Riobamba
Trip Start
May 06, 2007
1
16
166
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Riobamba,
Ecuador
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Last night I spent awhile talking to a Polish girl, Anna, who was staying at my hostel. She was a lot of fun, but unfortunately we're traveling in opposite directions; today she was heading north to Quito while I was heading south to Riobamba. Around midnight, we decided that if it wasn't raining in the morning (there was a thunderstorm at the time), we were going to wake up early at 7am and go to the Baņos for an hour or so before leaving the city. When my alarm went off way too early, somewhat luckily it was pouring rain, so I just turned it off and went back to sleep. Instead of the Baņos, she and I had breakfast together around 10:20 am (a much more appropriate time for the morning to begin) and then walked to the bus station together. We exchanged contact info and she offered for me to visit her in Poland if she's there when I'm in the area. Hopefully I'll be able to take her up on her offer.
When we got to the bus station, I found out the the 11:50 bus no longer exists and the next one wasn't until 12:40. Gotta love the overnight schedule changes. The 12:40 bus ended up involving an interesting change of buses at a random intersection. Luckily the guys who help the bus driver were very, very helpful to me. I don't know the name for their position, but every bus here has a man or woman who collects the fares, tells the driver when to stop to let people on and off, and, seemingly most importantly, yells the city where the bus is heading very loud and fast while leaning out the front door as the bus is moving. Fortunately, they all also happen to be very nice and helpful to the gringo who's just trying to follow which buses her guidebook says to take.
Each of the two bus rides were only about 45 min, but on the second one I happened to be sitting next to a very talkative man. I was proud that I managed to hold a conversation with him all in Spanish for the whole ride. He was on his way back from Quito where he went to get his passport updated since he's leaving on Friday for a trip to the Dominican Republic. He was most interested in how all the travelers know where to go and what to do. It seemed like my guidebook was one of the most fascinating things he's ever seen. The conversation made the ride go by more quickly and he also pointed out the different mountains and volcanoes that we passed and told me which was which one. I usually try to figure it out from the map while the bus is driving by, but this time I didn't have to.
Once I got to Riobamba I checked into a hostel. I had been warned that the hostels in Riobamba are nowhere near as nice as the hostels elsewhere in Ecuador and they were definitely right. I looked at two before settling on the one I'm at. It's only one night and if it's going to be a crappy place lacking in character and comfort I want it to be as cheap as possible. It's hard going from a place as nice as the one in Baņos that was so personal where the owners sat and chatted with us in the evening to a sterile place like this where it's just the bed in the room and the bathroom down the hall. It's only one night though and tomorrow in Cuenca I'm going to stay in a hostel that Anna recommended which she said was equally nice to the one in Baņos, plus only $5 per night. Hopefully her experience will be the same as mine.
After throwing my stuff in the hostel I went to get some food and walk around the city. The only way I can think of to describe Riobamba is lots of concrete slabs and lots of traffic. The city itself is pretty dirty, though it does have a couple of nice plazas. There are lots of little convenience, hardware, and shoe stores lining the streets, but none of them look particularly inviting. Thankfully, internet access here is less than half what it cost in Baņos ($2/hr in Baņos and only $0.70/hr in Riobamba).
Tomorrow I'm planning on taking a bus to Cuenca. This bus ride will be my longest so far, 6.5 hrs, so hopefully I won't be sitting next to someone smelly the whole time.
