Down and Out in Riobamba

On the map the distance from Baños to Riobamba is only a half hour bus ride however this road is currently closed due to land slides from Tungurahua so we had to go a roundabout route that took nearly 2 hours instead, which was not really a problem.

We checked into our hostal the Hotel Tren Dorado which is 9 dollars (4.5 quid) each a night with a private loo and TV. The private loo is important as I will explain in a bit.

We dumped our rucksacks and headed to the train station to buy our tickets for the morning. On approaching the station we saw a long queue of Gringo's doing the same thing and joined the end. The queue moved very slowly and after 40 mins or so we were 20 people from the front when they sold thier last ticket! Now what? Never mind there was an enterprising Ecuadorian with a bus willing to take us the 2 hours to the first stop of the train where there are supposedly more tickets available. So what the heck we paid over our 1 pound 25 pence for the 7am bus to catchup with the train.

Also the rumours we had heard in Baños were true, no longer can you ride on the roof of the train. The reason being is that a telephone company was putting up some lines, a bit low, and knocked a couple of Gringo's off so 'health and safety' got involved and banned it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Riobamba which isn't as appealing as some of the towns we're visited, it was also wet and cold. We picked out a restaurant from our Rough Guide for our evening meal.

Unfortunatly something didn't agree with Angie, even though it's what we would call a 'safe' restaurant meaning it's in the Rough Guide and full of Gringo's. Poor Angie spent the night hauling herself to and from the bathroom getting rid of her evening meal in the most unpleasant way (see photo!). And why is it that when females are unwell they take to sleeping on the bathroom floor?

Anyway Angie did have a rough night and was washed out by the morning so we skipped the bus to the train and Angie slept while I wondered around Riobamba and of course got this blogging job. The weather was still wet and cloudy so the train ride would have been pretty miserable so we didn't miss much. Angie is on the mend drinking water and I hope to get some food into her later today but nurses make the worst patients!

So we'll be glad to be out of Riobamba and off to Guayaquil tomorrow. And the extra quid for a private bathroom was well worth it!!!!

12 Aug 2007