¿Dónde están los baños?

A very important question in any language - Where are the bathrooms? And let me tell you I know it well, with mine being the smallest bladder known to man, (and unfortunately for some of you, you know that well too!!)

Sitting next to a woman who smelt like something the Monster from the Black lagoon had dredged up, with a driver who, inbetween hoicking and spitting every quarter of an hour, was overtaking around corners at speeds so phenomenal the bus was within a hair´s breath of tipping over, and my bladder screaming to be relieved, I found myself on a bus on my way to Riobamba - A town 4hrs south of Quito.

Other than the one park which offered great views of Chimborazo, (Ecuador´s highest peak) and seemed to be make out point for every couple in the city and then some, and a very loud karaoke bar, (no I didn´t try my luck with the Spanish songs they were playing) there really isn´t anything in Riobamba...Me and every other tourist in town was there to do the famous Nariz Del Diablo (The nose of the devil) train ride. It is ¨supposed¨ to be fantastic and a feat in railway construction, offering unsurpassed views of mountains ....AND you get to ride on the roof.
I say ¨supposed¨ because as I went to book my ticket with two other English boys, we were told the part wich is breathtaking was closed due to a land slide and wouldn´t be fixed for another month - Viva Sud America!!!
Decided that I wouldn´t be riding on the roof of a train in the near future so what the heck! Took the train to the halfway point. Even that was a feat in itself...Mini landslide along the way meant the train stopping for a good hour for the guys to flex their muscles with their shovels and picks so that we could get by.....
So my day on Friday started at 5am...Needed to be at the train station by 6am if we wanted a good part of the roof - Don´t ask me what a good part to a train roof is, I still don´t know.
What I did manage to do was pick the only hotel in town who opens for breakfast at 5.30am on the days the train leaves...So unlike my English and Swiss travelling buddies, I started the day with a hearty breakfast.

I say Swiss, as the English guys and I were sharing a beer in their hostel, when Benoit came out and started chatting to us. We all ended up going for dinner and catching the train the following morning together! I had friends for a day!!!
The train ride was fun, althoug bum numbing! The scenery was fantastic and the kids from the various villages would come and wave us on through our journey....

Benoit and I continued onto Cuenca, a gorgeous colonial city....Kinda reminded me of Seville in Spain, for those of you who have been. For those of you who haven´t, it was cobbled streets and typical buildings with balconies over the streets. A really laid back feel to it. Our hotel overlooked the Plaza San Fransisco and the city...A great place to be with a beer in hand at sunset!

I had decided to go to Ecuador´s most famous Incan ruins the following day...They might have been better if the weather was not super cold, windy and very, very wet....The guide had to have umbrellas brought to us. Told Benoit to save his pennies and go to the Peruvian ruins instead - Macchu Picchu. Much, much better!

The following day both of us hopped on a bus to Gualaceo, which is not so touristy and has a local market which was fun to walk through...then onto SigSig another small village, 25km south...We were told to stand on the street and catch a local bus...Bus after bus went by, none with SigSig as their destination. So when a small pick up stopped, wound down the window and the driver mentioned SigSig, I jumped on the opportunity! The cab was full so with a sparkle in my eye I quipped to Benoit "Allez c´est l´aventure!!!" and jumped on the back without him having time to blink an eye!
Riding through the Andean mountains with the rain and wind whipping you in the face was just glorious!!! (And gloriously freezing!!!)

SigSig also is rather a small village...I think we were the only tourists there. However there was some sort of fair with jumping castles and the rest...Even spit roast cuy (guinea pig), the delicacy here....Opted not to eat it, simply because it was $10 versus the $1 lunch we ended up having. The picture, (to the right) really does not do justice to the place we ended up having lunch: "The Rat´s Hovel" as I nicknamed it. There was left over rice from previous clients on the tables, under the tables was a melting pot of dust, dirt, rice, corn and chicken bones stripped of their meat. The walls were stained brown over the blue and white paint and there were live electric wires hanging from the wall, and from the kitchen came a small child with half her nappy hanging off her - HACCP has a long way to go here....Neither of us was sick - Miracles do happen.

So now here I am back in Quito preparing for tomorrow when I start the trekking side of things...Am glad I´m going to the Galapagos last....Will be able to chill out on a boat for a week. Think I´ll need it after walking for approx 10 days.