We start the adventure in Quito with a bus ride to the station of Tambillo, where the "Chiva Express", a colorful one coach train, like a bus on tracks, is ready to depart. 

A highlight of the trip is to 'ride the roof' with a panoramic view of the stunning Andean region of Ecuador. We will leisurely enjoy the ever-changing scenery as the "Chiva Express" advances along the ancient tracks. We stop for a snack at a dairy hacienda with cows, horses and llamas.

Then the Chiva advances up and down the slopes of Cotopaxi volcano and the fertile Valley of Latacunga for a visit to a rose plantation and a taste of the products of the land. Continue by bus to Riobamba, and at the foot of imposing Chimborazo volcano, visit a Tagua workshop and warm up with a canelazo by the fireplace. Dinner and overnight at Riobamba
 

After breakfast at the hotel, we drive to the foothills of Chimborazo and we get fitted with riding gear: woollen poncho, scarf, hat and sheepskin chaps, just like the natives! 

Small but strong mountain horses are ready to start a four-hour moderate-to-steep ride amid breathtaking scenery, on a dirt trail along the unique environment of the Andean paramo – between 3000 and 4000 meters high (9,120-12,120 feet).

At lunchtime arrive to camp, where a display of excellent local cheeses, bread, cold cuts, fresh fruit and coffee has been laid out to renew your energies for the second part of the day.

We ride on as the scenario changes to multicolored patchwork fields, swaying with the winds, until the clouds blow away and the majestic snowcapped Chimborazo is in full view. We arrive to the Mountain Inn “Star of the Chimborazo”, and warm up around the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate followed by dinner.

Rooms are heated; there is plenty of hot water, cozy beds and shared facilities.
 

After a hearty breakfast we begin a 3 1/2-hour hike along the ancient ‘Trail of the Yungas’ , used for millennia as the pass to link the sierra with the coastal lowlands –up until the beginning of the 19th Century, when the railroad connecting the main cities of Guayaquil and Quito was built. 

Follow the guide up the slopes, and along the way, find the stone that you will carry up as an offer to the mountain, past the dry puna ecosystem, to reach a small forest of the ancient polylepis or “paper tree”, one of the few remnants of this millenary tree, which is now found only in inaccessible places, since it was extensively cut down for construction and firewood. Lunch is waiting at a specially prepared tent and from then on it’s a drive on the flanks of the Chimborazo to observe herds of vicuñas and the spectacular landscapes on the way back to the “Star of the Chimborazo”.

From then its downhill by paved road to the Pan-American Highway for the ride back to Quito.