The Tucuman Train

The train from Buenos Aires up North to Tucuman has been shut down for over 20 years, but a month ago it got going again, and that convinced me it was time to explore the north country...

 

The train cars were built in 1990, in Cordorba, Argentina by Fiat...Some of the details reminded me of European art deco, Hercule Poirot style...

We rented a private room, but spent much time in the dining car...and unlike American trains, the food was very fancy... and cheap...dinner was pollo relleno, chicken pounded out and rolled around a vegetable and egg filling.

For an hour or so, leaving Buenos Aires, the view was of great graffitti on high concrete walls ...

Then the view opened up to vast soy fields and pasture land...and as we approached Tucuman, sugar cane, orange and lemon trees took over...

As we got farther north, closer to Bolivia and Brazil, the folks at the stations along the way had more and more indio/spanish features...we began to see more horses...horses pulling carts.. there was home made breads and goat and sheep cheeses in big rounds, and more gaucho hats and baggy pants...

homes got simpler, with no surrounding concrete walls....

Here's our little room after the beds were pulled down...the 26 hour trip with private room costs 400 pesos for both of us ($100),  and I loved the whole adventure ..For Dave, however, the click click of the train going over the rail connections kept waking him up, so he was not quite ready to sign up for another go.

Here's to more journeys and adventures....