Tren Patagonico - Viedma, Argentina to San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, 10/28-10/29 (and me hanging out the train with one hand to take this pic. Don't worry, I'm ok Ma!)
After a 6 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires I had two options, another 25 hour bus or a 12 hour bus to catch a 20 hour train. Naturally I chose the long way, but with one problem...the train leaves once a week and is booked solid through February of next year.
When I arrived to Buenos Aires I decided to check for train tickets one last time. I only had a few hours to catch another bus and make it to Viedma in time for this impossible train. But lucky for me, the magic of travel intervened. As the website loaded, for the first time, a ticket appeared... a window seat! I cannot begin to explain the joy that exploded inside me.
What happened next? Well, a cocktail bar, nap in a park, 12 hour overnight bus, a coffee shop, and a nap in another park. Then it was off to the train station!
The train proved to be every bit of magic I had hoped for. The restaurant car was super old-school with reservations required for dinner, I made friends, drank wine, got to play in the snow, received a personal tour of an old train station, and then watch the mountains and famous lake come into view as we finally arrived in Patagonia!
So with 2 overnight busses, a train, and 3 days of travel behind me, I have officially reached my starting location, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. The northern tip of PATAGONIA! Time for dinner and a loooooong night of sleep!
Boarding the Tren Patagonico. I MADE IT!Things starting to turn green as we approach the Andes Moutain RangeI don't know, I just have a "thing" for old restuarant carsArgentina is famed for its beef and malbec wine. My dinner reservation was 11pm, as it's customary to eat dinner extremely late in ArgentinaIt's SNOWING!Damnit, it's snowing HARD! Alan and I. We ran from the engine to the caboose hanging out of the train taking photos for HOURS. The train was full of kids, but I'm fairly certain we were the biggest kids on the train!This man has been living at and running a train station (truly in the *middle of nowhere, not even a town) for 25 YEARS. When we stopped at the station I wandered into a room that didn't look like I was allowed to enter, naturally. The man came in and I asked to take photos. So of course he gave Alan and I a personal tour of his railroad antiques collection!Just a small part of the collection. Every little thing in this place had a story. And our "tour guide" had a huge smile telling us every single one of them.He even gave us regalos (gifts). This is an old train ticket from the 70's. The man from the train station's house (half of it is an old rail car!), next door to the train station. *When I said middle of nowhere, this is what I meant. Can you imagine living here for 25 years? And I thought I loved trains...The view of Lago (Lake) Nahuel Huapi as we pulled into San Carlos de BarilocheTren Patagonico
