The small community of Alausí is known as Ecuador’s pueblo mágico (magical town), with emerald green mountains and a gravity-defying train dubbed “Devil’s Nose” that once took tourists on an exhilarating ride through the Andes.

Then, two things happened: The train shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic and last year, a massive landslide flattened much of the town. Alausí was devastated—dozens dead and missing, homes destroyed, businesses shuttered.

But this June, something else happened—this time, something good. A new trail race: Ruta Del Tren, which brought runners to Alausí to race in 5k, 14k, and 21k routes through the mountains.   
 

Ruta Del Tren is the brainchild of Diego Encalada Solis, a local trail runner with wide eyes and a captivating smile. “I always thought there should be a trail race in the mountains of Alausí,” he said. I met him a few weeks before the race on a sunny day in Cuenca, where we both live. I knew of Diego and his inaugural trail run through Instagram. Curious, I wanted to learn more.

“If you can run and you trek in the mountains, you can do the five-kilometer route,” he says, encouragingly. Sitting at an elevation of 7,677 feet, Alausí is already high. Each of the routes is an out-and-back course, and the longest has an elevation gain of 4,200 feet, up the Devil’s Nose route and 970 steps cut into the mountainside to the teeny town of Pistishi. 
 

Diego’s passion for Ecuadorian adventure is contagious. During a lull in conversation he nods to a mountain nearby. “It takes about an hour to run to the top from my house,” he says. Then he excitedly tells me he’s been to all but three of Ecuador’s 24 provinces.  
 

I arrive in Alausí to watch the 150 runners participate in Ruta Del Tren. It’s a hot Sunday morning and I’m on the mountainside that overlooks the sun-kissed peak of Nariz del Diablo. The mountain has a long ridge that steadily climbs to a point, just like a nose. Along it, trail runners are making their way down the steep slope. Between the elevation gain and today’s inferno-like sun, I can only imagine what they’re thinking: no wonder they call it devil’s nose.

As a bystander, I find the setting incredible: Shining equatorial sun, peaks topped with alpaca wool clouds, and a ridge that plunges into a river valley. Below, the train tracks hug the mountain. When they built those tracks in the late 1800s, it was renowned for being the most challenging railway construction in the world. Alausí became iconic. Diego’s right: this countryside where his mother’s side has lived for three generations is perfect for trail running. 
 

“After participating in several races in the country, I saw that Alausí has a route that’s unique from the others,” Diego told me. “Running the devil’s nose gave the difficulty that mountain runners were looking for. Plus, you’re running along the rails of the most difficult railway construction in the world.”

I watch participants run down the devil’s nose and up stairs past wildflowers, cacti, and locals cheering. The Andes rise against the backdrop of clear skies, with the rushing river below. Right now, Ecuador may be making news for political turmoil and cartel violence, but from where I’m standing, this is also Ecuador: a dreamlike country with a landscape that lends itself to adventure and people whose spirits are genuinely kind and resilient. I notice two runners, sweltering and exhausted, exchange supportive words before climbing the steps together.

Near the halfway point of the route, the owner of a local cafe stops to chat. I ask about the inactive train and last year’s landslide. “It’s a lot better now,” he says. “There are a lot of cyclists that come through this area, too,” he says, pointing out a recent bike race that happened here. 
 

At the finish line, it’s almost like Diego reads my mind: “I’m thinking about creating an ultra race along the train tracks from the coast up to here.” He’s so casual about 100-plus kilometers through Andean terrain, that I have to double check if I understood him correctly. The plan is for Ruta Del Tren to be held annually, too.

As I leave Alausí to return home to Cuenca, we drive past the site of last year’s landslide. Alausí —and Ecuador—are still recovering, but if you came just to run Ruta Del Tren this weekend, you’d never have known it. 
 

Sinead Mulhern is a Canadian travel writer and editor who has been based in Cuenca, Ecuador since 2018. She mainly writes about Latin America and outdoor adventures. Her work has been published in Adventure.com, The Daily Beast, The Toronto Star, Time Out, Explore, and others. When not writing, she's usually hiking mountain trails, running by the river beside her home, or exploring Cuenca's UNESCO-designated downtown. You can find her at @Sinead_Mulhern

Photos by Jake VDVF