Alausí & the Devil’s Nose

Taking a rest on Market Day in  Alausí , Ecuador

This weekend, along with our friend Karen, we went to  Alausí , a small city about a four-hour bus ride from Cuenca.  And what an incredible bus ride it is ! (This time a positive experience).  We will include some photos from our trip, but it is truly impossible to convey to you the majesty and grandeur of the Ecuadorean Andes, the hair raising, stomach lurching bus ride on the Pan American Highway, the loveliness of a quaint seemingly unspoiled village, and the colorful scenes at every turn of the camera.

It's hard to describe the Grandeur of the Ecuadorian Andes

 It’s easy to get to Alausí—any bus going to Quito from Cuenca will let you off there as well as any other place along the highway as you go. Riding the bus gives you a great glimpse into Ecuadorean life, culture and economy. Cuenca and other towns we have visited are for the most part first world.  Cars, taxis, buses, and trucks clog the streets—rush hour, just like in the States, can last two or three hours in the morning and evening, and the vehicle caused pollution can sting your eyes and throat.  That along with the high altitude can sometimes make breathing a challenge, especially if you have to run to avoid an onrushing car or chase after a bus or taxi.

Riding along the PanAm Highway provides a revealing, if fleeting look into rural/country life. There are lots of one or two room houses, and you know most of them don’t have running water.  Tethered cows, horses, sheep, and pigs graze on the shoulders of the highways, and stray dogs and random chickens can be seen everywhere. Men, women, and children, most dressed in traditional clothing and often with heavy loads strapped to their backs, trudge for miles up or down steep paths that would be a challenge for us to walk a few hundred feet. On the other hand there are lots of very nice houses, although many of them seem incomplete.  An Ecuadorian sharing part of our journey told us that those houses usually mean that someone is working in the US or Spain and sending home money to build the house, so if the money has stopped, work on the house may have stopped as well.

Many houses, both old & new, hug the PanAm Highway.

Alausí is a small town with a lovely town square and quite a bit of charm. It serves as the market center for a large segment of the country around. It’s main tourist attraction is the train to the Devil’s Nose, or La Nariz del Diablo. In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, British engineers, thanks to the labor of thousands and the deaths of many hundreds of Caribbean islanders, built a narrow gauge train system covering much of Ecuador; the major cities of Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca and all of the towns in between were connected by rail.  This system functioned more or less for much of the 20^th century, although corruption and neglect took its toll and about 20 years ago, much of the system was abandoned.

Larry in his recently acquired Panama hat at  Alausí town square

  Recently the Ecuadorian government has been investing in rehabilitating the rail system—although more as a tourist attraction than as a commercial artery.  The 15 kilometer line connecting Alausí to La Nariz del Diablo is one of the most important tourist lines now in service. The round trip excursion costs $25 (or $12.50 if you are over 65) and includes an hour stopover for shopping, eating and dancing entertainment by some of the locals . Our Saturday afternoon trip included only about 40 people, but during the busy season we were told by our sweet guide, Isabela, that hundreds of people visit.

Nariz del Diablo train engine with the "nariz" rock formation in the background.

 Again, it is hard to convey the impact of the ride. The Ecuadorian Andes are extremely high and steep and building a railroad through them was an incredible engineering feat. The passage through the Diablo was perhaps the most challenging part.  Originally called Condor Pass because of the presence of so many condors, the managing engineer renamed the area because so many hundreds of men died building the world’s largest zigzag around the mountain that looks like a crocodile’s snout. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride, though, but it was sobering to think of the sacrifice of so many lives to make it possible. We have included two short videos to give you some idea of the ride and the engineering required.

 

Following the train ride, we did some souvenir and gift shopping—both of us bought Panama hats. (Although called Panama hats, all of these finely woven, handmade straw hats are actually made in Ecuador.) We then caught a taxi for the three-kilometer trip to our hotel. The Pircapamba Hostería is a charming, but rustic hotel perched above the town of Alausí.  

Pircapampa Hosteria

Part of the hotel breakfast staff

Some of the gardens surrounding the Pircapamba Hosteria

 In a very bucolic setting, horses, sheep, and cattle graze in the pastures adjacent to the hotel, and chickens have free run of the gardens and grounds. We had a restful sleep under Alpaca blankets and were treated to a complete breakfast (unusual) with fresh fruit, hot bread, and just laid eggs. After wandering around in the gardens for awhile, it was time for us to pay up and leave, but after being summoned three times, no taxi from Alausí arrived. Our host, Daniel, offered to walk us into town.  The shortest route was along the new rail line, so we literally walked the tracks into town—fortunately it was only about a 15 minute challenging  trek.

Sue in her Panama hat, walking the rails into  Alausí from the hotel

 Sunday is market day in Alausí, and what a treat it was for us.  We bought very little—and in fact, many of the indigenous people really didn’t want to deal with us.  One young woman selling jewelry refused to talk with us or even show us her wares.  We found it very unusual and somewhat upsetting.  Still, walking among the hundreds of people from the countryside in town for their weekly shopping was a treat for the eye and other senses.

But about noon, we knew we had to catch our bus back to Cuenca. Although we had reserved seats, many people had to ride standing in the aisles.  Just as on our trip on Saturday, people got on and off all along the highway—many at spots where there certainly seemed to be no reason for stopping, so we knew that those getting off had long, often arduous hikes back to their homes.

Alausí's streets become a market every Sunday

Indigenous people from the surrounding countryside come to the Market

We certainly would call this trip one of the highlights of our time in Ecuador.  We were mesmerized by the rides through the mountains, the village of Alausí, the train ride, our small hotel, the sight of so many indigenous people going about their business (we seemed to be the only foreigners in town).  We left feeling happy and fulfilled to have experienced Ecuador as we had hoped it would be, pretty untouched by the commercialism that seems to have overtaken the world.