Devils Nose Train & Riobamba

I was at the train station for 7.50am this morning. Just as well. I was second in the queue that formed (gringos appeared out of nowhere) and some people were left disappointed today. The normal train isn´t running at the moment because of the weight of it but a substitute one carriage train is running instead but it only holds 40 people. On the original train you could ride on the roof but we were told that this isn´t allowed on the current train. After much pressure and a bribe of $1 each we persuaded the condutor to let us get up top. Not bad for him seeing as about 30 of us availed of the offer. In hindsight, I reckon they do this every day, making themselves a tidy profit on the side. The track we went down was incredibly, built into the side of the mountain. It worked on a series of switch-backs zig-zaging its way down the mountain so at times we were going backwards. The train was mainly full of a group of uni students from Washington which sort of wrecked the journey a bt with all the girls high pitched screeching. The Japenese girl wasn´t looking so bad after all and we eneded up sharing a hotel room together today in Riobamba.

I spent the afternoon visiting museums- mostly displaying traditional art, dress and other textiles. The most interesting place I visited today was a converted convent which houses a collection of religious artefacts mostly from the 16th? centrury. It was really amazing to see everything that was brought over by the Spanish when they were converting the locals. A lot of the artwork and statues were unlike anything Ive seen before. The museums greatest treasure is a priceless gold monstrance which was impressive.