Lazy Riobamba

The last time we (Mike) updated the blog, we were in the city of Guaranda, the capital of Bolivar Province. Turns out there´s not a whole lot to do in Guaranda, although we did procure some of the famous cheese and chocolate from nearby Salinas, which we unfortunately didn´t get a chance to visit. The chocolate was spectacular. The cheese was a little dissapointing. After spedning a ridiculous amount of time trying to find food to eat for breakfast on Sunday morning, we were fed up with Guaranda and headed out of town on the 2 hour bus to Riobamba.

The road from Guaranda rose steadily out of the green patchwork valleys and hills that the town is in nestled in, up into the shrubby Ecuadorian páramo, which looks an awful lot like parts of New Mexico. The highway skirted around Volcán Chimborazo, Ecuador´s highest peak and the furthest point from the center of the earth (due to the earth´s equatorial buldge). The mountain looked stunning, surrounded by the eerie páramo where we could see wild vicuñas (relateives of llamas) roaming around. Mike and I had been considering hiking to the climbing refuge at Chimborazo, but after considering the area we´d be hiking in (which was beautiful in a shrubby desert sort of way, but not particularly interesting) and the costs involved, we decided against it.

Upon our arrival in Riobamba, we took a taxi to the lovely Hostal Oasis, and then immediately set out to find lunch. Lonely Planet´s summary of Riobamba on a Sunday proved to be accurate:
"Riobamba is an important commercial center for the central highlands. Except on Sundays, when it seems you could easily starve searching for someplace to buy food..." The city was deserted. The wide, paved streets were populated by blowing sand and garbage, and the doors and windows on the grand, old buildings were boarded up. We wandered. We found Chinese food. We were happy. The evening was spent playing cards, talking to other travelers (more American´s than we´ve met, like, the whole trip), making chili, and being awed by novelty of television in English (CNN! Dangerous...).

Monday transformed the city completely, and we spent the morning dodging huge crowds of people and traffic as we wondered about. Much time was spent online, blogging, uploading photos, and fretting about travel plans. Generally speaking, our time in Riobamba was not partucularly exciting. We walked around a fair amout, bought and made food, played cards, hung around the lovely courtyard at the hostel, and watched football. Sometimes you need a vacation from being on vacation.