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Today I was leaving Cuenca to make my way to the small town of Alausi. Alausi is the jumping on spot for the Nariz del Diablo train ride, a famous journey up and down a large hill.
Before I left though I wanted to do a spot more sightseeing. So, after breakfast I walked to the Museo del Banco Central "Pumapungo". This was a large museum, with three floors of exhibits. On the first floor was a section about the archaeological history of Ecuador, modern art from around the country and ancient gold and silver jewelry. In the basement was an exhibit of all the different coins and notes that Ecuador has used and produced. Unfortunately this exhibition was only in Spanish - a shame because I would have liked to know what happened that the countrof hanged from Ecuadorean notes to American dollars. The top floor was extremely interesting. This was dedicated to ethnography, and had big displays of all the traditional costumes of Ecuador's diverse indigenous cultures. The highlight was a section displaying the Shuar culture which had five shrunken heads in display cabinets. Outside, at the back of the museum,was an archaeological park which had stone foundations of an old Incan city called Tomebamba.
Unfortunately I had to cut my visit of the archaeological park a bit short as I needed to return to the hotel by 12pm for checkout. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and I walked back in the drizzle. I got a taxi to the bus station and managed to find a bus to Alausi. I had time to buy a quick lunch and then I was on my way.
It was quicker than I thought, 3.5hrs instead of 4hrs. The bus dropped me on the main road, it doesn't drive into Alausi itself which is down a hill. The view of Alausi from above showed the town to be quite small, with a large statue of St. Peter overlookin it from a nearby hill. I walked the 10-15mins down the hill into the centre of town, to the main street, found my hotel and checked in. The train station was already closed so I couldn't pick up my ticket for the next day. I found a small restaurant recommended by the lonely planet and had a delicious burrito and hot chocolate for dinner there for $3.75 - bargain. I returned to the hotel for an early night, ready for the train ride in the morning.
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