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one of her favorite experiences in Patagonia was riding the old Patagonian
Express this is one of the best-known train journeys in the world made even
more famous by Paul Theroux 1979 account to where he sought to ride
trains from his hometown in Massachusetts as far south as Argentina
today the old Patagonian Express may only be a fraction of what it once was
but it's an exciting journey nevertheless and we knew we had to ride
it this tourist steam train may cover only a short distance but it's a fun way
to experience the nostalgia of early 20th century train travel and it also
allows you to soak in the magical landscapes of the Patagonian stack now
let's hop aboard and begin this journey well good morning good morning morning
guys today we ride the old Patagonian Express all through fame how pumped are
you super pumped and before we even gored the Train we've had a chance to
kind of see how it's been getting prepared for today's journey can't wait
to get on yeah actually just experience what it's like to ride on this classical
train they actually recommend that you arrive 30 minutes beforehand to kind of
like watch the process which is really cool and they also have a little museum
off to the side which I think we'll visit when we get back from the trip but
yeah a crowd has started to gather on the platform and we're all excited to
ride this train lateral cheaper here there you go okay so we have a few
moments before we have to board so this is a good time to talk about the price
to ride the old Patagonian Express so we paid 32 US dollars per person it's going
to be a one-hour journey going there then I believe we get about 45 minutes
at the next stop to visit a museum enjoy the scenery and then it's another
one-hour journey coming back and you need to arrive here 30 minutes before
departure 9:30 a.m. hello peppers this is my new friend
don't run away friend right there he's a friendly one yes so that's how much it
costs the train station is just three blocks north from the bus terminal in Esquel it's
very easy to get here on foot if you're staying in the center of town there's
also some people who are doing tours I guess coming from some neighboring
cities maybe even um so they arrived by coach well yeah
it's gonna be cool and no to the platform everyone's gathered over there
must be tolling maybe because we were the first ones to meet yes we're gonna
be your friends today aren't we do you want to be a YouTube star puppers no no
no he prefers to live a quiet life here in a skin that's okay
we understand that poppers
you know what's so cool I know that place where people are sitting yeah I
actually firewood I just fired very nice yeah all the board word looks like
stocked this is the thing to do right yeah exactly yeah
to give you a bit more information in Spanish the steam train is known as
lateral cheetah this translates to little gage and it's a nickname that
refers to the trains super narrow gage of only 75 centimetres this railway line
was originally planned as part of a larger network that would connect all of
Patagonia however the project was never completed due to government changes and
then the start of the first world war which also affected the Argentine
economy today the old Patagonian Express operates an alternating locomotives one
is a Baldwin from the US and the other a Henschel from Germany the wooden wagons
came from Belgium and the heaters well those were later installed in Argentina
to make the journeys across Patagonian winter a little bit more bearable
we made it to the station this is our stuff now in fun junkyard of a 45
minutes fun so we are currently gathering our little snacks for lunch I
picked up a fried cake daughter frita to alfajores Salmons in line buying shoddy
pan sausage in a bun and then we've got ourselves a lunch
this is gonna be tasty
I've uh let's go
god
lunchtime guys and we got fresh for off of the asado the grill and round and
chimichurri well worth the wait in my opinion so it's a chorizo sausage you
know you know in a bond and a bond it's the best way of describing we also got
over here if you look down here this is like a frito something baked not sure if
there's anything inside or not and two special kinds of alfajores this one is
dulce de leche okay raisins with rum and this is a very special one because it is
it's basically well style it's the watch cake we've been having in all these
Welsh towns I'm not amazing let's cook the
perfection that I got to watch it being prepared the whole time master it just
has a lot of these on the grill there's a lot of people waiting in line um
anyone lucky enough to get one of these before our train leaves is gonna have a
delicious life yeah our little friend here realized we're eating Trudi fun and
he's like oh yeah I'm down for that are you down for that Oh Sam's not
really down for that he's like I want to eat mine oh sure don't worry Pappas I'll
share with you taste yeah we should probably from some of the trade no next
up dr. Freda I'm gonna break it in half so we don't know if there's a filling oh
no it's just fried dough
that's a bit disappointing okay not amazing connotates like a donut
with no sugar and no filling like a savory donut I can see why people are
buying this with coffee okay it's like you need something - yeah so it's a
cheap little snack bar not me nothing not as good to join obviously already
taking a bite of this delicious Alfa whore mmm special edition one with
raisins and rum it still has the dulce de leche in the middle it has a
chocolate coating good and it's a winter edition hmm
perfect yeah room to keep you warm during those cold winter long make sense
so good that cookie is so like sometimes the worst part of the alfajores the
cookie but the cookie is delicious it's a lot of good stuff marvelous you know
what as good as these are I'm just absolutely craving another chori pan I
think there's a huge line I don't see myself being able to get crap get
another one it's funny that is that it's the grill masters dog so he actually he
had to come get some water quickly and he saw his dog was trying to bum some
from us he shooed it away so good though everything's been delicious there's also
a museum we should probably visit before we get back on the night yeah we luckily
did have enough time to visit the Museum of Patagonian culture it's a small
museum with two rooms but inside you can find lots of ceramics musical
instruments and textiles plus if you speak Spanish you can also get a digital
information from the museum guide just maybe don't leave it till the last
minute like we did the train is just about ready they're putting the
locomotive up front because the carriages don't change positions that
means if you travel on the right-hand side of the chain you're going back on
the right-hand side of the train so they told us to be good about sharing the
windows so everyone can enjoy the views time to head back and I'll just gonna
give us the tour here while I bump my head through seems like
knocking his head he's too tall for the world yeah this is not her carriage no
this one is fancier it has leather seats yes we've been traveling like on hard
wooden benches yeah I didn't even know they had different classes maybe they
don't maybe you just get a nice seat oh my gosh is that an old-fashioned stove
yeah so each compartment no no thanks I'm not yet but yeah that's how they
would have heated this train so cool so incredible inside of these things it's
been a really fun journey I have to say yeah incredibly scenic and we should
probably show you you know that one is still fancy this way this way it's not
so fancy
this is what we were traveling in there you have it little benches it's not bad
for one hour ride and yet you've got little here yeah for months this is what
I was sitting on for a while to get some of the interviews have these house in
Argentina I check out you can see the numbers on the seats those are the
numbers it's a sign 17 which is cool otherwise people would be fighting to
sit side of the train which is the most scenic kind of leaving town
you haven't use of the valley indeed honestly I don't think you can really go
wrong Yeah right left right left it's pretty cool
all abou his board the train and this time we're at the very back no I was
just so much fun I'm so happy to get that a lunch I was
eating this this particular I was oh this is a we pastor totally mister
compartment here we go
buddy Marika again mrs. Luthor may be done better
just simple children although service
Pierre Bouguer a baby who knows this he mentioned you
maybe it took a you support for the Seco 607 case buddy buddy buddy Burgess
can you book a baby who know does this even send your computer baby kit you can
use of people
buddy buddy but ricotta is funny buddy buddy
but yes
we're back we're back that was a lot of fun I really enjoyed it yeah what did
your knee I mean so scenic and so fascinating to ride such a vintage train in Esquel
like that and you know what we had perfect weather for the whole journey
yeah now we're back in it's starting to look gray and overcast but yeah it was
perfect the whole time we were out there we ate really well yeah the Sun peeked
out and I was behind the cloud perience I asked for more information at the
train station mm-hmm because this used to be a route that ran for 402
kilometers right and there's a few different points where you can still
travel like little little sections like over to the next station one places in
my den yeah and the other one is in El Maiten
Esquel so they still run the Train it's there as well yes less frequently
like this is the most popular spot out of SK yeah they said that during low
season are actually like the whole year it departs on Saturdays at 10:00 in the
morning yeah but then when it's high tourist
season there's like more frequency if you're on the fence about doing it
definitely do it it's so much old patagonian express in chubut yeah and the cool
thing is you you finish by like one or two so yeah it doesn't take up your
whole day it's a half the activity so uh yeah it was awesome we'll see you guys
in the next episode from chubut see you ciao