Riding the Devil’s Nose (Riobamba, Ecuador) - Part One

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Riobamba has the sad rundown feel of a former major colonial railroad town on the line between Ecuador’s capital and its largest city. Impressive Spanish-styled buildings flaking from age house shoe repairers, clothing vendors, merchants and a surprising number of barber shops. A grand church, an uninspiring coffee and a reasonable religious art museum pass away an hour but the whole town has this tired slightly bored feel to it. The fresh aromas of charcoal start to fill the streets as barbeques are stoked for the evening fare including the prized cuisine of guinea pig.

Nearby Parque 21 de Abril offers an afternoon view to the spectacular volcano, Chimborazo and other Andean peaks. Remarkably, the snow-capped peak of Chimborazo (at only 6300 metres above sea-level) is the point on the Earth furthest from the centre of the Earth, because the Earth isn’t truly spherical and this mountain is extremely near the equator. It is over two kilometers further away from the Earth’s centre than Mt Everest.

Walking to this vantage point, you could easily be mistaken that only westerners live in this town. Riobamba swells with multitude of travellers three afternoons a week for the early morning departure of the train journey down the Devil’s Nose (Nariz del Diablo). In a true feat of engineering, a railway was cut through the Andes over a hundred years ago including a series of switchbacks to get the train down the steep gradients of Devil’s Nose. Sadly, today this train only runs for the benefit of tourists with a sequence of storms, earth tremors and landslides causing considerable damage to a sequence of track preventing through journeys.

Wiping the sleep from tired eyes, the train departs at a dawn-cracking 7:00am. With no food on the train, it was good advice to be a fair bit earlier to grab a quick breakfast and to be strategically placed to stake a position on the roof of the train. The weak rays of sunshine do little to break the bitter icy temperatures as passengers huddle like emperor penguins closely for warmth, pulling beanies over their ears and hiding their hands up jacket sleeves. The train gently meanders through pleasant countryside and farmland occasionally revealing superb views of the Andes. The early nerves of being tipped off the rocking train have eased as people have settled in, chat and enjoy the mid-morning journey, before stopping to pick up more travellers at the dull-looking town of Alausi.

Read more at Riding the Devil's Nose Part Two.

Photo: Train Overview

Riobamba Vacations

The Illuminated Manuscript (Dublin, Ireland)

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Dublin is a spirited rollicking travel wonder pulsating with lively pubs, expressive people and a rich culture. Famous for its thick black Guinness brew, its most fascinating sight comes from more pious and humble backgrounds.

The Book of Kells, named after the abbey it was housed in for most of the first half of its rich existence, is a remarkable book or artwork representing the four Christian gospels. Considered by some to be the finest book ever produced, it was written over 1200 years old. The pages were painstakingly scribed in ornate Latin script onto vellum (cowhide) and lavishly illustrated by four monks. Ten different colours are used (sourced from items as diverse as beetle wings and seashells) and the detail in the illustration is overwhelming. In modern times, the book was bound into four volumes and totals around 680 pages. Today, visitors to Dublin queue for long periods for a chance to witness this extraordinary illustrated manuscript.

As for many medieval relics, it is remarkable that it survived the pillaging of the Vikings (who are thought to have stolen the jewel-encrusted cover but discarded the book), countless battles, fires, religious arguments and theft and has been protected by Trinity College since the mid-1600s. Most famous for its library, the college is worthy of a visit in its own right with its elegant grey granite buildings.

Once thought to be the work of angels, the best way to see the Book of Kells is to line up before opening time and head past the displays on the history of the book and straight for the darkened room where the book is displayed. Two illustrated pages and two text pages were shown the day I was there (the pages are turned each day). It is mesmerising to stand in front of something where so much time, dedication and skill was invested so long ago to create such a stunningly detailed work of art. Each letter is carefully shaped and crafted with several elaborately decorated while the microscopic details in the intricate patterns of woven lines in the illustrations are almost impossible to fathom.

Wander back to enjoy the displays which details the history of the document, the creation of the vellum and binding and the books circuitous history to Dublin. The picture to the left shows the most renown page with the stylised chi (X, pronounced "ch") and rho (P, pronounced "r") which are the first two Greek letters of Christ's name and make the famous "XP" symbol of Christ. Another shows four pictures which illustrate the four gospels authors - Matthew (man), Mark (lion), Luke (ox) and John (eagle).

The connected Long Room library feels like something from Harry Potter and contains around two hundred thousand rare and historic hand-bound books from over the centuries including a collection by Sir Isaac Newton (his Principia is on display) and two or three other pre-tenth century religious books. Among its treasures on display is Ireland’s oldest harp, immortalised on Guinness labels and the Irish Euro coins.

I left Trinity College with the feeling of privilege at being able to see this truly historic and awe-inspiring travel wonder. I doubt there is anywhere in the world where people queue for the opportunity to view a couple of pages from a single book but the Book of Kells is surely worth it.

Other Irish and British Posts
A Bit of British (Gibraltar)
Soaking Up Culture (Bath)
Half-Timbered Houses (Lavenham)

Notes
The Long Room photo is taken from a postcard and the various Book of Kells images are all public domain (after all, its copyright expired some time ago!!).

Photo of the Week - Petronas Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

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Once the tallest building in the world (since surpassed by a Taiwanese building), Petronas Twin Towers dominates the Malaysian capital's skyline. Most striking is the skybridge which connects the two towers about halfway up and which can be accessed for free (requires a ticket). I think the skybridge and the mirrored twins are what makes this building a truly striking sight. Interestingly, the lifts are double height, servicing two consecutive floors at the same time.

Pretty in Pink (Tokyo, Japan)

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From late March every year, for little more than two weeks, the Japanese cherry trees blossom in seas of whites and pinks across Japan. Visiting Tokyo briefly for work, I managed to squeeze in a quick walk down the alleyways of Tokyo's Yanaka Cemetery towards the end of the short blossom season - the path and ground littered with the elegant pink flowers.

Celebrated as the arrival of spring, the Japanese adore this time of year as families populate parks and shrines full of these spectacular trees for picnics, quiet strolls and family gatherings. Similar to the kaleidoscopic fall colours so popular in North America, the local inhabitants have favourite vantage points to celebrate hirami and sight the magnificent oceans of colour.

In parks, boats can be hired to row gently along the streams to enjoy the tree-lines banks, the blossom-laden branches leaning towards the water weighed down by their rampant blooms.

Other Asian Posts
Symphony of Lights (Hong Kong)
Happy Birthday, Peak Train (Hong Kong)
It’s All in the Stars (Jaipur, India)
A Royal Facade (Jaipur, India)
A Monument to Love (Taj Mahal, India)
From Dead Duck to Bird Heaven (Bharatpur, India)

Notes
Source: Boat Photo

A Cheap Trick Hunting the Imaginary Line (Equator)

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Today being the equinox – one of the two times in a year that the sun sits directly above the equator – it seems appropriate to post an article on the equator. This magic line passes through 14 countries around the globe and I am sure that most countries mark it with monuments, painted lines, road signs and special symbols. Ecuador even takes its name from this famous line that divides our planet in two – named after a French/Spanish scientific expedition in the early 1700s to measure the curvature of the Earth.

Only a few miles north of Ecuador’s capital Quito, the grandly named Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) has a museum with a planetarium, a bit of history, a model of old Quito and a few displays. It also includes the most elaborate equatorial statue that I have seen (right) and an area with a number of the world’s flags. A different Ecuadorian road highlights the hemispheres with a giant sculptured globe (top photo).

Uganda marks the Equator only a few miles south of their capital, Kampala, with a horseshoe-styled statue while one of the Kenyan markers on the road between Nairobi and Samburu National Park is little more than a road sign.

Apart from the usual trite gift shops, a favourite sight at the equator locations is a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect. In simple terms, this is the idea that water drains from a basin or down a toilet in an anti-clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere and in a clockwise direction south of the Equator. The effect is stronger the further you move from the equator.

For a small fee, someone will pour water in a tub or basin with a hole in it. Standing a few metres north of the Equator and dramatically dropping a match, twig or flower into the water, the item will spin counter clockwise. Moving a few metres the other side of the Equator, this same item will rotate in the opposite direction. Finally when standing astride of the Equator, the item will stay almost motionless as the water drains away.

To get an idea of the demonstration, a number of videos on Youtube exist (simply search on “coriolis” and “equator’).

Sorry to be a spoil-sport but this demonstration is faked. The Coriolis Effect is real but standing only a few metres either side of the Equator will not show up such a weak force – it has much more to do with how the water is poured and released. In fact, somewhat bizarrely, the Kenyan demonstration that I witnessed got the two directions the wrong way around with the water draining in the opposite direction to that which would be expected.

But it does provide a lot of chatter and interest among visitors and absorbs many with all kind of queries flowing to the anointed smiling and animated science teacher. It certainly adds to the entertainment of a short break in the journey to take a few happy snaps standing astride of the Equator or climbing upon the marker.

Enjoy the equinox as the north moves into spring and the south moves out of its summer. I trust that your travels will take you past the equator at least once in your life.