Riding the Old Patagonian Express

The day had arrived to ride La Tronchita (better known in English as the Old Patagonian Express) from Esquel to Nahuel Pan

I would love to write that we awoke to a blue sky and a blazing sunny day, but that’s just not how it was 🙁 Instead every waking moment up until the time we left our airbnb was spent wondering if we would have to wear our waterproof trousers to walk to the train station or if the rain would stop long enough for us to make it there in normal attire!?!

I have no pictures to show you how cool we looked all rugged up in waterproof gear… but there was no getting round the fact that we were not leaving the house without waterproof gear…

The rain did stop though – not for the whole day – but for long enough for us to get on the train and enjoy a large part of the journey (on the way there) with the train window open!!!

On arriving at the station we didn’t have long to wait until the train arrived…

La Tronchita is approaching to whisk us away on a magical journey to Nahuel Pan
The train is almost ready for us to get on…
Carriage 762… our carriage… we weren’t going all the way to El Maiten (that would have taken way too long and is now more or less impossible as not all the track still exists…) but to Nahuel Pan.

I’m not sure how we did it, especially given we only bought our tickets the day before – but we managed to secure 2 tickets in first class 🙂 only the best for us – and as a bonus they cost the same as the normal class!!! Check out the padded seats (only wooden benches in the other class) and the heater (which worked surprisingly well 🙂 )

Luxury in first class!

We spent most of the journey looking out of the window… the scenery was pretty spectacular…

Snowy mountains and countryside were spotted from the train window.
A bit of bend action…
More scenery…
Another bend – this time in front of us!?!
PB takes time out of looking out of the window to have his photo taken 🙂

It wasn’t just us looking out of the window though… as we crossed roads, some cars were parked on the side of the road and tourists were taking pictures of the train…  One local definitely wasn’t interested in the train though…

Is this a Uruguayan in Esquel? Or have some Argentinians taken on the Uruguayan thermos carrying style? I’m not sure where his mate gourd and bombilla are but I’m sure they’re not too far away…

Just before we arrived at our destination – Nahuel Pan – there was also some light in-house entertainment 🙂

Entertainment in first class
We’ve arrived!!! It’s been raining in Nahuel Pan too!!!

It was wet and windy in Nahuel Pan, so we lingered in the museum about the Tehuelche people… it was interesting and I learnt a few words which have come in useful when reading local graffitti about the arrival of Europeans…

Then it was time for the journey back to Esquel…

The view from the train on the way home…
CC looking happy after a nice ride on La Tronchita 🙂
Back in Esquel, the rain has left a nice layer of snow on the higher mountains around the town.
We might be back in Esquel, but the driver’s work is not over… he needs to ensure the carriages are parked up.

We enjoyed our ride on La Tronchita – it’s a cool steam train which goes through some nice scenery… even the weather didn’t put us off… ‘atmospheric’ was the term we used 😉

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