The Devil's Nose Train Journey

  Alausi, Ecuador Friday, December 25, 2015

We took a bus for 4 hours up into the mountains and to the town of Alausi. Why? Well because there is a train ride which is supposed to be very pretty and as we had nothing else to do on Christmas day we thought we may as well do that. It is a tourist train which travels about 11 miles out from the town of Alausi, stops to let you take pictures, then goes back to Alausi again. Altogether about a 3 hour trip and we were looking forward to it. However the bus journey up into the mountains did not bode well for the train journey the next day. The clouds had landed, everywhere was a white out and the bus driver could barely see where he was going. Luckily he slowed right down otherwise we would have had taken the express route right down to the bottom of the mountain.Luck was on our side as we arrived in the town though, the bus stopped right outside our hotel so no faffing about trying to find it or any need for a taxi. The Hotel Europa is where we are staying. It was fairly cheap – about $16 a night for the room, it had good reviews too but it was very basic. The room was fairly small, twin beds, no bathroom of our own but we did have a lovely big window which opened onto the main road. We put up our christmas decorations and went out for a wander to find some dinner but we were running out of luck. Most places seemed to be for locals and were not selling the sort of food we were after. We happened upon a small restaurant with 3 tables in it and the waitresses were dressed traditionally (because that’s what they wear – not as a gimmick) and they gave us a menu.Vegetable fried rice for Jody & asparagus soup for Bryan. Both turned out to be very, very tasty and we wolfed it down. Not knowing what was likely to be open the following day which was Christmas Day and not wanting to starve, on the way back to our hotel we stocked up on groceries and cold drinks as our hotel does not provide any food service at all. Trouble is all we could find was chocolate & biscuits. So that’s what we got. Great Christmas dinner eh? The next day was Christmas day. We opened our presents which were under our tree-like arrangement and went out to get breakfast, find the train station for later and just have a bit odf a wander around the town. Alausi is a really small little town and it is full of very traditionally dressed Ecuadorian people as they go about their regular daily business. It's wonderful to see the old ways continuing. They even bring their sheep into town with them and we couldn't work out why - they didn't appear to be buying and selling them.The weather today was beautiful. A glorious sunny day with a few little white fluffy clouds and a gorgeous blue sky. Many of the buildings here are the very traditional colonial type housing and many of them painted lovely bright colours which at this altitude and in this sunlight, were really vibrant and looking at them just made you feel good. We spent a couple of hours exploring the town (didn't take long) and made our way to the station. There was a lovely little market inside the station which was good for browsing around and quite a lot of people had turned up and the station was packed. It didn't seem very organised either but as we very well knew - everything would sort itself out in it's own time. Well sort itself out it did and very soon we were in our seats and we were off. Travelling on a train through the high mountains of Alausi, just the two of us. And a carriage full of Ecuadorians!The history behind the Devil’s Nose section of this railway is interesting. About 3,000 Jamaicans and 1,000 Puerto Ricans were brought in to build it . It turned out to be at a very high cost to them as many of them died - they estimate around 2,000, due to the amount of dynamite they used. The elevation of the track at Devil’s Nose drops 500 meters over the course of only 12 km. The descent/ascent is made by use of switchbacks - the train slows ahead passed a junction, then reverses down the next section - passed the next junction, then goes forwards again and so on until all the switchbacks have been maneuvered. This was the only way to get the trains up and down the hill. At the bottom of Devil's Nose the train stopped. We were offered some mozzi spray by the train steward which Bryan declined - something he would regret later for sure. Then we all got off the train so we could take photo and, as it was a beautiful day with a beautiful blue sky, it made for some good ones. 15 minutes later he train blew it's whistle to call us back on to the train and we rolled on again to a little station at Simbambe, this time for a 1 hour stop.This gave us time to admire the traditional dancers, browse the local handicrafts and have a drink at the café. And it gave the mosquitos plenty of time to munch on Bryan too. His ankles were covered in bites in just such a short time.  Before long we were back on the train and heading back to Alausi up the hill and through the switchbacks again. It was a short train ride, but really enjoyable and so relaxing to just sit and watch the beautiful scenery go by as we passed through the valley. What a lovely relaxing day and what a great way to spend Christmas day in Ecuador - better than all that washing up after a huge meal :-)   [gallery columns="4" ids="13862,13869,13873,13877,13884,13887,13893,13900,13903,13910,13914,13919,13928,13937,13944,13953,13955,13963,13970,13977,13983,13992,13998,14008,14011,14017,14022,14031,14037,14040,14047,14056,14060,14065,14068,14077,14082,14089,14094,14098,14103,14107,14112,14116,14121,14127,14129,14132,14140,14142,14146,14151,14154,14160,14161,14166,14169,14172,14175,14178,14180,14181,14184,14188,14190,14192,14194,14197,14202,14205,14206,14209,14212,14216,14219,14222,14226,14229,14234,14236,14238"]