Riobamba rumble...

Waiting at Alusi
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In the internet cafe on Thursday night at around 10pm I felt the earth move... it was a really weird sensation as if the floor was swaying beneath me. It only lasted for maybe 2-3 seconds and nobody said a thing so I dismissed it as a random dizzy spell.

The next morning Fine and I got up early to catch the Nariz del Diablo, the Devil´s Nose train, which is supposed to be the most difficult railway in the world. We were told there were no tickets left so we high-tailed it by bus to Alusi, hoping to get on the train there.

Chiva train Alusi
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We were all set to take a smaller, chiva-type train in Alusi when we were told that the train couldn´t pass as the earthquake the night before had caused a landslide over the tracks which would take a week to clear.

We are now here in Cuenca and have heard that the earthquake was magnitude 6.7 at 10.12pm but not as bad as the earlier quake in northern Chile which killed 2 people, injured more than 150 and left 15,000 homeless...