Alausi

Chu Chu train....
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From Cuenca we took a 3.5 hr bus to Alausi. It was actually the first time that a bus journey took less than our travel books described.

The reason we are visiting Alausi is for the famous train ride across the Nariz de Diablo (The Devil´s Nose), apparently one of the most amazing train rides in the world! Alausi itself is nothing special, although we enjoyed the tiny village with its pretty square and friendly people.

On Wednesday morning we bought our train ticket and boarded the train coming from Riobamba (a 4 hour train ride). Unfortunately, they no longer use the steam trains and we were told that sitting on the roof was forbidden. But after we passed a couple of bends, the train stopped and were told we could sit on the roof if we paid $1... So we did (after arguing with the driver). We got onto the roof and as the views are best on the right hand side, everybody was pushing to sit on that side. Quite sad really, so we decided to sit on the left. It turned out that on the way back the train turned around and so we sat on the good side! The railway track is an interesting one. It zig-zags its way through the mountains and so one moment you go forward and the other moment you go backward. The ride took 2 hours and although it was fun we don´t think it is a 'must-do' when in Ecuador.

Feet...
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After the ride we took a bus up to Riobamba (1 1/2 hrs) and from there another bus to Banos (2 hrs), a tiny village in the east, famous for its hot springs.