Wed 10th Riobamba to Cuenca
After leaving the hostel at 5.45am we walked the short distance to the train station to find a crowd of people waiting on the platform and no train. Lots of vendors selling bread rolls and coffee. We got a couple of coffees and bananas off a lady who couldn’t change a $10 note and we had to scrounge around for change. It’s getting annoying that even places that should have plenty of change make a big deal out of it when you can‘t give them the exact money. Like corner stores or bars. I bought two drinks for $5 and a busy bar couldn’t change a $20? But I digress..
The “trains” arrived which were two buses with train wheels and we got on board. The big deal about the “la Nariz del Diablo” trip is you can sit on the roof and get a great view, however, it’s really cold on the roof and sitting on metal bars for 5 hours didn’t appeal to us.
The journey ends at a town called Alausi, but the train goes through Alausi then descends the mountain on the “la Nariz del Diablo“ section, then returns to Alusi so we figured we would be able to switch before the return and get a roof seat then. Turned out to be a great plan as the seats we had in the bus were right up the front and very comfy with an uninterrupted view anyway.
Leaving Riobamba the train track was rather dilapidated. The train only runs three times a week for the tourists and hadn’t had much maintenance by the looks of it. It was quite a pleasant trip through rolling hills and farms alongside a river for part of it. Lots of dogs came to bark and run alongside the train and people working the fields and school children stopped to wave as we went by.
We stopped at a small town for a break and stretched our legs and bought some snacks of fried cheese and banana empanadas from a vendor. Most of the people on the roof stayed there as they were either frozen in place or didn’t want to lose their spot.
Approaching Alausi the valley deepened and it was an stunning view with steep cliffs and landslides across the other side.
Leaving Alausi, the train had a couple of steep turns down to the bottom of the valley before crossing a river and following the side of the valley for a few kilometres as the river got further below us. We stopped briefly to look at the rock formation the “Devil’s Nose” before the train reached the first of two ’switchbacks” to descend to the valley floor. Reversing down to the second switchback was slow going and we found out the large side mirror on the train had a purpose. (We had made fun of it when we first got on. Like what’s the point of a rear-view mirror on a train!?)
After a short break at the bottom of the valley we switched places with the people on the roof and headed back up the cliff. Just past the first switchback the train stopped and slowly reversed back to the flat area at the switch and stopped! We got worried when the driver then donned blue overalls and crawled under the train to fix something! The conductor walked up the track a little way to get a mobile phone signal and called for help and after a 40 minute wait in the hot sun the second train returned from Alausi to collect us.
The trip back was fun sitting on top of the train speeding along the edge of the sheer cliff.
In Alausi we were able to get a bus going to Cuenca which was a slow journey for a few hours through the mountains due to fog/cloud.




9 minute youtube clip of the train trip. (not mine)