After Quilatoa we made our way to Riobamba, and stayed in a really horrible hostel for a few hours, before getting up to catch the train at six. We'd heard the route was very scenic and thought a break from the bus might be nice, but turned out to be a bus that went on train tracks that stopped to show us craft stalls and churches. Wasn't all bad though, we got to stop in a small indigenous village to have breakfast and passed through a blackened area that had been completely destroyed by a volcano, which the government are trying to recultivate with a pine forest.
Poster selection on shop wall...
Breakfast of an
empanada and
morocho, a hot drink made of corn with raisins and spices, tastes just like creamed rice. Brian unfortunately got served up some very pink chicken which he had to sneak into the bin.
Ecuadorians use US Dollar bills but they have their own coins...
Then back on a bus to Cuenca...
Cuenca was a really pleasant city that seemed a lot wealthier than other parts of Ecuador. Not a lot to report but it's been one of our favourite cities so far, you could imagine living there easily. Stayed at a nice hostel and met a group of people there for a night at the bar.
Salchipapas and
Churrasco: steak, rice, chips, two fried eggs, avocado, and salad.
Our hostel...
Went to a great museum, the Museo de Banco Central Pumapungo, where we saw five shrunken heads and other displays about tribal cultures in Ecuador and native flora and fauna.
Quinoa below...
And some of the birds we had seen in the wild in the jungle. These ones had been trained to talk. They didn't look to be in the best condition unfortunately.
Our jungle guide Luis had told us about shrunken heads. His father was from a tribe that used to practice head shrinking and had told him how to do it. Seems to be a bit of a guarded secret. Apparently it was seen as a very fierce and evil thing to do by other non-practicing tribes, as they believed that the soul of the victim was contained in the head and that way they had power over their enemy forever. Today they don't do it to humans, only to sloths. The heads were unreal looking, about the size of a fist...
From Cuenca, we made our way along dirt tracks to Huanaquillas on the border with Peru.
Find the vender at the bus stop stall...
Banana plantations...
Finally got to try out one of the many Chinese 'chifas' in Ecuador.
Venders selling quail eggs and toffee apples outside the bus station.
