End of Ecuador, on to Lima!

After Baños we were off to Riobamba. Upon arriving we noted it was a very nice town. However, to our dismay, we quickly learned that the train doesn't currently run as the tracks are under repair and have been for a few months. So we had to do a bit of an adjustment, and we headed for the small town of Alausí where we could once again try to get on the train to Nariz del Diablo.

As it turns out, Alausí is a beautiful little town. It's as though it has been forgotten by time, but you're never quite sure from what era. It's surrounded by beautiful green mountains, and we've had perfect weather, so it was really a nice surprise.

View down one of the streets; at the end of the road is the patron saint, San Pedro,
that watches over the city

On Sunday afternoon we went on the train ride. Although you can no longer ride on the top of the train, the views from the windows were amazing enough. Though it was a bit expensive for our budget, it was definitely worth it (even though the second half of the ride was backwards due to the inability of the train to turn around).

View from the train

We then went to the colonial city of Cuenca. It has beautiful architecture, but we were getting anxious to get to Peru, so after one day we took a bus to Loja, where we took an overnight bus across the border. The next morning we found another overnight bus to Lima, where we arrived this morning.

Some of the architecture in Cuenca

We plan on spending about four or five days here with a friend from camp, then we´re off to the south of Peru.