The New Welcome Center in Cuenca

Cuenca for Expats Welcome Meeting

A committee of Cuenca expats will provide basic information, tips and referrals to make the transition for newcomers easier, Tuesday, June 5, 10:00 a.m., at the Cuenca Chamber of Commerce. Following the presentation, there will be a question and answer session. The meeting will be in the Chamber´s Conference Room, Federico Malo 1-90 y Av. 12 de Abril. The event is free. To sign up, contact Veronica at vmaldonado@cccuenca.com.

Ecuador News in English

Would you like to read the news about Ecuador in English?  Well you can by clicking on the link below.  You can read about the Top Stories, the News Near You, etc.  This is provided by Google:

https://news.google.com/news/search?hl=en&ned=us&q=ecuador&btnG=Search%20News&ar=1338309046

Drive from Banos to Cuenca -- Part 2 of 2

Devil's Nose Train

 The Devil's Nose Train left the station in Alausi at 8:00am and returned three hours later at 11:00am.  The three-hour ride went through beautiful countryside.

Standing in front of the Devil's Nose

We only went as far as the Devil's Nose and then turned around.  Our trip did not include going up the Devil's Nose as we weren't going north to Riobamba.  If you start the train ride in Riobamba (going south), the switchbacks on the Devil's Nose take the train from the top of the steep hill down to the bottom.  The locomotive heads forwards and backwards down the incline.  In the past, travelers were allowed to ride on the top of the train, but this has been discontinued due to safety reasons.

Dancers at the train stop

We stopped for refreshments and to see the museum built high above the train tracks.  We had an hour for eating and also touring the museum (which was included in the price of the train ticket).

Looking down to the train tracks from the museum

 

Patty with museum guides

 We spent quite a bit of time walking through the museum.  I took pictures of the informational posters and have placed them here. (You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Map showing where we were, and the train route north from Alausi

 

The Nest of the Condors.

 

The most difficult train in the world?

The builders of the Devil's Nose

The dream of the train

The engineering feat

Connecting a nation

After our hour visit at the museum, we boarded the train and continued on our trip back to Alausi.

A man and his dog!

 

Heading back (Alausi in the distance)

Drive from Banos to Cuenca -- Part 1 of 2

Our new car

We recently flew from Cuenca to Quito to buy a car (2011 Kia Sportage SUV) and we drove it back to Cuenca, staying two nights in Banos and one night in Alausi.  This blog will chronicle our trip.


Banos

The town of Banos sits at the base of the volcano Tungurahua ("throat of the fire" in Quichua).  It is an active volcano, and has erupted since we moved here.  When it erupts, it makes headlines and the townspeople are ordered to evacuate.  Lucky for us, it was resting when we visited.

There are thermal baths in town, and it is an adventure-seeker's paradise with hiking, rafting, horseback riding, mountain biking, climbing, bungee jumping, and zip lining.  Banos is also the jumping-off-point into the jungle, through the town of Puyo.  We chose to take it easy and spend our time at the Samari Spa Resort.  (http://www.samarispa.com/html/en/).

Entrance to Samari Resort

Samari Spa Resort
This resort sits on the site of an 18th century Jesuit monastery.  We stayed two nights here and really enjoyed walking around the grounds.

Families were enjoying the indoor pool

Lobby Area of the Spa

Our room was in this villa

 

View from our window

There are tours that you can take that involve horseback riding, mountain biking, etc.  You can also take a night tour up the slope of the volcano.  We chose to hire a taxi to show us around and he took us to another beautiful resort called Luna Runtun.  (http://lunaruntun.com/)

Luna Runtun
This resort is perched at the top of a sheer cliff overlooking the town of Banos.  This was a very peaceful place and one that I wouldn't mind staying at sometime.

High above the town of Banos

After staying at Luna Runtun for about an hour, we got back in our taxi which headed even higher up in elevation.  We didn't know where we were going, but we weren't disappointed.  Our next stop was La Casa del Arbol (the treehouse).

The treehouse is on the edge of a cliff

I made it all the way up, but it was swaying in the wind!

Swinging out over the edge!

Don't look down!

Alausi


 The next day we left Banos and drove to the small town of Alausi, where we spent the night at La Quinta Hosteria.  It has beautiful views of the surrounding area and is adjacent to the train station which was convenient for our early morning train ride the next day.

Our companion, keeping us safe!

Enjoying breakfast just before our Devil's Nose Train ride

Part Two will detail our trip on the Devil's Nose Train, which is not to be missed.