Back to Buenos Aires

Today, we begin our slow homeward trek – with a little bit more rail action to come. Originally everyone was booked on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Esquel to Buenos Aires (which only sees one flight a day on this route) but that would have been too simple…

An unhelpful late demand for passport expiry dates from Aerolineas Argentinas saw the tickets for over half the group cancelled before the information could be supplied, so rather than fly home from the airport at Esquel we had to make the trek all the way back to Bariloche in our tour bus. It was expected to be a long drive and there had been reports of snow at Bariloche, so this meant a 7.30 departure.

Our tour bus at an earlier point of the tour

On our drive out of Esquel we could see that the roadsides were white, so it looked like the snow that we had wanted for the tour was taunting us again. That said, it looked like a thoroughly miserable day to be outside, so maybe it was better that it arrived on our transfer day.

At first our progress was pretty good and we reached El Bolson at 10:10. Unfortunately, not too far beyond, with 94km still to go, we started to see thicker snow around us and the traffic had come to a complete stop in what looked like a long tailback. We could see some cars ahead doing u-turns and abandoning their attempts to continue on, while others had stopped to put chains on their tyres. Our drivers stepped out to assess the situation and then bravely drove us past a line of stationary trucks and the occasional car that had skidded off the road.

The snowy scene towards the end of our transfer (actually one of the stretches of mountain roads with lighter snow!)

Our route took us on some winding roads through a mountainous area through ever thicker snow, then into a valley the snow had not reached. Our relief was short lived as we drove back up into the snowy mountains where diggers were hard at work clearing the roads. I think the roads would have been challenging under any circumstance – the road was disintegrating with some huge potholes. It was quite possibly the most heroic drive I have seen a bus driver put in on one of these tours.

Astonishingly, we reached Bariloche airport at 12:55 – in perfect time for our 15:05 flight on Argentinian budget airline FlyBondi. The Boeing 737-86N (LV-KDQ) that awaited us had some of the tightest legroom that I can recall and the flight was clearly almost totally full, but as luck would have it the seat next to me was empty – giving me a chance to enjoy the views on our approach to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, the airport located in the city centre of Buenos Aires.

A view of the railway yards outside Retiro Station on the approach to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery

The approach was far from pleasant with some really strong buffeting from crosswinds as we came in to land, with the wings going up and down wildly to my untrained eyes. Other members of the group commented on it being something of a white knuckle ride even for seasoned fliers. The pilots certainly deserved the applause from the passengers on landing. I just kept focusing on taking photos which helped distract me from everything else that was going on.

After our group was re-united we went for a final meal together at La Estancia, a popular steak house where large hunks of meat are carved at the entrance, barbequed and brought to the table still sizzling. All washed down with one litre bottles of Imperial IPA!

Gallery

Railcar to Ingeniero Jacobacci

Our international group of 37 photographers have gathered in the city of San Carlos de Bariloche today ready to begin another FarRail adventure. This time, the plan is to snap steam hauled trains on as much of the 750mm narrow gauge railway line between Ingeniero Jacobacci and Esquel as is possible today, but first we had the small matter of the transfer to our start point.

Our diesel hauled railcar on Viaducto Pichileufu

The transfer was planned as a run in a diesel railcar from Bariloche to Ing. Jacobacci but things went a little awry fairly early on. The regular scheduled Tren Patagonico service derailed just before Perito Moreno, preventing our railcar from reaching Bariloche. On the plus side, at least it wasn’t locked in on the other side of the derailment. Plan B saw us head off by coach on a 45 minute drive to Perito Moreno where we boarded our railcar around 2.30pm.

As a taster for the steam hauled legs to follow, the incredibly scenic landscape that lay beyond our boarding point was tantalising. We clambered out at the Viaducto Pichileufu at 3.30pm for some shots on both sides of the river with our diesel hauled railcar, a bit of sun and a little flurry of snow in the air. Absolutely gorgeous. Another photostop followed not too long after, and then we carried on all the way to Ing. Jacobacci, arriving at 7.30pm.

Gallery

Aerolíneas Argentinas to Bariloche

The early hours of the morning brought thunder and heavy rain. It felt like an ominous start to another travel day – particularly with recent events in mind (a few weeks ago flash flooding resulted in a long list of cancellations and delays at both of the airports in Buenos Aires). However, everything seemed to be operating as normal as I headed away from my hotel in a taxi. Such a contrast to my arrival in BA – a journey that had taken 90 minutes in late morning weekday traffic took just 30 minutes on the deserted streets of Buenos Aires on a Sunday morning.

Flight AR1648 with a Boeing 737-800 en route to Bariloche

Bariloche airport

My domestic flight with Aerolíneas Argentinas to Bariloche departed from Ezeiza International Airport (on reflection, a flight from the city centre airport at Aeroparque Jorge Newbury might have been simpler). Check in was very straightforward, albeit with the slight oddity that you check in at Terminal A but had to go to Terminal C to board your flight.

Our flight took off at 08:26. It was pretty grey outside but at least we were spared a continuation of the heavy rain that was originally forecast to last all morning. Quite bumpy on way up through the clouds and a fair degree of buffeting once we reached cruising altitude – all in all, a really horrible first 20 minutes. That never gets any more enjoyable. The descent was much smoother and we were treated to some quite spectacular scenery as we came in.

Once we landed there was an absolute scrum for luggage – a small carousel surrounded by an absolutely full flight – and then a slow exit, as all luggage is scanned before you can exit. It was great to have reached this point and be ready to join another FarRail tour.

Gallery