Riobamba
So... Riobamba. What a place!
That´s an understatement.
Riobamba is known for a spectacular train ride through the mountains to Nariz del Diablo (the devils nose), but it only leaves on certain mornings. We arrived on a Thursday with the anticipation of going on said train ride that weekend on Sunday. What transpired in between could probably be considered the beginning of the low point of our trip so far.
First of all, don´t say "so far". That´s just inviting disaster. And I think its safe to say that the low point started with the theft of our camera...
Like everywhere else in Ecuador the populous was busy enjoying this year´s Carnaval celebration. Parades, parties, and a lot of people throwing water on one another. Dirty water. Oh and there were also aerosal spray cans of foam by the millions being expended in peoples faces. It was a great week for the Ozone. So we decided to take part in the fun and even bought our own spray can. When in Rome...
I think technically the fun decided to take part in us. We were covered before we bought our own foam just from being caught in the crossfire.
Also I think that gringos make a fun target for all the young punks, anyway. At one point we decided to cut through a large mob of people behind some bleachers on the way to purchase our train tickets for the next day. I´m not sure if it was related, but as we went in to the crowd I was blinded by some foam that was being sprayed in my face. I pushed through the crowd, and we continued to the train station to learn that the train was broken down and that we would be out of luck. Now Riobamba has no redeeming features. Its a sort of plain town in the middle of a bunch of farm land. We were pretty bummed out because our entire reason for staying in that place was the train. We wandered aimlessly for a while trying to think of what to do when Melissa asked for the sunscreen. I reached into my bag, only to discover that somebody had cut my bag open, (probably not to long after being blinded by foam) stolen our new camera, and my wallet. I handed Melissa the sunscreen. We were both furious. Melissa smashed the bottle of sunscreen, and I felt sick. We had learned from our last experience (getting robbed on the bus) and filed a police report as soon as we could, the hope being that we will be able to claim the camera through Melissa´s travel insurance. 2 cameras in a week! Ecuador was telling us that we weren´t welcome. So we left Riobamba with our tails between our legs, and our hearts on our sleeves. Sort of miserable, and anxious to put Riobamba behind us.
Just to say something good about the place, our hostel was quite nice and we managed to get $4 a night knocked off the price. On our last night there, a family arrived and took us under their wings. They were from Cuenca about 5 hours south of Riobamba and were visiting for Carnaval. They were soooo nice to us, giving us food and drink and even taking us out to a restaurant. If we had stayed an extra day they wanted to take us hiking on the nearby extinct volcano Chimborazo which is the tallest mountain in Ecuador and famous for having the furthest peak away from the Earths center due to the Equatorial bulge.
I got a fuzzy picture of it with our new, sub-par 90 dollar junk camera that has a shutter speed similar to that of the worlds first camera.
So... Riobamba. What a place!
That´s an understatement.
Riobamba is known for a spectacular train ride through the mountains to Nariz del Diablo (the devils nose), but it only leaves on certain mornings. We arrived on a Thursday with the anticipation of going on said train ride that weekend on Sunday. What transpired in between could probably be considered the beginning of the low point of our trip so far.
First of all, don´t say "so far". That´s just inviting disaster. And I think its safe to say that the low point started with the theft of our camera...
Like everywhere else in Ecuador the populous was busy enjoying this year´s Carnaval celebration. Parades, parties, and a lot of people throwing water on one another. Dirty water. Oh and there were also aerosal spray cans of foam by the millions being expended in peoples faces. It was a great week for the Ozone. So we decided to take part in the fun and even bought our own spray can. When in Rome...
I think technically the fun decided to take part in us. We were covered before we bought our own foam just from being caught in the crossfire.
Also I think that gringos make a fun target for all the young punks, anyway. At one point we decided to cut through a large mob of people behind some bleachers on the way to purchase our train tickets for the next day. I´m not sure if it was related, but as we went in to the crowd I was blinded by some foam that was being sprayed in my face. I pushed through the crowd, and we continued to the train station to learn that the train was broken down and that we would be out of luck. Now Riobamba has no redeeming features. Its a sort of plain town in the middle of a bunch of farm land. We were pretty bummed out because our entire reason for staying in that place was the train. We wandered aimlessly for a while trying to think of what to do when Melissa asked for the sunscreen. I reached into my bag, only to discover that somebody had cut my bag open, (probably not to long after being blinded by foam) stolen our new camera, and my wallet. I handed Melissa the sunscreen. We were both furious. Melissa smashed the bottle of sunscreen, and I felt sick. We had learned from our last experience (getting robbed on the bus) and filed a police report as soon as we could, the hope being that we will be able to claim the camera through Melissa´s travel insurance. 2 cameras in a week! Ecuador was telling us that we weren´t welcome. So we left Riobamba with our tails between our legs, and our hearts on our sleeves. Sort of miserable, and anxious to put Riobamba behind us.
Just to say something good about the place, our hostel was quite nice and we managed to get $4 a night knocked off the price. On our last night there, a family arrived and took us under their wings. They were from Cuenca about 5 hours south of Riobamba and were visiting for Carnaval. They were soooo nice to us, giving us food and drink and even taking us out to a restaurant. If we had stayed an extra day they wanted to take us hiking on the nearby extinct volcano Chimborazo which is the tallest mountain in Ecuador and famous for having the furthest peak away from the Earths center due to the Equatorial bulge.
I got a fuzzy picture of it with our new, sub-par 90 dollar junk camera that has a shutter speed similar to that of the worlds first camera.
PICTURES OF RIOBAMBA
Loja
After all day on a couple buses Melissa and I started to feel the effects of what we thought was just fatigue and a little dehydration. The next 2 days consisted of Melissa throwing up, and me laying feverishly in bed peppered with frequent breaks to visit the toilet for an "evacuation"
Wow. It was the best time.
I couldn´t hold water for more than a few minutes, and it was impossible to eat. It didn´t help when Melissa started to read off all the possible fatal and life changing diseases I could have contracted. She seemed to imporve a bit the 2nd day while I was fluctuating a little more still sore, and not really able to walk. We had only planned to spend 1 night in Loja before journeying in to the jungle for 3 days of hiking and a visiting in the nearby national park, but as I mentioned the 1 night turned in to 2 and we arrived in the jungle weak and cursing Ecuador!
PICTURES OF LOJA
Zamora
The jungle town was called Zamora and it was nestled in a river valley about 1000 feet above sea level so we were happy with the decrease in altitude. I was improving in health although still dehydrated, and Melissa felt like exactly what had been rushing out of her for the last 2 days.
Gross. Sorry everyone.
However we decided that we had come all that way and we did still have 2 nights there before we had to leave for Lima, Peru so we decicded to spend the one full day we had there hiking in the National park called Podocarpus. There was a 10 dollar entrance fee, but it was worth every penny. We hiked to a waterfall, lagoons, and a lookout point. In total we hiked about 12km that day, and some of the terrain wasn´t exactly "level" at one point it took us 40 minutes to travel 800 meters! It was a happy ending to a lousy week, and a nice way to say goodbye to Ecuador. We left Zamora for another night in Loja before embarking on 25 hours of buses to Lima where we are now.
PICTURES OF ZAMORA
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