Running With The Bulls- Devil´s Nose Train
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
122
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Alausi,
Ecuador
Monday, June 30, 2008
We came straight off the Quilotoa Loop and found that our accommodation we had booked for the night in Alausi had been taken by someone else but someone made a phone call and we managed to get the last room in the whole of Alausi locted in a womanīs private bedroom with two beds. The local womanīs hotel was located right on festival street in the middle of the action and we were allowed to come and go as we pleased. We had met the guy Andrew from Quilotoa lake in the street and he was looking for a room so we let him come in on our room deal, around US$10 each.
The party was in full swing by the time we ventured out amongst it and despite what we had heard, the bulls were still running at night time.
in the ring
I was very happy about this as i had been carrying around for many years the romantic notions of seeing a bull fight in action. We grabbed some icey cold Pilsener beers from the vendors on the street and set off towards the makeshift grandstand that looked more like some squatters houses banged up together haphazardly. The grandstand arena was built around the townīs football field using any materials they could find but mainly using wood, bamboo and nails. Each family or crew has leased their own private box for the festival and the boxes are stacked up to three high with the third floor penthouse boxes costing the most to rent. People had brought fabrics and dining chairs from home to furnish the boxes for the occasion. There were people squeezed into every available space in the boxes and watching every move the bulls would make. The indigenous Ecuadorians were all crounched in under the stands taking up every available space to glimpse a view. There was alot of action and we are told this fiesta is bigger than Christmas. Alausi is a nicely sized, charming town and this could account for the people being so friendly.As soon as we hit the street we met a gothic heavy metal band standing around a crate of Pilsener beers who were encouraging us to go and watch them play. Maybe later we said and were given the finger. Next we met some bonafide cowboys who spoke a little English and took us into the arena to watch some Flamenco style dancing and singing. Some one had the idea of lighting large paper bag lanterns to fly up into the sky
crowded stands
. The one we saw lit went up and into the grandstands where spectators were watching the bulls. This was no cause for great alarm though and nobody really blinked an eye as people evacuated their seats while the roof of their box burned. After this had finished wewere standing in the ring when some bulls were released and we had to do the bolt out of there and over the fence barricades to get out of there. Adrenalin rush. Yippiieeee!!!! We realised later that the bulls just keep coming out from all four corners of the ring where there are many bulls being held in trucks. Sometimes multiple bulls are released at the same time. The cowboys were keen for Andrew and us to continue partying with them but we decided to get some bites to eat from the street stalls. There was a conversation with Micheal that went something like "I like you, do you like me to be your boyfriend? straight up, they donīt mess around. People were most friendly here and kept telling us where to go to see the action of the fiesta and offering us drinks like Ecuadorian shots of locall liquors. The mayor of Alausi even stopped to chat with us and filled us in on how the bullfighting works. Everybody was very happy that foreigners had turned up to their big event, i think we were the only ones there.This night there was fireworks happening. No pyrotechnics training here! The big crackers were fired up right over our heads and the debris and shells from the fireworks fell down on our heads as people dodged flaming balls of the crackers
guinea pig rotiserrie
. Apparently this was expected and added to the fun. Itīs all fun and games right? Speaking of games, the fuuz-ball parlours were getting a workout as was a carnival game that was set up so that the participant fires an air rifle into a wall of prizes. There were lots of kidīs gambling type games too.The Pilsener beer was flowing freely from tallies and we had that festival vibe. I looked past Batman, hello Kitty and Tigger and bought a Spongebob Squarepants inflatable toy in the hope that he would stop stalking me on future travels. I tried to give the toy to the son of the lady whos room we were crashing in but even he didnīt want poor Bob. We came across the main kidīs attraction in the street, a wacky train ride that was basically a few mini train carriages attached to a very fast first car that had a dragonīs head on top of it. The whole thing was decorated like Fred Flintstone style and the driver floored the train down the main street of Alausi and did donuts in the carparks. Yipiiee!!! The driver hammered this ride and we suspect drink driving had a part in it. Looked like fun though so Andrew and us bought two bags of flouro pink fairy floss and jumped onboard the wacky train form hell. The best 50cents we have ever spent. Mini train extravaganza! There was some burn-a-structure thing happening too but we went to bed exhausted. We woke up the next moring surrounded by religious jesusīs, crucifixes and faux flowers and a picture of a boy band on the wall and then remembered we were in the womanīs bedroom
San Pedro statue
. There was much more excitement to come this day.We had come to the Alausi to ride the Nariz de Diablo (Devilīs Nose) which is a train that you can ride on the roof of through spectacular scenery whilst dangling your legs over the side. Until a couple of years ago, this was a legitimate way to travel through this part of Ecuador with your backpack on top too until someone died riding on top and now they just run the train for the tourists who still want a taste of it. The palava of accquiring tickets was ridiculous. Only three trains depart each day, twice a week with most of the tickets having been pre-purchased by tour group agencies. We lined up for an hour and were at the front of the line only to be told that the earlier two trains were sold out thanks to pushy Europeans and Americans who had unashamedly pushed in line and bought the tickets. We got tickets for the last train then just jumped onboard an earlier train. The views were good down through the canyon surrounded by mountains and it was a novelty to ride on top of the train and watch the levers on the train tracks be manually changed as we went from track to track. The train had a hell of a horn on it too. The original Nariz de Diablo would have been much better. I just canīt deal with the tourist frenzy that goes on. We did see a Swedish backpacker who looked like Kira and we tried to photograph him as evidence. After the train ride we were glad to see all the tourists get back on their luxury coaches and drive away, they missed the whole fiesta of the bulls and we selfishly had it to ourselves again.
Today there was a wonderful parade that ran down the middle of the main street
fireworks over the crowd
. The whole town was watching. Dance groups had been practising for weeks leading up to the event. Folklorica groups from all over rural Ecuador paraded down the mainstreet performing energetic dances all the way in the scorching heat. A couple of people fainted. The costumes were fantastic and showed the less serious side of the Ecuadorians, they like to celebrate and have fun. There were vendors selling fun fiesta stuff like toys, ice-cream, syrupy sweet snacks and fairy floss that they displayed on giant poles above their heads. While we were waiting for the parade we all got an ice-cream and wondered why all the police were women in Alausi. Maybe they were the ones who didnīt want to enter the Miss Alausi competition, the calibre of contestants. We really were blown away by the spectacle of the parade and the enthusiasm of the Alausi people. There were hat dances, twirling skirt dances, modern dances, traditional dances, carry-an-orange-juice-bottle-on-your-head dances and even a full band playing from the back of the best garbage truck in town. Our favourite were the Miss Alausi entrants who were on top of a float, waving, in their best 80īs formal gown, heels and who had all spent the better part of the morning in the local hair salon getting an up-do, a curl or blowdry. These ladies were making the most of their good hair time and parading and posing like Miss Universes, fantastic, we loved it. The best part was that all the previous winners of the Miss Alausi competition were also part of the parade and wearing their gowns
one of the trophies- bull´s head
. The ladies had perfected the professional crowd wave and wore their sashes with pride. Nadine was amused to find one lady wearing the 1968 Miss Alausi sash, great effort, well done. There was even a Mr Alausi who i was lucky enought to get in a photo with. Mr Alausi was a body builder, sponsored by a protein shake company and wearing a loin cloth. My other favourite group was a team of Ecuadorian Amazonian people dressed in a tribal costume with the mascot being a live snake. The snake nearly died in the heat on the way down the street and they had to revive it with cold water.After the parade we went back to the bull fighting arena area and saw six guinea pigs being roasted on a hand driven patisserie contraption. The diversity of the street food was amazing and included whole pig carcasses ready to eat. We managed to find decent plated of food for very little cost. There was also a guy carrying a stuffed bullīs head mounted on a backboard through town, we think this was a trophy from a past years event because many families had one. I bought an ostrich puppet from a guy in the street.
Andrew and us did the mission up the hill to the large San Pedro (Saint) statue that overlooks all of the town. San Pedro is who the whole fiesta is about. There was an awesome view of the bull fighting arena from here and food and beer vendors too. This area gave us a good feel of the indigenous people and their behaviours because they were all getting the free view from up here
Bullfighting souvenirs
. The women were beautiful with their green or black pork pie hats, coloured shawls and gold necklaces. There was a film clip being filmed here that featured a typical looking Latin American pop superstar wearing outfits like silver camel-toed hotpants and thigh high white boots and who would mime along with a portable radio and pout into the camera whilst doing sexy moves on the railings of the San Pedro statue.We headed back down the hill and tried to get a look in at the bull fighting. We met a wealthier Ecuadorian family who had some sons and daughters who had done some education in the United States, thus spoke some English. The family invited us up to their penthouse box on top where we could get good views of the action. We climbed a tiny ladder made from bamboo to reach the top. It appeared to be the largest box in the whole arena (2x1m, thatīs big) and we felt blessed to be invited there. The family gave us small talk, chairs and drinks and started to feed us empanadas. Joy! We got a good view of all the other spectators from here too and there was some crazy cowboy action going on.
The bull fighting was not the kind you would expect where there is one bull and one matador. Instead, the local lads buy a pink or red cape and all get in the ring at the same time. The braver guys get really close and then are usually chased and sometimes caught by the bull who would toss them into the air or against a railing. Some would escape by jumping over or sliding under the barricades
yee-haaa
. Some people had rigged up mannequins on ropes that they would dangle from the third floor boxes into the arena below to tempt the bulls over to their side of the arena. There was an element of cruelty for the bulls although they donīt kill them at the end of the fiesta. Sometimes the lads would have a few too many Pilseners and throw things like coconuts, rocks, beer bottles or spears at the bulls. Those who couldnīt afford to buy a cape used their backpacks or shirts to tempt the bulls. Some tricksters would do things like the jump off crates and over the bulls to please the crowd. A manic, crazy bull fighting event.We were told that it doesnīt matter if people get injured because not only are they heros but..... the Alausi hospital is conveniently located right next to the bull fighting arena.
Next year we are considering leasing out a few boxes and flying our friends over for the no rules anything goes experience, good old Ecuadorian fiesta. We went to leave late at night and realised that Nadineīs cold weather jacket had been taken from the room. We suspected the young son who lived in the hotel had put his arm through the bars on the window and snatched it but maybe as photo evidence suggests........ it was Spongebob.
Comments
The Big Owie at Bulls
Nardia. Did you c big Owie at the bulls, cos he sent photos and stories of his exploits at the bulls. He was there in a volunteer capacity with some tour group, and told us about wearing a grey shirt while other volunteers wore red shirts, and they stayed in a huge campsite of tents and we got the stories on the tents being erected. I told Owie I only want to hear stories from him of erections and I dont mean tents! He also keeps sending poxy photos of good sorts wearing clothes. I told him, topless, bottomless or 4get the photos!