Climbing onto the train. Photo by Freyja Ellis

Thirty kilometers into the ascent of Ecuador’s towering western range, a railway snakes up a mountain known as La Nariz del Diablo (The Devil’s Nose). This nearly vertical wall of rock was the greatest natural obstacle engineers encountered during construction of the country’s train system, and the decision to go up it instead of around was one of a string of blunders that nearly smothered the dream of connecting Ecuador’s two largest cities, Guayaquil and Quito, by rail.

Today, the Devil’s Nose is the highlight of a fantastic rail trip that meanders through the rich tapestry of cultivated fields and rugged highland spread across the southern half of Ecuador’s 400-kilometer long Central Valley, aptly christened “The Avenue of the Volcanoes” in 1802 by the German explorer Alexander Von Humboldt.

The journey begins in the picturesque city of Riobamba. Like many cities in the Ecuadorian Andes, Riobamba sits in shadow of a giant volcano, Chimborazo, which at 6,310 meters (approximately 20,702 feet) enjoys the dual distinctions of being Ecuador’s highest peak and the furthest point from the center of the earth, thanks to the bulge at the equator. The train travels south from Chimborazo through a few small towns and large expanses of open country before arriving at Alausí, where it begins a hair-raising descent of the Devil’s Nose. Most travelers sit on top of the rail cars to take advantage of the spectacular vistas provided by the engineers’ ingenious solution of carving a series of tight zigzags into the side of the mountain, which allow the train to climb a gradient of 1-in-18 from 1,800 to 2,600 meters, by going forwards then backwards up the tracks.

A hundred years after it was constructed, the steep grade of the Devil’s Nose stretch of track precludes its use as a freight or efficient passenger line, but affords the perfect means for present-day explorers who want to discover the rugged and breathtaking Ecuadorian countryside.