The Great Train Ride to Riobamba

The next Saturday ( the only day it makes this run) we took the train from Quito to Riobamba, a city south of Quito. We took a taxi to the train station which is in the south end of the city, in Old Quito. A few other tourists were at the train station already. We lined up and the ticket master took each of us into his office separately to purchase our ticket. The sucre had just been devalued from about 8,000 sucres to the American dollar to 12,000 so they did not know what to charge us. The sucre would eventually go down to 19,000 to the dollar. The currency did recover in about a week to 10,000 for one American dollar.

After getting on the train, having already paid for our tickets, the ticket master came aboard to get more money from the people who had paid in sucres. (cost $16.00 American.) We paid 230,000 sucres which came to about $19.00 American.

We are finally on our way. Leaving the city the train goes by a huge market place, it seemed for miles. Many of the vendors are indigenous and wore the little black felt hats. The headdress was different on the different tribes of Indians. They have wonderful looking vegetables and fruits displayed. This country is incredibly fertile. It is said, "just throw the seeds on the ground and they will grow." No reason for the poverty. We were told the land is owned by only about 40 families. Very rich families.

Many people were sitting on the top of the train. We had talked about doing that but decided it was too cold. After we left the pollution of the city behind us, the air was clear and we could see all the mountains. Cotapaxi was beautiful with its snow covered peak. Cotapaxi is the highest active volcano in the world, 5897 meters. The train stopped many times to let people on or off. The trip was very uneventful until after we passed Ambato.

Around 1500 hours we came to a jolting stop. The rail car seemed to be tipped. Sure enough we were derailed. The heavy rains from El Nino had washed out the soil under the rail tracks and some of the wooden supports were rotting out. Somehow the workers got it back on the track. They had some kind of a piece of metal that they kept putting under the wheels and by moving the train back and forth on it they managed to get us moving again. Thank goodness this did not happen when we were going close to a steep cliff. At each stop many of the passengers got off to see what was going on and it was exciting and fun.

At 1530 hrs. we are on our way. At 1605 hrs we are stopped again. We could hear what sounded like a chain saw. We got off the train to see what was going on. They were removing a tree which had fallen across the tracks. Off we go again. The scenery is magnificent. Cultivated fields up the sides of the mountains. All different colors, like a patch work quilt. Not terraced as in Nepal. The train tracks wind around the mountains and looking out the windows we see lots of scary places where there are steep dropoffs. The tracks run parallel with the Pan America highway most of the way and we can see cars and buses going along.

At 1607 hrs we stopped at Mocha to remove one of the box cars. I was walking along the side of the train and suddenly a huge stream of water came out the side, which I just barely got out of the way of. I hate to think what might have been in this water. This is a very macho society and the men get off the train to do their business anywhere the spirit moves them. They would just turn their backs to the crowd and let it fly.

At 1620 hrs we stopped again. There was much shouting. A man came aboard carrying the chain saw, accompanied by a young boy who looked about 9 or 10, carrying two huge machetes. At 1625 hrs we are stopped again. We got off to investigate and saw that there was another huge tree across the tracks. The men quickly sawed the tree into pieces and removed it from the track and we were on our way by 1630 hrs. These Ecuadorean people are incredible to keep things running with very little to work with. There were still a few people on the roof.

At 1640 hrs we spot Chimborazo through the window of the train(6310 meters). The air is clear and the sight is spectacular. It is a huge snow capped mountain, once thought to be the highest in the world. According to the books, its summit remains the farthest from the center of the earth due to the planet's bulge at the equator.

At 1729 hrs we are stopped again. Don't know why and we are off again at 1743. We arrived on the outskirts of Riobamba at 1815. The crew got off immediately and took off. The people on the roof would not get off as they said they had been promised that the train would go right into the city center. They finally had to face reality and walk into the city as the crew had already left.

It was not a long walk and we had no problem finding a hotel in the center of the town a block from the central train station. On the train we had talked to a nice guy from Switzerland, studying Spanish in Quito. He worked on the trains in Switzerland. Quite a difference in the systems. We walked into the town with him and stayed at the same hotel. We had dinner with him that night in Riobamba at the El Delirio restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. The restaurant was in a building that had once been the home of Bolivar. On a trip like this you feel very close to the people sharing the experience with you.

We had hoped to take the train on what is called the Devil's Nose on Monday. Unfortunately we were misinformed by the travel agency and the train went on Sunday instead, so we missed it. Lesson check everything yourself to be sure. This train used to run all the way from Quito to Guayaquil on the coast. The heavy rains of El Nino had washed out the tracks in many places and rumor was it would not be repaired. The infrastructure is not in good condition here and there is not the money to fix it.