It was a “Comun” class bus, one of
the cheaper class, not “Cama” or “Semi-Cama.” The latter two
were the luxurious ones, with comfortable seats and mainly for long
distance journeys. I will be taking a Cama bus to Buenos Aires
tomorrow. Anyway, I did not expect Comun actually equipped with nice
seats with lots of leg room too, and there are banos on the bus, and
snacks are provided and movies are shown on the TV in the car. The 4
hours bus ride is like Boston to New York, a little shorter and seats
are more comfortable here, cost AR$105 peso (US$12). We passed by
some mountains and lakes, totally comparable than the scenery I saw
the past 2 days. However, after we drove for about 30-40 mins, the
bus stopped at the side of a small village, at first I thought it may
be just one of the stops, and I started falling asleep. But a while
later, some people were yelling something, and all the passengers
were leaving the bus. A couple behind me told me I needed to go to
another bus, because this one was no good. Turned out, we have been
smelling gas in the bus, I thought maybe it was just temporary from
the heater starting up. I was impressed that they have found a spare
bus so quickly. Nonetheless, we must have wasted 20-30 mins for this
incident.
Continued with the journey, all in all
a beautiful ride from all sides. I followed the movies partially,
dozed a little or looked outside the window otherwise. As we arrived
the outskirt of Esquel, it was already 12:40pm, there was another
incident. At the border before we entered Esquel, we were stopped by
the border police, it seemed that each region or town here have their
own border police checking cars once in a while, and this one was a
serious one, the police got on board, and checked everyone ID. A
second police with a dog got on the second level where I was as well.
They checked my passport and gave me back. But they asked the guy
sitting on the other side to go down after they were not pleased with
his ID. They also asked the same from another girl. They went into
the station, and came back after 15-20 mins to gather the rest of
their stuff, we were still waiting. They also fetched the bus driver
to give them the passenger list...etc. The captain went to the
station for a while as well. I was getting anxious, because I was
supposed to meet Jorge at the train station at 1:30pm. He would give
me my train ticket there. And it was already past 1pm. I had not even
have lunch. Anyway, a while later, the captain came back out, and
started closing the luggage cabin, it seemed that we were leaving.
The man and the girl stayed. Thanks god! That was freaky.
It was already 1:15pm when I got off
the bus, I needed to find where the train station is. There was no
map in the station, it is a small town, surrounded by beautiful
mountains. I asked the captain, he seemed to say there is no train
terminal, closed or it is in another town. It just cannot be. I
specially wrote it down “La Trochita” in case they didn’t
understand the way I said train station in Spanish. Anyway, he asked
another local guy, he gave him the direction, and then he told me
again. It was a 4-5 blocks away, I got there just in time. Jorge was
in an orange baseball cap with a small Argentina flag on it. I was
the only Asian man in the whole region, so it was easy to spot out.
He greeted me in prefect English. I was kind of surprised. I asked if
he is Argentinean and he is. Just during the old days, they studied
English very early in age (kind of like the old Hong Kong) and also
he run a B&B. So, I guess that’s probably why he spoke English
so well. He gave me the ticket and walked me to the train, giving a
mini tour if you will, we took a few photos with the train. He
belongs to a La Trochita train association (kind like a fan club) and
he even published a book about the train himself. I was amazed, I
could not have been more lucky to have bumped into him on
Tripadvisor.
The train ride itself was simply
amazing. I couldn’t have picked a more beautiful day to go on this
train ride. The train is tiny, one of the last few narrow gauge
trains remaining in the world. I was on seat 12 in cabin 762, kind of
towards to back end of the train, so when the train turned, I could
see the head train. Jorge told me that I was on the good side of the
train with more open view, and my seat was in the middle of the cabin,
there was an old furnace next to me. An older couple sat next to me,
they were very kind too, and asked to take picture with me and for
me. Everyone was just excited to be on La Trochita. I was not a train
buff, but today I am. The conductor who came collecting the ticket,
the people sitting by the side of a small hill watching the train go
by and waving at us, the tour guide who specifically gave me an ipod
and a headphone with English introduction about the train, the other
passengers (the older couple and the younger couple across from them
with a baby), and Jorge, all these I would remember for a long time.
Only if I have more vacations, I would definitely stay in Esquel for
a few days, other than the train, the national park nearby has some
beautiful mountain ranges I could see from a distance, kind of remind
me of a the Alps, they lined up like statues.
Other photos from today:
