I've wanted to take this train ride ever since I arrived in Ecuador two weeks ago. It runs twice a week -- that's four opportunties, eachof which I missed. I missed the bus to the starting point, I failed to check out of my hotel in time, I had to call my credit card companies, or I had met cool people I wasn't willing to leave behind. Finally, on my last day in Ecuador, I made it. It didn't disappoint.

    The train left from Riobamba, a small town full of buildings that would look at home in the wild west. The train is old an elegant, with two quaint-looking Pullman cars. I didn't ride in those though. Instead, I joined my fellow backpackers on top of the boxcar. For six hours. And it was fun! I felt like Miss America. Ecuadorians on the streets and in the fields smiled and waved, and I waved back. They took as many pictures of us as we did of them. Riding through the countryside with the wind in my face, listening to the chugging of the engine, feeling the train rocking below me, is one of the most exhilirating things I've done on this trip.

    There is no limit to the number of funny things to see when you spend 6 hours on top of a train. A leashed monkey strolling leisurely down the tracks, owner nowhere in sight. Three sheep and two pigs on top of a bus. (How on earth did they get them up there?) Donkeys hobbling back and forth, their feet tied together. Five sheep, all tied together, trying to walk across a field. The last two seem sort of sad, but I think they're ingenious solutions to what to do if you don't have a fence and you don't want your livestock to wander away.

    All along the way, vendors caught up to our slow-moving train, leaped on to the ladder, and climbed up top to sell candy and drinks. They walked back and forth across the three boxcars, holding onto passengers for support, until each of their trays were empty. Outside one small town a man climbed aboard with handfuls of lollipops. As soon as we pulled into town, dirty and poor children ran alongside the train, begging for lollipops. Soon, bright pink and orange Blowpops were raining from the top of the car. A conductor even got off to help the kids catch them. I wasn't sure whether to be touched or feel manipulated. Either way, it's a pretty smart scheme -- if you don't have money to pay for candy (or just don't want to buy it for yourself), get someone to sell it to tourists to give to you. Clearly the children have learned to cope with their economic situation.

    My favorite sight wasn't the countryside but the women of Ecuador. Outside big cities, they still wear the traditional clothing of their tribes -- felt hats, rings of gold necklaces, bright white shirts with lacy sleeves, and thick, colorful skirts. They look so elegant! More than anything else, differently-dressed people make me feel that I'm in another place.

    I never did figure out why the train ride was called "the Devil's Nose." I know the title refers to the last, most exhilirating part of the ride, where the tracks coast just inches from the edge of a deep canyon. It's beautiful, but not particularly devilish or nose-y. Title aside, I'm glad I finally managed the ride. Rocking back and forth on top of a train, staring down at the canyon below me, will no doubt be my favorite memory of Ecuador.

~Meredith