Esquel

We arrived in Esquel at day break on the 4th of January. Blimey it was chilly...really glad I packed a hoody and a long sleeve top (which I was cursing at the start of our trip as the climate here on the west of Argentina is much more temperate compared to the tropical north east, or the dry and windy atlantic coast).

Esquel is a small town, with little of interest except for the 'Parque Nacional de los Alerces' and the steam train 'La Trochita' made famous by Paul Theroux who wrote about it in 'The Old Patagonian Express', a favourite book of mine.

We took La Trochita on Saturday morning, a 3 hour round trip that takes you 20km to a Mapuche indian hamlet called Nahuel Pan and back again. The engine dates from the 1920's but the track was only completed as far as Esquel in 1943. The line was pretty much made defunct 30 years later, so Mr. Theroux was quite lucky to have ridden its length in the '70's. Nowadays it runs the route to Nahuel Pan and a 9 hour jaunt a little further north in tourist season only. A gentle way to pass a morning. Robin bought a knitted hat and I bought a silver ring from the indian craft stalls in Nahuel Pan. (Oh, and I managed to lose my scarf. Again. Permanently this time).

The following day we continued our rather sedate pace and went on a boat tour across 2 glacial lakes in Parque Nacional de los Alerces. The lakes were called 'Lago Futaleufquen' which translates from the Mapuche language as 'lake big lake' and 'Lago Menendez', the former amusing Robin greatly as when he and Paddy were in Chicago in 2000 they discovered that Lake Michigan means 'lake big lake' in the native indian language too. I am supposing now that native indians in any country like stating the obvious...

The boat excursion was great for the scenery, especially as the extended trip we were on is only possible until mid January - the channel between the two lakes is non-navigable once the water level drops in the summer. This trip also allowed us to see an actual glacier on the side of one of the many permanently snow capped peaks surounding the lakes. Fantastic!

The tour also included a guided (yawn) tour of part of the national park to see the Alerces trees, which grow to be very tall and some of which are very old. The 'highlight' being one that is 2,600 years old. While I appreciate the wonder of ancient flora, the contemplative moment I might have had was a little difficult to achieve when surrounded by 40 other tourists gawping at it, probably saying something like "gee, isn't it very big/old/tall!" or "¡ Carumba, está muy, pero, muy grande/viejo/alto!" To be fair, in Argentina something that is over 2000 years old is impressive when you consider that most things of historical interest are only 200 years old or so.

This had been a long day, so it was great to get back to the lovely hostel where we had free reign of the kitchen, patio and sitting room. This place was probably the most chilled out place we have kipped in so far, with friendly and helpful owners. Just as well really as Esquel's food and drinking options were limited (an important consideration when travelling with Robin....!)

Hannah