Riobamba Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

We had come to Riobamba for one reason, to ride the infamous Devils Nose train, the only functioning train ride in Ecuador and one that is famous for the scenery, several switch backs down a steep mountain side and the fact that you can sit on the roof for the entire journey....or so we thought. Despite staying at the dodgiest hostel so far on our trip (but for $3 what can you expect), Riobamba was a fairly pleasant town - big wide cobblestone streets, a nice plaza de armas and some good pla…

  Saturday was very boring. We just drove to Baños (we got to see the ash spew out of Tungurahua on the way), had lunch in the charming central square complete with hummingbirds and nice cafes, visited the sulphurous hot baths, and then went on an ultra-crummy “Poppa Luchos” trip to the mountain tops in party trucks. So instead, here is something on Ecuador’s history.   The first permanent settlements in Ecaudor began around 4000 BCE from tribes that migrated f…

Riobamba has the crumbling colonial character and air of a half-hearted revival that only a railroad town past its heyday can have. It is hard to ignore the visions of grandeur that the town must have conjured up during the prime of the railroad era when the city was in the middle of the railway line from the coastal city of Guayaquil to Quito. Sadly, the railway line doesn´t exist in its entirety anymore, only a small section from Riobamba to Sibambe is run regularly on an infrequent b…

One of the most amazing little countries. Beautiful place and people. The Amazon and the Andes...what more could you ask for. Stayed in the Amazon. Also took a train from Quito to Cuenca through the Avenue of the Volcanoes.

How could we possibly pass up the opportunity to ride on the top of a train! Especially down 800 metres and around a landmark called Nariz del Diablo (The Devil's nose). We had visions of a roller coaster ride that would raise the hairs on the back of our necks. The train didn't end up going quite that fast, and although we seemed to be getting awfully close to the cliff edge (without a seatbelt), it wasn't quite as scary as our visions... We did get to ride thro…

ANDREI - A fond farewell to the lovely town of Cuenca and a ride North to the less enchanting Riobamba.  We were a tad worried as the bus driver declared that we were to get off on an apparently random street corner.  A quick taxi ride brought us to our hotel, though. The town may not have appeared welcoming, but at least the hotel was nice.  The Hotel La Estacion was $8 per night each and opposite the railway station, rather surprisingly.  TV in each room and the wa…

I got into Riobamba about 4:30, (Hostal Ñuka something, 3 bucks) and headed to the bull fighting stadium. Saw a group of people standing around watching something...I wandered over hoping for a cock fight, but only locals playing volleyball as others bet. Got to the bull ring and couldn`t find a way in, so kept going to a big park a couple blocks further. Watched a little soccer, and headed to an open stadium with people doing shot put, hurdles, javelin, etc and found a rock climbing wall. T…

Having confidently predicted that the one-day strike in Baños wouldn´t affect me because it was only one-day (and not the day I wanted to leave), I learnt a little about strikes here.  Namely that they are not always as short as hoped for! Leaving Baños thus became a bit of a nightmare as the roads were shut on both ways out of the town, and it turned out that my plan of ´walk a little bit beyond the blockade and catch a bus from there` wasn´t my best ever as there was a further bl…

....or Rioshambles soon re-christened it was a bit of a come down after Latacunga.  Riobamba is a big bustling town that may have every kind of shop you may want but is all a bit tacky and cheap.  Christmas shopping is in full swing and the market is dominated by cards all blaring out conflicting tunes.  Tinsel and plastic ornaments everywhere.  However out focus for our 2 days was a trip up Volcan Chimborazo (unofficially the highest mountain in the world - although only …

I felt like my Spanish had come far enough along now that I could have a much needed haircut. I knew my words for big, little, not too much as well as a number for the blade so I figured I'd be OK :) I even managed a bit of banter with barber, but I don't think we were ever going to have complex discussions on world politics :) Saturday is also market day in Riobamba so I figured I better visit at least a couple of markets on my travels.  The colours there are absolutely …

Hi all My name is Mark Robertson, 27 years old from Wellington, New Zealand. I'm off to Bogota, Colombia on 4 March 2008 from Auckland New Zealand, via Buenos Aires. Spending 1 month in Colombia attending a Colombian friend's wedding before backpacking my way from Colombia to Argentina, via Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia over the following 5 months.

A year spent exploring South East Asia, Australasia and my favouriter continent of South America

I finally got away from Banos after a crazy night at the local Karaoke bar. Everynight we have gone to bed listening to the appalling singing from over the road and then heard them being chucked out onto the street about 2am and the shutters going down, so we decided we should go over and check it out with Peter and Kate. If it wasn´t for the music you probably wouldn´t even know the place was there because it was all dark on the outside. At first we were the only ones in there. I got …

In the morning we had tentatively planned to go either to the Zoo or to the banos for which the town was named, we ended up doing neither however and just headed to the bus station to part ways.  I ended up on the same bus as 3 of the guys as they were going to Guayaquil and me Riobamba, so for 2 hours I had some company, but after my 30 min layover in Riobamba I had 6 hours of lone bus travel.  I had a seat in the front row on the aisle side, meaning everyone boarding or dep…

Quito, Coca, Mondana, Agua Santa, Banos, Salinas, Riobamba, Chimborozo, Mitad del Mundo, Chugchilan... Went for a month with an anthropology class on sustainable development - it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.