Around the World in 8000 days: Esquel

Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Esquel - Trains and Welsh Teas

Esquel in the distance, from La Trochita

From El Bolson, we took the bus a little further down the country to Esquel, the furthest south we are going on this trip.

By now of course, it is firmly into autumn here, so although the sun can still be quite warm, it is getting a bit chilly, especially when the winds get up. Extra layers were definitely required, and even the gloves came out for a few days.

La Trochita, Esquel

Esquel is only a small town, with a population of less than 35,000 people. What it did have more of than most towns we'd been to though, was cats. Not that it has huge numbers, it's just that we have got very used to seeing loads of dogs in South America, and not that many cats around, whereas here, there were a number of cats out and about, some even friendly.

In fact, while our little cabana certainly wasn't the most exclusive of accommodations, it did have one point in it's favour, as it had a little ginger kitten. I managed to have a nice cuddle with the little bundle of fluff in the office, while Nic sorted out all the admin when we checked in, but sadly it wasn't allowed out to play, so I didn't get to see it again.

La Trochita, Esquel

Cats aside, Esquel is a bit of a sleepy town. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot happening at any time, and you'll be lucky to find anything at all open in the afternoon, as they have heartily embraced the idea of a siesta, so almost everything closes for hours.

So why come here? Well, we had thought we might do some walks, but a combination of not really feeling fit enough, my having picked up a stinky cold, and the rather chilly weather, meant that we soon knocked that idea on the head. But what we did still do, was take a ride on La Trochita.

La Trochita, Esquel

La Trochita is the nickname for the Old Patagonian Express, which was originally a freight train, before moving on to carry passengers, and now is a tourist train. The nickname means little gauge, and it is a narrow gauge railway, which for those of you who might care about such details, means it has a 75cm track.

The journey on La Trochita, from Esquel

We read some claims that it is the southernmost train in the world, and also the only narrow gauge train operating. However, whilst I make no pretence whatsoever to be a train enthusiast, let alone expert, I would take both with a pinch of salt; I'm fairly sure there is a train called El Tren del Fin del Mundo that runs down in Ushuaia, which is rather more southerly, and also that there are other narrow gauge working trains. In fact I'm pretty sure I travelled on a narrow gauge railway in Myanmar, albeit not a steam train.

La Trochita, Nahuel Pan

What I do know is that the line, which ran from Jacobacci in the east, was started in 1922, with trains running from around 1935, although they only reached Esquel, down here in the south west, ten years later. The oil-fired steam locomotives came from Henschel & Sohn in Germany, and later from Baldwins of the USA. Once they started carrying passengers, rather than just freight, in the 1950s, the rather basic wooden passenger coaches each had a Salamander Stove in the middle, to provide some much needed heat on what could be a very slow and cold journey.

La Trochita, Nahuel Pan

As the roads in the area developed, the railway started to decline in the 1960s, but gained a new lease of life as a popular trip for tourists to take. Paul Theroux even wrote a book about it. When they threatened to close the line in 1992, the public weren't impressed, and the line was saved, in part at least. It is now just a tourist train, with a section running from El Maiten to Desvio Thomae, and at this end, a section from Esquel to Nahuel Pan.

La Trochita, Esquel

We were quite looking forward to our little trip, but having done it, I'm not sure it is really worth the money. If you are a train enthusiast, so interested in doing it for the sake of travelling on the train itself, then that is different, and of course it may be worth it. However, if you're just after some good scenery, then perhaps not; the views are nice enough, but not spectacular, and you can take the bus or drive around here and see pretty much the same views.

La Trochita, Esquel

The stop at Nahuel Pan is pretty limited. The museum was closed, which seemed a bit odd as this surely must be the only time they get any visitors, and there were a few little places selling handicrafts or food and drink. It was also pretty cold and windy.

We did see a few turkey vultures, or at least I think that's what they were.

Trevelin

Aside from the train, we took the bus out to get afternoon tea at the nearby town of Trevelin. If Esquel is small, then Trevelin is even smaller, with a population of less than ten thousand. Like Esquel, it was first settled in the late 1800s by Welsh immigrants. The name itself means milltown, and is said to originate from the fact that a Welsh settler named John Daniel Evans established a flour mill here in 1891.

We only decided to pop over for a visit at the last minute, so didn't spend long here at all - just long enough to partake of a Welsh tea. We chose a teahouse called Nain Maggie, and were the only ones there for most of the time. I don't really know how a Welsh teahouse is supposed to look, but I suppose it could be like this. And they tried to get you in the spirit with a soundtrack of Welsh music.

Welsh Tea House, Trevelin

We weren't really sure what to expect of the food, but it was rather good. Having been warned they were large, and not wishing to do quite that much damage to our diets, we decided to share one. The homemade jam that came with the couple of slices of bread was good, and the scones weren't bad, albeit not quite like home - and of course there was no clotted cream!

Welsh Tea, Nain Maggie, Trevelin

The cakes were very tasty though. They gave us five small slices: a raspberry shortbread pastry; a shortbread pastry with crème patisserie; an apricot tart; a chocolate cake; and the famous black cake, which is a fruitcake. We rather enjoyed our tea, but we were a bit disappointed that there was no evidence of any real Welsh-ness during our visit.