So, yet another week has passed and we´ve been busy yet again. We now only have 2 ½ months to go – the time is flying by! We`re still really enjoying Ecuador…here´s what we´ve been up to…
We successfully got the bus to Alausi last Thursday – it was about a 4 hour journey, which is quite short compared to some we´ve been on – we like these small countries! When we got there, we found a room in a cheap and cheerful residencial, which had the added blessing of being really quiet, which is a bit of a novelty – we´re finding that places generally tend to be quite noisy either during the night, in the morning or both, which can be a pain. (Chris – noise in the morning is actually a good thing otherwise it’s a real pain getting Sarah out of bed :0) ) We went down to the train station to try to find out about the train down the `Devil´s Nose´ but it was all shut up so we went for a wander around the town instead. We got quite a lot of funny looks – although the train ride is quite a tourist attraction, we don´t think that people stay there very much. They tend to arrive from Riobamba, either on the train if it´s running all the way, or by bus, go on the train and then back to Riobamba. There was quite a pretty square in the town but not a great deal else.
The next day we got up bright and early to go to the train station to ask and it was a bit of a different story in terms of the amount of tourists around – a bus had arrived and there were loads hanging around the train station. We put our names on the list for the train at 1:00 and were told to return at 10:30 to buy the tickets so we went for breakfast. We went back to the station a bit before 10:30 and sat on some steps outside where we were accosted by a group of about 6 kids, apparently from Peru. They chatted to us for a bit but seemed to lose a bit of interest when we said we didn´t have any chocolate. At 10:30, we went to the ticket office and were told to return in half an hour…what´s so complicated about selling a couple of tickets. Anyway, at 11:00, we finally managed to get them and then had a couple of hours to kill. We walked up to a big statue of San Pedro that´s on a little hill in the town and gave us quite good views over the town and surrounding hills and then had lunch.
We went back to the train station just before 1:00 where people that were more clued up than us were already queueing up. The train (which is actually a bus which has been converted to run on a railway) turned up and the people in front were able to go on top to get the best views. We hadn´t realised that there was only limited space on top! So, we got inside seats, which meant we didn´t have the best views but were a bit more comfortable…every cloud and all that. The journey down was quite pretty – along a lovely, lush green valley, with the river running at the bottom. The bus-train trundled along until we reached the `Devil´s Nose´, which was a series of switchbacks to get us to the bottom. All in all, it took just over half an hour. When we got to the bottom, they asked the passengers inside if they would like to go on top for the return journey, which we thought was very nice and of course, we went on top. We had much better views from on top, sat on the side with our legs dangling…sometimes slightly too close to the cliff-face for comfort. Although it would have been nicer to be on top on the way down, we still got to enjoy it :0)
When we got back to Alausi, we got on a bus to Riobamba almost straight away and then had about a 2 hour journey to get there. Again, the journey was quite nice – Ecuador so far seems very green, which makes for nice countryside to watch while you´re on the bus. We arrived there and made our way to our hotel, where I opted to relax and watch a bit of TV while Chris went out to explore a bit. The next day, we went for a wander around the town, with Chris acting as my guide and on the way were keeping an eye open for tour agencies to take us to Chimborazo – the dormant volcano overlooking the town. We spotted one and went in and his first words were `we´re specialists in downhill mountain biking´ - oh no! – followed by a chat of about 15 minutes of what they did etc. By the end of this, Chris was convinced whereas I was much less so. Although it was mostly downhill, he said a couple of times that it was for people with a bit of experience (nope) and people who enjoy cycling (hmmm…) and it was a 37km long ride, which seemed like an awful long way to me! We thought about it for a bit though and decided to go for it – after all, we had a 4-wheel-drive pick-up truck thing following us for the majority of the way so if it all got too much for me, I could put my bike in that and go in the car. So, we booked that for the next day (which was Sunday). The rest of the afternoon was spent doing more wandering, going to the 24th May street (Chris´ birthday for those who don´t have it in their diaries!), and seeing the Riobamba sights, including a pick-up with about 12 cow´s head and a little girl in it near the market – lovely!
We had an early night and were up bright and early the next morning for our 7:30 pick up. Edison, our guide, turned up a bit early and we were off. Luckily, it was just the two of us again – we´ve been really lucky with that recently. We drove for about 45 minutes before we reached the entrance to the `protected area´ bit of Chimborazo. I think the main thing being protected is vicuñas (another member of the llama family), which were reintroduced in the 1970s after they were wiped out in the area. There are now lots of them and we saw quite a few – quite cute. We then continued up the last 7km to the first mountain refuge, where our bike ride was to begin. We had a beautiful view of the volcano (which is, incidentally, the mountain/volcano with its peak the furthest from the centre of the Earth and therefore closest to the sun. It´s also the tallest in Ecuador at 6,310m. Everest is 8,000m+ but because it is further from the equator, its summit is about 2km closer to the centre of the Earth than Chimborazo´s. Geography lesson over.), and we were very lucky because it had snowed recently, meaning that there was snow reaching right down to the refuge – beautiful. From here, we had the option to walk up to the next refuge which was at 5,000m (the first one was at 4,800m) and Chris decided he wanted to do it to say he´d been to 5,000m. I was less enthusiastic (not that that surprises anyone, I´m sure) as I have much more problem with altitude than he does but thought I´d give it a go anyway. The walk was only about 700m, which sounds really easy but believe me, at that altitude, it´s tough! I have a new-found respect for mountaineers! I made it up probably about 20m (in altitude) and was struggling quite a lot and developing a headache and getting a bit dizzy so decided it was probably more sensible to go back down. Although this sounds like I was being a complete wimp, altitude sickness can actually be really serious and in some cases even fatal and it´s always recommended that if you get any of its symptoms (headaches, dizziness, nausea, stomach ache etc.), you should return to a lower altitude immediately and that high up, I thought I´d take note. So, I left Chris and Edison to continue and returned to the first refuge, where I had a maté de coca (an infusion made with coca leaves, which is good for helping you to cope with altitude) and began chatting to Eloy, the guy who was managing the refuge.
It was actually really nice to sit and chat to him and we talked about all sorts from where England was to religion and politics! OK, not hardcore, but we did discuss them a bit. After about an hour, Chris and Edison returned, Chris has a quick maté de coca as well and then we were ready to set off. (Chris – I found the walk up surprisingly easy and according to Edison’s watch we did it in 27 minutes which was apparently good going – the tour agency guy reckoned about 45. The walk down was slightly more difficult as the snow was frozen solid in a lot of places and Edison’s attempts to get me to adopt the ‘sideways walking’ technique – really needs to be demonstrated to be explained – were entirely unsuccessful. I did make it back down without slipping although I did have to resort to all fours a couple of times :0) )
We got kitted out in our helmets and gloves and declined the elbow and knee pads as we weren´t intending on racing each other down. Then we were off. To start with, I was quite nervous and it took a while to get into the swing of it but I eventually started to enjoy it a bit more, although I was quite concerned about the difficulty I had braking! Also, interestingly, the front brake (which was helping to stop me most) was on the left, whereas in England, it´s normally on the right, which would have been better as we´ve probably got more strength in our right hands than our left…but nevermind. We had some lovely views of the surrounding countryside, when we weren´t going through a cloud, and before I knew it, we had finished the first 7km and were at the entrance place again! So far, so good. The next little bit was a diversion from the road that we´d reached, for about 2km and we were off on our own, while Edison drove down the road, although we were in sight of him all the way so I still felt quite safe!
We reached the road again and had to ride down it for a little way (luckily, there wasn´t much traffic so it was quite nice and felt a bit safer!) before reaching another diversion where Edison couldn´t follow us down. This time, we´d be out of sight for part of it and were therefore provided with a radio, in case anything should happen – all very professional. This part was about 3km long and was in slightly worse condition – we had to get off our bikes a few times to lift them over holes in the track and over a dry river.
We navigated them all successfully though and met up with Edison again on the road. We then had to go down the road for a couple of kilometres until we reached a very pretty canyon and then the last diversion of our route. This time, it was quite a bit longer (not sure how many kilometres but probably about 12?) and Edison came along with us. The first bit was our first climb…it was quite steep for about 50m and then was a more gentle incline for about 2km, although it was still hard going. I had to get off and walk at one stage and Edison asked if I wanted to go in the car but I decided to try to do it under my own steam and eventually got to the top. Chris had also found it quite difficult so I didn´t feel too bad that I was knackered. Altitude again – you just can´t breathe! We had some lunch and got very cold with the wind and then set off again. We had a downhill bit before our second climb, which was about 200m longer apparently. This one really did for me and I had to walk quite a lot of it but I made it to the top again and was quite proud of myself! The next downhill bit was probably the worst bit of the ride for me – it was really bumpy, with cobbles (I think we were on the old Panamerican highway) and lots of stones etc. and it was quite steep – I felt quite out of control and nearly gave up and went in the car. We both made it to the bottom in one piece though and continued on our way, through a couple of villages, where we´d been warned about the dogs. Apparently they´d only had 5 people get bitten in 10 years but that didn´t sound particularly comforting! Luckily, we didn´t have any problems at all…not even a bark. By this time, the path had got quite muddy and then it started to rain – we were getting very mucky! We got into the car to wait for a couple of minutes until the shower passed and Edison provided us with some waterproofs…except the trousers he had for me were too small, which was a bit embarrassing – I haven´t lost much weight! We finally reached the end of the track and had another 5km on the road before reaching our end point. By the time we got there, we were both aching quite severely and my shoulder/neck still hasn´t recovered. It was good fun though and although I don´t think I´d do it again tomorrow, give me a couple of months and maybe… (Chris – I really enjoyed it too, especially the downhill bits going over all the bumps although I did come close to coming off a couple of times. I’d be up for doing it again tomorrow!)
We returned to Riobamba and it was about as much as we could do to struggle to the bank to get some money and then grab some dinner. We had another very early night!
The next day (we´re up to Monday now), we got up, had breakfast and made our way to yet another bus station to get the bus to Baños. Again, it was quite a short one – only a couple of hours, which was great. As we came into Baños we could see why everyone said that it was so pretty. It´s in a beautiful setting, amid huge green hills. It´s also quite warm here because we´re at a slightly lower altitude now (1,800m ish). It´s also a very touristy town, which we weren´t really looking forward to as we were a bit worried that that might encourage people to hassle you a bit more. We were therefore very pleasantly surprised when we got off the bus and nobody approached us offering accommodation or a taxi. We made our way leisurely to our hostel and didn´t get lots of funny looks – definitely a tourist town where two gringos with rucksacks wandering through the centre don´t attract a second glance!
Found a really nice hostel and then went for a wander around. Baños has got a really nice, relaxed feel to it and we felt really comfortable straight away. We went into a couple of tour agencies to ask about a couple of tours – there´s loads of stuff to do here like rafting, canyoning (basically abseiling down waterfalls), trekking, jungle tours, hiring bikes, trips to local attractions etc… - and they were quite nice about giving us the information but not pressuring us to book them. That was about it for Monday.
Yesterday, we got up relatively early and decided to do a walk that was recommended in a little guide book we picked up about Baños. This involved walking up to a viewpoint (Bellavista or beautiful view), then along the hill to another viewpoint (La Virgen or the Virgin…as in Mary) and then down. A guy who had stayed in our hostel before had written in the guestbook that he did it the other way round and it took him 4 hours so we stocked up with supplies and water and set off. The walk up to the first viewpoint was quite difficult for me as it was all uphill and it was quite steep in places. However, we made it in about an hour and had lovely views over the town and surrounding hills. Unfortunately, the volcano here – Tungurahua I think – was shrouded in cloud so we couldn´t see that. It´s an active volcano so the town is well-prepared for any eruptions. It was last evacuated in October 1999 for about 3 months but luckily, the volcano stayed docile and people were allowed back in (or forced their way back in, depending on who you speak to) in January.
The next bit of the walk was even harder and worse because I thought we´d done most of the up part! But no, we had to climb for about another 45 minutes and this time, it was steeper. Again, we made it though and then started the good part – the decline. Most of the way, it wasn´t so steep so we fairly bounced along, before reaching the other viewpoint, which gave us views over the town from the other end. We then had to return back to the town via lots of steps, which would have been a bit of a killer to climb up, I reckon, and by the time we reached the bottom, my legs were quite wobbly! We didn´t do much for the rest of the afternoon.
Today, we were undecided as to what to do. We wanted to visit the `Avenue of the Waterfalls´ and couldn´t decide whether to go by bike (again, it was apparently mostly downhill) or by bus and if we went by bus, whether we should go on an organised tour or whether we should hop on and off of local buses…when we got up, we made a decision to go on a tour. My shoulder wouldn´t have stood up to another bike ride just yet and we were a bit worried that we´d miss bits if we went by local bus. So that´s what we did…and it was really good. We went in an open-sided bus and sat on the top again, which was quite cool, although slightly more dangerous this time as you sat on the edge or on a rail in the middle and didn´t have much to hold on to! The first waterfall we saw was Arogoyan (I think), which was very pretty tumbling down the cliff on the other side of the valley to us. There was also a dam nearby, which wasn´t so pretty. Our first stop was at a waterfall called El Manto de la Novia or Bride´s Veil and we took a little cable car across the valley to the other side and walked around the river, which was very nice. The cable car looked a little scary but was surprisingly stable. On the way to the next stop, we went under a waterfall that cascades down onto the road and although it wasn´t the world´s biggest waterfall, we did get quite wet! Our second stop was at the Pailon del Diablo, not sure what that means. Here, we walked down to the river and then up to a viewpoint of the waterfall, which was really cool. Very close up and we could feel the spray. Then we walked back up to the top (which was surprisingly easy, which I think proves that the majority of my problems are with altitude – I´m actually a bit fitter than I though!) for lunch. All along the route, there were also lots of orchids on the cliff next to the road, which were very pretty. We then returned to Baños and visited the museum in the church here, which was really cool. Quite random but very good – there were loads of different things in there from costumes used to dress up the statue of the Virgin Mary at the altar for special ceremonies to pickled snakes to a collection of porcelain to a shrunken head and various handicrafts from around Ecuador. It was almost like wandering around a junk shop!
And that´s about it for now, unless you want to know about getting our washing done! This evening we´re hopefully going to the thermal baths that make Baños famous (it means baths after all) to soothe my aching muscles. Tomorrow, we´re probably going to head to Tena to organise a jungle adventure! I´m quite scared about the snakes and not looking forward to the mosquitoes but hopefully it´ll be fun! We´ll probably take a bit of a cop out and stay in a jungle lodge rather than camp – less chance of a snake in your bed, I reckon – and we´ll let you know all about it when we return to civilisation!
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