Tourists will generally embark at Balboa for Peru; but Colombia and Ecuador may be included in the tour if desired. Two steamers sail for Guayaquil, one express, making no calls en route, the other, caletero, or as we should term it, if a train, accommodation, calling at various ports in Colombia and Ecuador. Buenaventura in Colombia is the port for its capital, Bogotá, a city charmingly situated, with a delightful climate, containing many cultivated people and luxurious homes, yet by any route a tedious journey from the sea. From Cali which the railroad nearly reaches, a town five hours by rail from Buenaventura, it is eight or ten days on mule or horseback. Few at present will undertake the trip except for business or scientific research.
Quito, the capital of Ecuador, far more accessible, and oftener visited, will yet be omitted by the majority; not because there is nothing to see, but because one with limited time for the tour will content himself with scenes of more or less similar character on the direct line of the journey. Moreover the reputation of the port of Guayaquil as a hot bed of yellow fever, to say nothing of bubonica, leprosy, and smallpox is such that most persons prefer to give it a wide berth. Formerly there was mutual recrimination between Guayaquil and Panama, each asserting that the yellow fever was imported from the other city; but now the case is clear. Panama has long had a clean bill of health, while Guayaquil (1912) was as bad as ever, if not worse. Some years ago our American Dr. Lloyd attempted to clean up the place, but on account of insufficient funds and authority succeeded in accomplishing little beyond getting the yellow fever himself. As a good part of the city lies low by the river’s edge, the problem seems difficult; yet with sufficient money its sanitation may be accomplished. If the present plans of the Ecuadorian Government are carried out, by 1915 Guayaquil will probably again be on the same plane of health as Panama. Should one meanwhile be disposed to venture probably no harm would befall. Dr. Baker, American Consul at Guayaquil states (December, 1912) that the city may safely be visited from June 1 to October 1, but not at other times.
Furthermore, one desiring to visit Quito, the equatorial city, to see far famed Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi, the loftiest of active volcanoes, may do this without going to Guayaquil, or at least without staying there, and thus he may proceed.
On the third morning after leaving Panama, on express steamer for Guayaquil, one is likely to find his ship anchored at the quarantine station, Puná, on an island at the mouth of the Guayas River. It is a pleasant sail north, up this broad stream, the most important in South America flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The low green shores are heavily fringed with trees or bushes. Ridges and peaks of blue will presently appear, possibly the snow-crowned Chimborazo, but this on rare occasions on account of incessant clouds.
Guayaquil, a few hours from Puná, appears from the steamer’s deck a pretty place, stretching several miles along the river front, a city of 75,000 inhabitants. The buildings made of wood, plastered over to resemble marble, look quite imposing. There is a cathedral and other churches, and good public buildings; a Club, the Union, is said by one globetrotter to be the best he had seen in the tropics save one at Hongkong. Worth visiting are the pretty plazas with rare and luxuriant vegetation, the market, and a great hospital on the hill above the town, fitted with modern appliances, and comparing favorably, one says, with the Ancon Hospital at Panama.
The swift current of the river is noticeable, the strong tide running rapidly, six hours each, up and down. Small boats, taking advantage of this, may thus go with slight effort in either direction; but with hard labor if the tide is adverse. Much used are the native balsas, made of tree trunks, five, seven, or nine lashed together, many with small houses upon them. With balsas they even venture upon the ocean as far as Paita. Panama hats are here purchasable, which with cocoa and ivory nuts are among the chief exports of the country.
To make the journey to Quito one may, the day of arrival, cross from Guayaquil by boat to Durán on the other side of the river, whence a railroad leads 297 miles to the capital city. The fare from Guayaquil is $17.40 each way. Departing from Durán Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6.30 a.m., the train arrives at 6.30 p.m. at Riobamba, where the night is spent at the Grand Central Hotel, price one or two dollars. Leaving Riobamba at 6.40 a.m. one arrives at Quito at four. Each day a halt is made for the noon meal at a way station. The train, at first passing among great sugar estates, then ascending gradually through a luxuriant tropical region, presently reaches the higher temperate zone where by contrast the night will seem decidedly chill. At 4000 or 5000 feet the way seems barred by lofty hills, but the American constructing engineer cut in the face of the granite a zigzag path with switchbacks of four levels making a rise to 9000 feet. After some distance through volcanic country, a similar cul-de-sac is surmounted by a similar switchback with a seven per cent grade to the Pass of Palmyra, 12,000 feet. Wastes of sand and shifting grass, resembling a sea-coast, are an unexpected variety in the scenery.
Descending gradually to Cajabamba, 11,000 feet, one passes, the first afternoon, splendid Chimborazo, still supposed by many to be the highest mountain in America, a great mistake, as its altitude is only 20,498 feet, more than that of Mt. McKinley, but over 2000 feet less than that of Aconcagua, on the border of Chile and Argentina, the highest measured mountain on the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, this tallest of the Ecuadorian Andes is surpassed by fifty or more peaks farther south; among these, Huascarán and Coropuna in Peru, Illampu, Illimani, and Sajama in Bolivia. The first ascent of Chimborazo, made in 1880 by Edward Whymper with two Swiss guides, was at the time considered a wonderful feat. The same year Whymper ascended the active volcano, Cotopaxi, 19,613 feet, farther east and nearer to Quito. Near Cajabamba are a few remains of ancient Inca edifices.
Beyond Riobamba, a little farther on, the road the second day goes lower to Ambato, 8000 feet, a town in a deep basin with a delightful climate, headquarters for trade with the Oriente. A broad sterile plain is crossed near the foot of Cotopaxi, a beautiful truncated cone, smoking continuously. Above the snow clad slopes, a gray and white cloud is formed in the shape of an enormous branching tree, which at length breaks off and floats away. Near the snow line of the volcano is a huge mass of rock called the Inca’s head, said to have been the original summit of the mountain, torn off and hurled below on the day of the execution of the Inca, Atahuallpa. Beyond the Pass Chasqui is the charming green valley Machachi. In a bowl shaped depression entered by three gateways, through one of which the railroad passes, crossing a bridge over the Machangara River, is found the white, but red-roofed city, the capital famed as lying under the equator; it is within a quarter of a degree.
Quito. Beautifully situated among the mountains at an altitude of 9600 feet, Quito enjoys a climate as delightful as the prospect. In former days travelers have united their admiration for the scenery with groans over the accommodations provided. It is said that good hotels now exist, the Royal Palace, the Hotel de Paris, Hotel Americano, and Casa Azul. The city has a population of 75,000, including many charming and cultivated Spanish Americans, and more Indians, who in gay ponchos of orange and scarlet are a striking contrast to the ladies in smart victorias, the gentlemen in frock coats and silk hats, the officers in dress uniforms, and the throng of mules, horses, donkeys, and llamas, frequently crowding the streets.