My wish came true and it didn't rain today. Unfortunately I forgot to wish for a view of the mountains which were stubbornly obscured in the clouds all day. I tried to ride up into Cotopaxi National Park but I was told that motorbikes are prohibited in the park. I considered taking the bus but the weather looked unfavorable. Instead I headed down toward Chimborazo. In another lesson of "just because there is a line on the map", as soon as I turned off of the Panamerican Highway, the road immediately turned to a muddy track. It was okay at first but as I climbed up into the mountains the road became a convoluted series of farm tracks. My GPSs were no help. It had been over an hour of riding and I had not seen any other vehicles or people. Only a couple of donkeys wandering along the route. I decided that I had better turn around and make a new plan tomorrow.

I did discover that Ecuador has... or rather had a narrow-gauge railway system that was built in the late 1800s. I encountered several abandon rail lines and stations. I read that a few sections of this system were still in use for tourist purposes until the pandemic at which time the entire system was permanently closed. When I rolled into Riobamba, I saw that they had a very nicely restored colonial rail station, however, it was cordoned off.

Riobamba seems to be a rather working class city without much glitz. Since I arrived fairly early I wandered around for a couple hours and didn't see any other tourists. The busy streets were mostly lined with hardware stores, small grain mills and lots of produce vendors. There were many people wearing traditional clothing and felt hats, speaking what I think is Quechua. It sounds very different from Spanish. It is right at the foot of Chimborazo so I am going to be wishing very hard for a clear morning.