El Maitén - Trains & Music Videos

The reason for our detour to the small town of El Maitén is the so-called 'Trochita' - the old Patagonian Express. A narrow gauge railway with a steam locomotive that has been running with German or US motor since 1922. It departs from El Maitén to nowhere, 55km away, every Saturday. The locomotive then reverses direction and returns. We don't want to miss this, so we plan our previous days accordingly to be in El Maitén on Saturday. Initially, we also wanted to continue to Esquel on Sunday, but since the next bus only leaves on Tuesday, we extend our bungalow to 4 nights and spend a little more time than planned in this small, quiet town.

Before the locomotive gets ready for departure at 3:30 pm on Saturday with lots of steam and honking, we visit the museum and take a workshop tour. And then we're off. Contrary to what we expected when we arrived at the deserted station, we are not the only ones on the train. We share the wagons with about 60 other passengers (wherever they suddenly came from..) Interestingly enough, we sit right next to the only other German tourists (and probably the only non-South American ones) and we have some entertainment during the ride. Even though it's not really necessary, the scenery is once again magnificent and we chug through forests, meadows, along mountains, and enthusiastic motorists who stop on the road to take photos of the Trochita. When we arrive at the end station (a burned house in the middle of the forest), we can get off until the locomotive has moved to the other side, docked, and pulls us back. It's a lot of fun and we would love to ride the entire route to our next destination (Esquel), but unfortunately these sections are still being restored and as always, there is a lack of funds to progress more quickly. Back at the station in El Maitén, we walk over to the train cemetery and climb into old wagons and locomotives which we probably only find in museums at home. When we walk back to our accommodation, the other tourists and curious residents have already disappeared and there is silence in the small town. The magic is now over for a week, until the Patagonian Express chugs out of the workshop on the coming Saturday with lots of steam and loud honking, making the hearts of children and steam locomotive fans beat faster!

Since we still have two more days, we take the time to stretch our legs again and pamper Lisa (the fluffy dog of the owner) with a little more food than usual. One day we go to a waterfall, with a few interesting river crossings (at one of them Lisa's hiking shoe ALMOST says goodbye to the rushing river... well, throwing takes practice too..), but everything turns out fine and we don't take an unintentional bath. On the other day, we climb Cerro de la Cruz and enjoy the view of El Maitén and the mountains. The sun is once again shining brightly on us and so we have definitely soaked up enough vitamin D in the evening and can fully enjoy the highlight of our accommodation: a stereo system! We connect our loyal Apple companion and listen to music properly again after a long time! We missed that a lot. And soon the Foo Fighters, Kraftklub, Linkin Park, Muse, Die Toten Hosen, Queen, Depeche Mode, Sum41 and various other bands are echoing throughout the village and we spend hours watching the corresponding music videos. We should do that more often at home! :)