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