Esquel: Trains, Trevelin & Trees

We arrived in Esquel (from the Tehuelche language for marshland) on the 22nd November, and checked into a hostel near the bus station. Esquel is surrounded by Andean foothills and mounts, and it’s small size gives it a sleepy, natural feel. Dating back to the middle of the 19th Century, Esquel, like many other towns and cities all over Northern Patagonia, was founded by Welsh immigrants. It’s proximity to the National Park Los Alerces makes it a hit with tourists, along with various trekking and skiing options. We visited several tour agencies, none of which impressed us with their vagueness or pushy sales techniques and general overpricing. We even encountered another example of tourist information uselessness when we were told a load of rubbish about not being able to get to the park by public transport. My advice is, when in South America, the only way to actually know anything, is to turn up and find out for yourself.

For example, I was quite excited about getting tickets for the narrow gauge railway which runs from Esquel to El Maitén, and had been emailing a tour company called Maptur who advised me they had tickets for us. However, when we arrived we found they had sold our spots already and there were none left! I went early the next day to the train station – it opened at 8am, only to be told to come back at 8.30am when the ticket stand opened (why open at 8am then?). When I came back they told me they had sold out of tickets (why not tell me that at 8am – AARRGGGHH!).

We checked out the steam train, called La Trochita by the locals, the Old Patagonian Express by everyone else since Paul Theroux wrote a book about it. The trains original purpose was to connect the Andes with the coast, but WWI soon ended the political ambition to build it, and it now operates as a tourist heritage railway. Rebuilt in the 1960s it was again used for freight for more than two decades before again falling into disuse in the 90s.

The Belgian-made train (when it turned up) and connecting museum were a little disappointing to look at anyway, and the way all of the agencies in town are allowed to buy up the train tickets and sell them on at exorbitant costs really prices backpackers out of a journey with supposed nice scenery. The fact that all the passengers waiting for the train whilst we were there were all a thousand years old each, coupled with the fact that we had seen a lot of the scenery on the bus journey in, meant we were glad we had avoided this expensive tourist trap. In another example of astonishing greed we noted that foreigners are again meant to pay double that of the Argentinians.

We also noted that in the story of La Trochita, told in the museum, they had missed a poignant piece of recent history when, in 2011, high winds had caused a roof collapse and derailment of the train. I guess they neglected to mention this so the old people taking the train didn’t have heart attacks before they even boarded (or parted with their money).

We had made contact with a local couchsurfer, Salvador, who we stayed with for a night. His cool dog, Tosco (meaning coarse) reminded of Falcor from Never Ending Story. Francesca and I showered and changed and decided to head to the neighboring village called Trevelin.

Trevelin is Welsh for ‘mill town’, which is what this village was settled as in 1889. Its most famous resident was a horse named Malacara who saved the founder of the town, John Daniel Evans, by leaping down a dangerous slope with Evans to escape a group of attackers who had killed his companions. The fact that Malacara has a much larger wiki entry than the town itself speaks volumes – we found nothing really to do here, and nothing that was really Welsh, except some incredibly expensive tea rooms – but they were all closed for siesta!

The only saving grace was the Eisteddfod festival that was on – a Welsh tradition going back to Druidic times when tribes would gather and sit and listen to poems and Druidic stories. We listened to about five minutes of the proceedings which took place in both Welsh and Spanish, before deciding to head back to Esquel. If you do decide to visit Trevelin for some reason, make sure you get off the bus at the first and only square you come to – it is the town’s main plaza even though it is so tiny.

That evening we decided to treat ourselves to some nice food in a good restaurant, and so we headed to Don Chiquino, a restaurant that promised the best pasta in town and some table magic! We were a bit disappointed that there was absolutely no magic whatsoever the night we visited, so do not expect any when you go, but we ordered Patagonian Lamb, which was by far the best thing we had tried in Argentina so far. It came with some lovely jacket potatoes with garlic. It was so delicious we only have a picture of the bone.

The walls and décor were really interesting, with lots of antiques and strange objects all over. Definitely recommend a visit to anyone in Esquel for the food.

The next day we got up early and headed to the bus station where a local bus company bring visitors directly to the National Park Los Alerces. Stopping at the administration center in Villa Futalaufquen for your entrance fee and information from the rangers, it then continues to the different points of interest along the partly paved, partly gravel roadway.

There are numerous trails, hikes and activities you can pursue in the park centered around five main lakes. The main activity people do is a boat trip along Lake Menendez from Puerto Chucao past the Torrecillas glacier and along to a forest of Alerce trees at the Northern end of the lake. One of the longest-living trees in the world, the Alerce, or Patagonian cypress, can grow up to 70 meters in height. The tallest trees are now around 60 meters high, and are mostly located on the Chilean side of the border thanks to logging and deforestation. Charles Darwin reported seeing one which was 12.6 meters in diameter, whereas the largest tree now alive is 60 meters tall but only 4.26 meters in diameter. Luckily, the trees have been protected in 1976, at least in Chile, if not Argentina.

With the high price of the boat trip we had decided to do three free trails in a more beautiful area of the park – Lago Verde, or Green Lake. The rangers at the administration entrance had told me there was a huge problem here with mice in the park at the moment and so some trails had been closed. This was due to campers and visitors leaving food along the way, making the mice more abundant. The mice can carry a hantavirus, which can be deadly, so they are best avoided – but luckily the trails we were walking had been unaffected by the mice plague.

We got off the bus at our first trail, which was called Mirador Lago Verde. Being a viewpoint, most of the climb was straight up, but it was fairly easy and the whole circuit took just over an hour to do, with plenty of pictures taken at the top. The lake gets its name from the green color of the water produced by the lichen and moss. This plant-life feeds on the nutrients and minerals in the volcanic rocks which formed the area millennia ago. We could see Lake Menendez, with the boat that the tourists were on, Lago Verde, below us, and the Rivadavia river which snaked off North through the forest. Even from so high up we could make out how clear the water was.

A clearing at the top of the viewpoint gave way to spectacular views of the snow-topped mountains all around us. We even felt a little snow fall as we were up there, even though it was a warm sunny day.

On our way up we startled a large animal, which ran off, but we did not see it. We think it was the rare Patagonian Huemul deer, but we are not sure. Walking back around the circuit to go back down to the road we even saw many sheep. Strange for a National Park to be used as a farm, but that is South America for you.

We walked the kilometer or so to the next trail, confusingly called different things in different places: Circuito Pasarela, Lahuan Solitario or even Sendero Lago de las Juntas. Whatever it’s official name, this route was a two hour hike past Lago Verde (this time at ground level), Rio Arrayanes, and to Lake Menendez and back. There was one solitary Alerce, or Lahuan tree at the end of it which was the goal.

There was a bridge over the river which allowed us to see just how green and clear the water really was – beautiful! Also, after we stopped to eat the lunch we had bought with us, a sign warning of puma encounters caught our eye! Danger!

The views at Los Alerces matched the vistas of Bariloche and National Park Lanín and then some. Los Alerces would be my most recommended part of the Argentine Lake District – if you have to choose only one place to go, it should be this national park. It has all the incredible beauty of Lanín and all the nature of Bariloche, with the added bonus of being cheap and easy to travel to.

After half an hour or so we came to the Alerce tree – star of this particular trail. At around 300 years old, it is a young Alerce. Fitzroya cupressoides is the tallest tree in South America, and also among the oldest trees in the world – one was recorded at 3622 years old in Chile. Amazing! The bark looked like it was peeling off, like the Chilean myrtle. Similar trees have been found as fossils in Tasmania, which shows how the lands were all connected back in times of Pangea.

We walked on to the viewpoint of glacier Torrecillas, but in a rare case of meteorological bad luck, clouds had drifted across the view so we did not get to see the glacier at all! We did come across a dead mouse though – and saw lots of pretty flowers, views and even some Patagonian parrots, building their Spring nests in trees.

We made it back to the road in time to do our final trek. This one was a few kilometers down the road and towards Rio Arrayanes Camp Site. The people at the site were extremely unfriendly, almost hostile, when we asked for directions, but we eventually found the route and walked it quickly to get to the other Alerce tree accessible on this side of the lakes.

The mid-level trail followed a river, Rio Arrayanes, South West towards Lago Futalaufquen. We saw more Chilean myrtles of the type we had seen in Bariloche – but many more. It felt like being in a movie set in the Lord of the Rings! Finally, after many makeshift bridges, clearings, muddy bits and a few other fellow trekkers, we came across the 800 year Alerce at the end of the trail. This Patagonian cypress looked dead to us – there was a cutting taken and planted next to it. More impressive was a massive coihue that had been felled, and an even bigger 45 meter tree that we at first mistook for the Alerce tree. These beech trees were magnificent in themselves and reminded us of the vast sizes of all the trees in the Amazon that we saw up close. I really don’t know how people can cut these things down!

We got back to the road with about twenty minutes to spare for the bus, but we decided to stick out our thumbs and we managed to hitchhike all the way back to Esquel with a family who were visiting from Buenos Aires.

Our experience in the park and in Esquel was coming to an end. Even with all the misinformation, price gouging and cluelessness that we have come to expect in South America, and especially Patagonia, Esquel is one place I would tell people to add to their list of places to visit. What with the stunning scenery and easy do-it-yourself transport options, it was a great place to visit for a few days.

Located in Chubut province, Esquel was almost a whole continent away from our next destination, also in Chubut, where we would leave the mountainous scenery of the Andes, and travel all night East to the Atlantic Ocean to Puerto Madryn.