Exploring Ecuador - Day 3- Walking Tour of Historic Riobamba

Dear Family and Friends,

This is Dimitri, our Riobamba tour guide.  

As you may remember, Chuck and I were in Riobamba about a month ago.  We did not drive there, our tour guide, Dimitri, drove down to Cuenca from Riobamba to get us, drove us up to Riobamba, toured us for a couple of days and delivered us safe and sound to our condo in Cuenca.

We have been to Riobamba several times before, but not to sightsee the city.  Chuck says Riobamba is the easiest city for him to get lost in when driving in Ecuador.  When we drive here, we are driving through, or trying to drive through it on the way to Banos or Quito.

To be honest, when we have been in Riobamba before, I have not been impressed.  It seems to lack the charm of Cuenca, which is a well preserved colonial city. Riobamba is relatively new because the original city which was founded in 1534 by Diego de Almagro, was destroyed by a massive 8.3 magnitude earthquake in 1797.  Over 200 hundred years of colonial architecture destroyed. The citizens moved the city to its current location and began building again. 

When we were in Riobamba last month I learned that there are several things of interest and decided we should spend a little time there to see the historical sights and learn some history.

Chuck picked us out a nice old hotel, Mansion Santa Isabella, in the historical section of Riobamba.  It was a fine old mansion that has been converted into a hotel.

This hotel was perfect for the purpose of our visit. We were able to do our tour and other sightseeing on foot.

Dimitri met us at the hotel for our tour.  Our first chore was to walk up these steps to the top of the hill for an overview of Riobamba.

The city is remodeling these steps and they are going to be very nice and handicap accessible. This explains the green barriers in the photo.

At the top of the stairs is a colorful tile mural.  It shows the history in Riobamba.  I will post some photos in sections to share a little history of this city with you.

The mural starts with this scene.  It depicts the arrival and unification of the indigenous Puruha nation with the Inca.  This happened not too long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

In this mural the Inca are on the right, the original people on the left and they are shaking hands.

The next scene shows the arrival of the Spanish. The Inca and Puruha people were conquered and the city of Riobamba was founded in 1534.

Dimitri is pointing to a post that has the year 1797 printed on it.  This is the year of the massive earthquake and the destruction of the original city of Riobamba.

At the right of the post are military soldiers and an officer with a white horse.  This depicts Riobamba's fight for independence from Spain.  The officer is actually Juan Galo de Lavalle, from Argentina.  After a cry went out for help to defeat the Spanish, Argentina came to the aid of the local people.

Demitri is pointing to the image depicting the modern day city of Riobamba.

At the top of the hill is this monument of gratitude to Juan Galo de Lavalle and to Argentina for their help in obtaining independence for Riobamba.

From the top of the hill you can see an overview of the historical part of town.

The yellow round building on the right is the bull ring. Yes, they still have bullfighting in Riobamba, however, in 2011 through an Ecuador referendum, the bulls are no longer allowed to be killed at the end.  

We walked to the train station.  Back in 1908, the rail system was completed between the capital city, Quito and the shipping port city of Guayaquil.  Riobamba was located between the two cities and became a stopping point on the rail journey.  Many hotels were built around the train station and a lot businessmen from Quito and Guayaquil would meet and conduct business in Riobamba.

Today there is no train service in Ecuador and the once bustling station is now filled with artists and shopping for tourists.  Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, like all other businesses, the plaza is struggling.

Here are some of the displays inside.  Not many vendors were actually open because of the pandemic.

Always a favorite of mine, the leather goods.

Chuck purchased some artisanal beer and this is the vendor wrapping it up very secure.  The three beers were chocolate, coffee and pepper flavored.  We will see when we taste test when we get back to Cuenca.  

Dimitri said that this building housed the first school for women.

This is Sucre Park.

The green building behind the fountain was originally a seminary, today it is a local high school.  It is important because the first constitution of Ecuador was written and signed in 1830 in this building.

Although the building is closed to the public because of the pandemic, Dimitri sweet talked the guard into letting us go inside for a few minutes.  Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful interior.

We walked about a block to the Maldonado Park.  In early Riobamba, this park was the main plaza, containing the central market.  

The pink building is a museum called Casa Museo.  Unfortunately we were unable to go inside at this time. 

At the other end of the park is the Cathedral San Pedro de Riobamba.  This is the oldest church in Riobamba.  The facade was hand carried from the original church that was ruined in the earthquake to the present location to reconstruct the church.

In the close up picture below you will see darker bricks at the top of the facade.  This is the only part that is not original stone.

And finally, as a treat, I am sharing this adorable picture with you.  Riobamba has many more indigenously dressed people than Cuenca.  I loved seeing this lady sitting in the park.  It makes me wish I could go back about 50 years and visit Ecuador when it was all like this.

Tomorrow we leave Riobamba for Latacunga, and hopefully a view of the nearby volcano, Cotopaxi.

Love,

Nancy and Chuck.