November 13, 2002, 6:10 pm, Café Johnny, Riobamba, Ecuador

I had a nice dinner in Cuenca the evening of the 11th at Villa Rosa. Yesterday I took a bus from Cuenca to Riobamba.


Some fellow bus passengers. The clothes they wear are not for special occasions; I saw women in clothes like those working in the fields.

It rained during part of the trip and fog obscured most of the mountaints. Some of the highways are quite decent, and some are in mediocre condition. I went straight to the train station in Riobamba to buy a ticket for today. After purchase, Stacy and Rick came into the station.


Rick, Stacy, and myself in Riobamba


They both live in San Francisco and I have occasionally seen them at social functions around town. In fact, I looked at Stacy's condominium to buy a few months back...small world. On the bus Patricia Pondon, a lawyer's secretary, sat next to me part of the way. With broken spanish I learned that she has two children, aged 4 and 12. She recommended Restaurante Bonny to me. After finding an inn I walked there. They almost appeared closed, but after finding out it was just me, a woman sitting in the dining room said I could stay - I was their only customer. When I asked for wine, her husband opened a bottle for me. We chatted some and I learned that her sister lives in New Jersey and she has visited there. He gave me a map, a big one, of the Chimborazo region, in which Riobamba is located, and a travel guide in both English and spanish for Chimborazo. He also showed me a large portfolio compiled describing the Chimborazo region.

Having dinner at Restaurant Bunny

Mr. Gonzalez, the owner of Restaurant Bunny

Although all in spanish, I gleaned enough to see that there had been a very interesting history in pre-Columbian times. At some point a priest even found mastodon bones.

The meal was good, and later he introduced me to is son Paul, who speaks decent english. Paul works at the local Riobamba television station producing a music show every weekday. He is studying television production at the local Riobamba university and wants to find work in Quito afterwards. In the evenings he runs a bar across the street called Low Anos 70's. I asked and he even knows how to dance the hustle, but not very well he says.


Paul Gonzalez: TV producer, student, bar proprietor, and karaoke singer

It's a cute bar and I stayed for a while chatting while his father played cards with friends. I tried aguardiente, a liquor made from sugarcane in Ecuador, which was decent. He also gave me some hot, mixed with water, sugar, and cinnamon (whole), which was good. The jarros was better, a mix of water, rum, tea, and sugar served hot.

Today I woke at five to go to the Riobamba train station by six. I did that to get a spot on the roof of the train which travels to Alausi and then descends the Devil's Nose to Sibambe. This is supposed to have been the most difficult railroad in the world to construct and which finally linked Guayaquil to Quito in 1965. Competition from trucking and landslides has closed all of the railroad except the Riobamba to Devil's Nose which is run as a tourist attraction. The rooftop seating is atop two boxcars which have a two inch rail at each roof edge to brace one's feet on so as not to fall off. It was a fun ride: seven in the morning until 11:45 to get to Alausi and then the descent and ascent of the Devil's Nose.


Atop a boxcar on the train departing from Riobamba

It rained a bit on the way to Alausi, but the sun came out for five or ten minutes. During the ascent up the Devil's Nose it really rained and I became quite wet and a bit cold. Oh, and part of the way from Riobamba to Alausi I took out the half bottle of wine from the night before at Bonny for a few swigs. That got cheers from the rest of the rooftop passengers.


A few swigs of wine to keep the chill of a grey day away

Atop the roof of a boxcar

The conductor rode atop the roof with us and cranked a hand brake too





Riding the train into the mist


looking down the Devil's Nose
{yes, those are my feet}

Tomorrow I'll look around Riobamba a but and then take a bus after lunch to Quito, Friday to Otavallo for Saturday's market and then back to Quito for a few days before returning to Guayaquil for the flights home.

After dinner the evening of the Riobamba train ride I went back to the bar Los Anos 70's. Paul and his friends sane karaoke and I even requested and sang a song. The four of us were the only ones in his bar.

On Thursday the 14th I had lunch at a small place on the main road in Riobamba. I have the 1/4 chicken (roasted) lunch special. The chicken was delicious! I couldn't taste any particular spices so I wonder if either the wood used in the broiler or Ecuadorean chicken are what gave it such a good taste. Maybe the factory-farm produced chickens in the United States are actually less tasty.

The Trans-Andean Railroad




This railraoad used to operate from Quito to Riobamba to Quayaquil, but the rains due to El Nino of about five years ago caused landslides which damaged much of the tracks. Thus today only the Riobamba to Sibambe touristic route is open. Someone told me that there are plans to repair and upgrade the rest of the tracks and resume complete service.

November 17, 2002 6:15 pm