge drop when it cam eto the famous vertical section, where roof riding would be perilious (ie fun) with the possibility of slipping off resulting in a major fall. As it turns out there are all of three switchbacsks.. the total vert would be 150m at the most.... and being in a dinky one carriage vehical the shunting at each switchback takes all of five seconds.
I am not amused.
Sara though is fuming. Unfortunately this was my idea... the guidebooks made it out to be about 1000 times cooler than this. Buggar.
Back at the top we jump on the first bus we see to Quito, the Capital city. Evidently you drive past around 11 volcanoes on the stretch of road, several of them active and smoking. Yet again Ecuador treats us to a fine display of low clouds... quite normal it would seem. We do see one of the volcanoes in a rapid break in the clouds, and it is indeed snowy white and semetrical, like a bigger version of Ngarahue. If we were more enthused, and still had any warm clothes with us we should probably climb one of them. But at this point it doesnt feel like an encouraging idea.
Into Quito just after dark, and its immediately obvious that its bloody HUGE! Given that we passed straight thru Lima, and La Paz not being overly big, we realise this is our first genuine big city experience since Santiago, some months ago now. There is traffic everywhere and the bus station is like a small city in itself.
We jump on the tram, which is actualy a bus with its own private roads. Quite a cool concept really, with stations more like a train.
We stay in a "Swiss" hostel which is quite expensive for what it is. It somehow reminds me of some of the early hostels in NZ ten years ago, which is quite a nice memory jog. A dilapidated mansion with loads of rooms, and not enough bathrooms. Admittedly it has a bit of character. (Unlike the modern hostels in NZ which i have been complaining about for a few years now...)
We crash out after a quick pizza
The mission starts suspisiously... The train itself is not being used just now, so we start the morning on a bus, at 7am. I didnt sleep well last night and pass out on this one instead. Its pretty odd cos i cant normally sleep on busses, and this one has us jammed into tiny little seats. (bloody midgets over here..). We get into a half way town at 9, and are told to wait till 11.15. Why we had to leave at 7am is anybodies guess...
The "train" is a bit of a joke really. Its only one "carriage"
with its own engine, and looks more like a truck, which just happens to run on tracks. Its crowded so the roof space fills quick.. I just get a spot.So down we go. I had immagined a seriously bloody huge drop when it cam eto the famous vertical section, where roof riding would be perilious (ie fun) with the possibility of slipping off resulting in a major fall. As it turns out there are all of three switchbacsks.. the total vert would be 150m at the most.... and being in a dinky one carriage vehical the shunting at each switchback takes all of five seconds.
I am not amused.
Sara though is fuming. Unfortunately this was my idea... the guidebooks made it out to be about 1000 times cooler than this. Buggar.
Back at the top we jump on the first bus we see to Quito, the Capital city. Evidently you drive past around 11 volcanoes on the stretch of road, several of them active and smoking. Yet again Ecuador treats us to a fine display of low clouds... quite normal it would seem. We do see one of the volcanoes in a rapid break in the clouds, and it is indeed snowy white and semetrical, like a bigger version of Ngarahue. If we were more enthused, and still had any warm clothes with us we should probably climb one of them. But at this point it doesnt feel like an encouraging idea.
Into Quito just after dark, and its immediately obvious that its bloody HUGE! Given that we passed straight thru Lima, and La Paz not being overly big, we realise this is our first genuine big city experience since Santiago, some months ago now. There is traffic everywhere and the bus station is like a small city in itself.
We jump on the tram, which is actualy a bus with its own private roads. Quite a cool concept really, with stations more like a train.
We stay in a "Swiss" hostel which is quite expensive for what it is. It somehow reminds me of some of the early hostels in NZ ten years ago, which is quite a nice memory jog. A dilapidated mansion with loads of rooms, and not enough bathrooms. Admittedly it has a bit of character. (Unlike the modern hostels in NZ which i have been complaining about for a few years now...)
We crash out after a quick pizza
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