17 - Riobamba and Cuenca

I arrived in Riobamba on November 17 after a 5-hour bus ride from Guayaquil. The drive from Guayaquil was incredible. Almost the entire trip was through the Ande mountains. We passed lots of small indigenous villages, herds of cattle and sheep, banana plantations, and the scenery was beautiful the whole time.
I wasn’t planning on staying in Riobamba long… just until the next day when I would take a train to another town. However, when I went to buy my train ticket they were all sold out and the next train wasn’t till Friday. I could have been upset or frustrated by the fact that I was “stuck” in this city for two more days than I had planned, but instead I made the best of the situation, and I enjoyed every minute of my time in Riobamba.

Riobamba is at 2750m. Something about the altitude got my lungs all mucus-y and I ended up with no voice for the first night. Legit couldn’t talk. I had to order tea by writing it on some paper. Luckily I met a really nice Colombian named Ricardo who told me the secret to getting my voice back. He told me to go to the market in the morning and buy 25 cents worth of ginger and a lime. Then make some tea with crushed ginger and some lime juice. I’m all about home remedies, so the next morning I headed to the market. Here’s what I saw:






Dozens of chickies.



I loved the market. There was so much to see. There was a huge fruit section with fruits of so many colors and shapes and sizes, and there was a spices section with lots of different smells, and a grain section with potato sacks filled with all types of rice, and of course there was a meat section with pig legs stacked on top of one another, giant slabs of meat hanging by hooks, entire pigs cooking on stoves, and hundreds of skinned chickens. Although I only recently turned carnivore I didn’t flinch at all at the sight of all the meat. Not even when one of the vendor ladies pointed out the entire cow head, eyes and all. The market also had clothing, jewelry, and other nick nacks. I don’t think visiting markets will ever get old.
I bought my ginger and lime and left to find a café.
At the café I got some hot water, prepared my tea, and by the time my mug was empty my voice was back. Woohoo!


I spent the rest of the day exploring Riobamba, checking out the plazas and churches, and all the other scenes. At night I went to a tourism agency and booked my activity for the next day: A biking tour of Volcán Chimborazo.

Volcán Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador, and it’s peak (6310m), due to the earth’s equatorial bulge, is also the furthest point from the center of the earth. Don’t forget that for Monday night trivia (Ila).
Going to Chimborazo was one of my favorite days so far in Ecuador. We drove up the volcano to the first refuge, then I hiked up to the second refuge (5000+m), built a snowman, hiked back down to the first refuge, and from there I hopped on my two wheeler and mountain-biked the rest of the way down. The trip can’t be described with words, so instead I put together a short video. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq42H6oxoPA
(If you have problems viewing the video try copying and pasting the link)

So as you can see this driving/hiking/biking adventure was pretty much made for me. The adrenalin pumping high speed biking volcano descent was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life.

Friday morning I woke up at 5:30 AM to get to the train station and get to the famous Nariz Del Diablo train (nose of the devil). The train has this name because part of the track goes along a really steep section of Andean slope and part of this slope has the face of the devil. In order to get up and down this section of the mountain a series of switchbacks was carved into the rock and the train goes forwards and backwards to ascend the nearly 1000m. Many lives were lost in the construction of this section of track, but not in vain because the completion and first ascent of the Nariz Del Diablo in 1902 was the most incredible feat of railway engineering the world had ever seen (Lonely Planet).
Once again words can’t explain the experience, so I put together another video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HXFrdd1ZoQ

On the train I met Graham from Ireland. He’s another backpacker and he’s been trekking south from Canada (!) since August. I hung out with Graham for lunch and we took a bus together to Cuenca. Graham was a very adventurous sort and he liked trying everything - especially local food. So of course when we got to Cuenca he wanted to try the traditional cuy (pronounced like “we” but with a q). We asked at our hostel where we could find it, and off we went in search of the delicacy. We walked and walked and walked to the outskirts of town until we finally found a small outdoor restaurant with a giant pig cooking over a fire and three cuy on skewers.


I don’t think I would have tried it on my own, but I couldn’t let Graham down, so we ordered up, and I enjoyed my first cuy. It was actually a lot better than I expected. I don’t know my meats too well but Graham told me it tasted like a mix between chicken and pork. Either way it was good.


p.s. To us gringos cuy is also known as guinea pig. Bethany had a guinea pig when we were little. Good thing for Bethany I didn’t know how good it would taste. Teeheehee.

The next day Graham and I explored Cuenca. We walked up and down the narrow cobble streets and admired all the beautiful churches and plazas. I think Cuenca is by far the most beautiful city in Ecuador.






We also stopped in a Panama hat store. Don´t let the name fool you... These sombreros are 100% hand-made in Ecuador.



The hats range in price and quality based on the thickness of the straw used to make them. I asked to see the most expensive hat, so the store owner took us upstairs to an office with a locked cabinet. She unlocked the cabinet and took out a $600 Panama hat! Apparently it took an entire year to make. Yowza. The straw is so fine and the quality is so good you can roll the hat up small enough to put it through a wedding ring and when you unroll it it maintains the exact same shape. I took a picture with it, but those few seconds will be the only time I have a hat that expensive on my head.


Later in the afternoon I took a bus back home to Guayaquil. What an awesome trip!