Between Riobamba & Cuenca: Alausi, Nariz del diablo, Inga Pirca

The sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm every day on the equator. It was before the sun rose when our group got up and boarded the bus for Alausi.

Alausi building fronts and rail tracks

Alausi is the start and stop for the Nariz del Diablo train, partially named as such because of the cliff-hugging route and recently-retired policy of allowing passengers to ride on top. Nowadays, rather than a scary ride, we are afforded views of a river below, green pastures on the sides of steep mountains, and beautiful clouds.

We also made a couple of stops before circling back down to Alausi. One stop was to see the view of the mountain that provides the train with the "nose" part of its name. Apparently one can see in this mountain the nose of someone lying down.

Do you see the face? I don't.

Our second train stop was a little village created just for tourists by some indigenous Ecuadorians. They danced, sold food (including mococho, which is a hot corn drink that reminded me of horchata), and gave us some information about the artisan goods they were selling.

Back in Alausi, we had about half an hour to explore a marketplace, the first truly authentic one we'd seen this trip.

Upstairs food court area at the Alausi market

About three bus hours later, we stopped at Inga Pirca, Incan ruins. Our local guide rushed through the walking tour, and we had not well prepared the students to ask questions about the history, so I don't think that we learned as much as we should have. It was beautiful, though. Green and cloudy.

Our driver, Patricio, deserves high praise for driving us through such thick fog and narrow roads. Another two and a half hours in the bus, and we arrived in Cuenca. We only had time to eat at a nice restaurant and go to an heladaria before bedtime.