Devil's Nose Train and Cuenca

5.31.18 The Devil's Nose Train and Cuenca

Our morning destination (the Devil's Nose is the mountain behind our train).

The glaciers of Chimborazo - another look along the way.

Iglesia de Balbanera in Colta, Ecuador. The first Catholic church founded by the Spanish conquistadors in the territory of present Ecuador in 1534.

Just as we were about to enter the church, a group of delightful students - 

on their best behaviour - took a seat and became absolutely quiet 

as their instructor directed.

Beautiful artwork and wonderful gargoyles at the church entrance.

Not at all camera shy.  Even their teacher was happy to pose for a group shot.

Once back outside in the courtyard, we roamed around checking 

out several stalls containing local arts and crafts.

This man was using a lathe to carve all sorts of interesting objects from tagua - 

also known as ivory nut of vegetable ivory from an Ecuadoran tropical  palm tree about 8 feet tall. Once carved it is very similar to elephant ivory.

I bought a table runner from this woman - very similar in color to this tablecloth.

High in the southern Andes, in the small town of Alausi, the Devil's Nose - with its almost perpendicular walls -  was the biggest complication faced by the construction of the Trans-Andean railroad begun in early 1900.

Engineers Archer and John Harman were especially challenged by the fact that Jameson Kelly's earlier route had been wiped out by rains and floods. Because they could not climb up the wall of mountains before them, they decided to zigzag up. This entire site resulted in death for thousands of workers - including many Jamaican immigrants and John Harman himself. 

Monument to St. Peter (taken from the road high above Alausi).

Alausi is known for its architecture, 

and most of its houses are more than 100 years old.

At first we thought these were condos - and you might say they are - 

since they are for permanent residents of the cemetery. 

Note that those with money have the larger buildings in the background.

This is one of the older trains at the station.

This is a photo of the engine car from my railcar on a turn.

Preparing for track switching.

Shots along the way...

Before we head back to Alausi, several native dancers perform then invite us to join them.  I had a blast with the shortest guy in the videos below.  At such a high altitude, that was some kind of workout!

https://youtu.be/rNCN1EJuFXs

https://youtu.be/d5QuPR_4WRQ

https://youtu.be/qGNknKCb_x4

https://youtu.be/ALZ3xUuEX4g