Abraspungo Riobamba

... we could just rock up on the day or the night before for a ticket! As it turned out, a new system was brought in for October where tourists can book online, but of course we didnt even think to look! Luckily, with the help of our hostel owner we managed to reserve tickets for the Alausi to Sibambe leg, which is the main part of the attraction, and therefore just had to return by bus to Alausi (we had passed it to get to Riobamba!) on ...

Well now I have been through it all. As I mentioned the strike in Ecuador is affecting the roads. Today was our first hand experience of just how much. We left Cuenca and had a 6 hour bus ride to Riobamba where we would catch a transfer to Banos, which is about 2hours away. So we just happy to get on the bus and be on our way, little did we know that it would take almost double the time. First we had to stop the bus at around 8 this morning so that ...

... appeared to be served pig skin, which I luckily avoided. The evening saw us head to "zones de bares" and ended up in a place called Jack Rock. It played decent English rock music, had Stones, Led Zep and Clash posters on the wall, and had a decent pool table= it almost felt like home. An additional bonus was we successfully hussled the owners son from the pool table before Alex played a local who seemed to play by completely inexplicable rules. I thought ...

... few more nights.....we´ll see. All i know is that i´m super anxious to get to Mancora and enjoy some sun, fresh ceviche, and swimming in the beach! <br><br>I´m really bummed that I can´t post pictures, because i know they would make my entries much more eventful, but hopefully within the next few weeks! <br><br><br>stay tuned folks! <br><br>p.s. Dad and Mom-tell Mary I miss her sooo much!<br><br>

... scenery surrounded by giant desert like mountains. After a brief stopover the ´train´ makes the climb back up the hill to Alausi.<br><br>And then we had to make our way back to Riobamba which necessitated another bus. Before grabbing a late bus to get to our next destination for the night: Baños. I was glad to arrive at the end of the day, and the climate was noticeably warmer and wetter, also a relief. But all in all a tops day.<br><br>V<br>

... fresh tarmac that awaited us with virtually no traffic in our direction. We found out later that Yoni had continued with the sand which involved Gali walking for about 2km!!<br><br>Other Spanish learned on the road:<br><br>Pare/Siga = Stop/ Go (mostly Pare),<br>Mantena su derecha = Keep right<br>Zona de neblina = Fog (I don´t even need to look that one up!)<br>Peligro = Caution (normally because there are roadworks ahead)

... IV+. Gegen 11 Uhr waren wir dann mit dem Anziehen von Neopren, Schwimmweste und Helm fertig und hatten die Kommandos gelernt und wie wir uns beim Kentern verhalten sollen. Dann ging es los, zwei Boote die nicht so groß waren wie die der anderen. Rein ins Wasser und los.<br>Bis zum Kentern dauerte es auch gar nicht lange, es ging auch alles ganz schnell, irgendwie bekammen wir in einer Stromschnelle Schlagseite und schon waren wir am kippen ...

... I had to do something... so with two people in my room, we hired bikes to cycle La Ruta de Cascadas (or something - "the road of the waterfalls") towards the town of Puyo, a mere 60km away. A tough undertaking, you might think, but it's mostly downhill.<br><br>It was extremely weird being back on a bike again... it must be about eight years since I last rode any real distance, but it was still a lot of fun. Once we got out of town we were whizzing down the main road ...

woke up early in the morning to rent bikes and take the ride down to cascadia diablo something.<br>it was alright but i thought the bike ride was scary at times (part of it was on a road with huge trucks) thankfully there wasn´t much traffic. ow, bike seats hurt. the waterfall was pretty. we caught a ride back on a truck with a bunch of locals (don´t worry mum it´s not hitch hiking and it was safe). it was about 18km. <br><br>went back to check out and catch the bus back to ...

... als ich es kannte....immer hinauf, durchs Flussbett,<br>Schlamm und Morast, so dass die Pferde bis weit ueber die Fesseln<br>eingesunken sind. Gestolpert und gestrauchelt....ich habe mich nicht so<br>wohl gefuehlt - ich hatte immer das Gefuehl, das Pferd bricht sich<br>gleich die Beine.<br>So habe ich dann freiwillig nach 1.5 Stunden ums<br>Umkehren gebeten und so sind wir wieder zurueck. Die Pferde waren gut<br>und es war auch sehr schoen von der ...