Jan 2024 – B' on Tour

La Plata Museum

On Saturday 11th November 2023, Celeste showed me the La Plata Museum. It’s a natural history museum and as it’s part of the Natural Science Faculty of her University, she still gets to manage free entrance. When she was a student, you visited it regularly. And as it has some many samples, it’s worth to come several times, as it’s hard to see everything in a single day, and then even contemplate of what you’ve seen. The collection was started by Perito Moreno, the first white who travelled to Patagonia. Nowadays, several things are named after him (a glacier, a town, a mountain, and at least one street in each town). Now finally, I know where he came from.

Perito Moreno…now I finally know where he’s coming from

The museum starts basically chronically, several billion years ago with the impact of several meteorites, and then slowly progresses in time. There’re several fossils on display. Some of them are original, but some are replicates. There was a guide, but she only spoke in Spanish and it was super noisy. I couldn’t understand anything. Then I tried the audioguide, which was for free, but it didn’t work either on my phone. It was the first the thing, I couldn’t make to work, with neither setting. Once it stopped, I couldn’t restart it. On the way through the dinosaur section, we met Laura, Celeste’s colleague, and her boyfriend.

Massive Meteorite…you can’t run away with it, it’s really heavy

Maybe the centrepiece of the exhibition, but it’s just a replica

Those creatures were still alive, once the first homo sapiens settled in the area

They’re not mammoth’s but somehow related, and also extinct

The first half of the ground floor covered the time until the arrival of the homo sapiens. The second half had animals on display which lived during the existence of the homo sapiens, some of the animals are now extinct. There’re some many animals on display, it’s really hard to contemplate all the information. Nevertheless, the last hall with all the skeletons is really impressive. In particular if you see the various whales, currently the biggest animals on the planet. It was also the only time I saw a Puma, when I was in South America …well, obviously not alive. Only the bones of the skeleton. We spent about 4 h in the museum, and for me it was enough. I just listened to the audioguide.

Huge Collection of different butterflies…

This reminded me of the Chinese who still eat Pangolin

A few snakes conserved in alcohol, some of them were venomous

That’s the only Puma I saw so far in South America

Minke and other whale skeletons on the roof, and some cattle on the ground

That’s just the mouth of the Blue Whale…it’s really impressive to see, once you stand directly next to it, and not just see it from the distance from the ship

On the way back we got out at the San Martin Square and Celeste showed me the Museo de Arte Municipal de La Plata. It’s housed in the former railway station 19 de Noviembre. But the railway station was once the current La Plata railway station of the Roca Line was opened. The main hall is impressive, maybe one of the largest living rooms I’ve see so far. There was some event for children ongoing, but we just passed the main hall, and went into the various art exhibition rooms. It’s not a huge museum, more like a (changing ?) selection of various artists.

Big Hall of the former railway station “19 de Noviembre”…

…which now houses the Museo de Arte Municipal de La Plata (MUMART).

On Sunday afternoon 12th November we went to the República de los Niños. The Children’s Republic was officially opened by the then President Juan Domingo Perón. His wife Eva couldn’t attend, as she was already too sick. It’s said to have inspired Walt Disney, who opened Disneyland 4 years later in California (obviously without the political context). Nowadays, it appears to be a pure recreational park, without any Peronist Youth interactions. We only walked through the park, which is free of any entrance. But you would need to pay for any extras. Just visiting the airplanes, would be super expensive. We just had an ice cream at the end, which was like 5 times more expensive than in the city. On the way back in the bus, one guy was throwing garbage out of the bus window. Celeste saw it too, and made clear that I’m not allowed to say anything to him, like the last time. Hence, I just said “sucio”, which meant dirty. Either he understood it or he didn’t. I still would like to know, if they still throw their garbage out of their windows at home like in medieval times, or if they put the garbage bin out onto the street.

Presumably a San Martin on his horse is not to be missed with the church behind on the main square

An old Boeing 737-200 on display, but we didn’t pay to go in

Miniature Railway crossing the Lake, one of the few “railways” in Argentina still be maintained and operational

Rosario – Buenos Aires

On 17th October 2023 I took the bus back to the railway station. I was like 30 min before the departure time at the station, only because I wanted to see the train arriving…not because it was mandatory to be at the station 2 h before departure, as insisted on the ticket. I mean that’s just ridiculous. Once everybody got on the train, we still waited. In the end we waited for another 45 min before the train actually drove off. This was without any explanation given why. And over the course of the trip this even doubled, and we arrived late in Buenos Aires by 1.5 h, instead of 16:40 o’clock, we arrived at 18:15 o’clock. But don’t you think you’re entitled to any compensation due to the delay. This privilege only exists in Europe. Here, you should be grateful that you arrived at all.

Train arrives from Cordoba in the morning on time

The narrow gauge Belgrano railway line towards Santa Fe crosses shortly after we left Rosario Norte

Shortly after we left Rosario Sur and drove through the run down suburbs, I heard a strange noise. First I didn’t know what it was. But here it was. I finally saw them, kids and teenagers lined up, some even equipped with slingshots just to throw stones against the train…bang, bang. The conductor knows exactly in which suburbs or sections of the track this is going to happens, but apparently nobody is going to do anything about it. There’s no consequences for those teenagers, who want to be adults but are still treated as kids. I’m not pleading to put them in a Maximum Security Prison. That won’t help, and they’re ending up there sooner or later anyway. But you need to interfere with this behaviour and it needs to have consequences. It can’t be that the train bears this stoically, and nothing happens. I even can’t contemplate why would you do that (except this bang, bang is the only highlight of day). I mean if there’re some left wind extremists throwing cobblestones onto police, I get the gist. That’s their kind of demonstration against authorities. But at least they’ve an enemy. It’s clear to them, that police would react with their batons. It’s clear to them, that police won’t stand stoically there and just wait that cobblestones rain down on them.

I have now taken trains in several countries. And sometimes I complained about the luggage handling, or the seat arrangements. But never ever have a experienced such a warm welcome like to Buenos Aires. I mean, why would you do anything for the common good, if you’ve people like this, who just want to destroy…like Milei. Now they voted for him, and now they got him…so he can destroy Argentina with his chainsaw.

Shortly after we left Rosario Sur, I experienced flying stones first hand

The tracks South of Rosario are actually quite good. It was the first time that you had actually the impression that you’re riding a train, and or not on indefinite shunt works. The area stayed as flat as before, and was characterised again by numerous agricultural fields. There were a few cattle around, but not as much as before Rafaela. Shortly before San Nicolás de los Arroyos, I arrived in the province of Buenos Aires. Afterwards the train crossed several marshlands and wide flat creeks which we needed to cross. In the distance I could spot the domes of the two Siemens designed Atucha nuclear power plants, which have together just a nameplate capacity of 1 GW. There’s a third nuclear power plant near Cordoba, and a Small Modular Reactor of just 25 MW is built since 2014. Well, you see how good those announced SMR’s actually work, when it comes to real life. The construction time is not shy of those of the big ones (it just took them 18 years for the construction of the Olkiluoto Unit 3 – yes years, not months). Imagine how many GW on wind and solar farm was built in the same time, because it’s much safer. We passed the container terminal in Zarate, and had our second last stop there. We didn’t loose too much time…until then.

Predominantly agricultural fields are in the area…

Arriving in the marsh area, where we needed to cross several wide shallow creeks

Passing through one of the several small towns along the way

Las Palmas gas fired power station, with its 4 units of 50 MW each

Once, we left Zarate railway station I saw them even running towards the train to throw their stones, just before crossed the standard gauge Urquiza Railway Track, which branches off here to the East into the Entre Rios province. The next 90 km until the Retiro Railway Station took us almost 3 h, despite the less than 2 h according to schedule. Hence, on top of our current delay, we got almost another hour. Once we reached the Greater Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, the tracks were fenced off, and the stone throwers couldn’t get close enough. Well, interesting that they’re even technical solutions to those issues. But that was the next problem, I assume we were stuck behind the electrical commuter and there was no opportunity to overtake it at any siding. Hence, we slowly, very slowly, made our way to Retiro. In one of the stations we stopped (still before crossing Avenida General Paz and actually entering CABA – Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, or just Capital, to make it clear that we’re not in the province of Buenos Aires anymore), there was an advertisement for better four-lane highways in the province, with a decayed railway next to it. It’s quite bold from Governor Axel to advertise better road infrastructure in a railway station, but that’s what you do as Peronista, just to get reelected.

Calm Dwelling (without any stones) at Ingeniero Rómulo Otamendi Railway Station

It’s quite audacious to advertise for more four-lane highways in train stations. What about more and better train services? But that’s probably not popular with the mob in an ochlocracy.

Crossing Avenida General Paz and finally entering CABA

Electric Commuter Train on the Mitre Line

Just before you enter Retiro Railway Station, you drive along Villa 31, one of the finest addresses in Buenos Aires Capital. After we finally arrived, I needed to walk from the Retiro San Martin Station to the Retiro Mitre Station, passing the Retiro Belgrano Station. Yes, actually Retiro still consists of three separate railway stations. From the Retiro Mitre Station I took the Metro to the Constitucion Railway Station at the Roca Railway Line. The Constitucion Railway Station is one of the largest train stations in the country, potentially even the largest currently. While the Roca, San Martin and Mitre railways all have the same wide gauge, their train operations are not interchangeably. Because the electric Roca trains used overhead wires, while electric trains from the Mitre railway use a third rail, and the San Martin Line still use Diesel traction. The same goes for the narrow gauge Belgrano Sur Line and the Belgrano Norte Line. While the electric trains of the standard gauge Urquiza Line also use a third rail, the 26 km basically operating in an island mode since the connection to Zarate was closed in 2012. It’s more likely that this line would be incorporated into the Metro Line B (as long planned) due to its same gauge and electrification system. As you can see, in Buenos Aires, you can have it all, but finding synergy effects between the different systems are almost impossible.

Villa 31 had colourful houses, but it’s not an entire safe place between the main railway station and the harbour of Buenos Aires

The damage of the waggons, due to the stones, is serious…hence, the additional window protection

Platforms and diesel-electric commuter train…

…in the Retiro (San Martin) Railway Station. It’s probably the least impressive railway building of the three Retiro Railway Stations.

Metro Line C connects Railway Stations Retiro with Constitucion

From Constitucion Railway Station I took the commuter train to La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires Province. After crossing the Matanza River, I was eventually out of CABA again, and finally entered Buenos Aires Province. Just after the border there are to big football stadiums, from Independiente and Racing, and as it got already dark they were illuminated at night. After a bit more than one hour I reached the La Plata the final terminus on that electrified line. I walked to the nearby bus stop, where I eventually met again with Celeste (she underestimated the bus travel time to get to the railway station – I mean, it’s not that I wouldn’t have told her, when I would arrive in advance 😝).

…is a massive railway operations. Presumably nowadays the busiest in the whole country.

Crossing the Matanza River back into Buenos Aires Province

La Plata Railway Station is one of the most beautiful in the country

Sightseeing Rosario

On Saturday afternoon, 14th October, we headed with Emiliano into downtown Rosario. When I told people before that I’m going to Rosario, they were quite concerned, as it’s perceived as the most dangerous city in Argentina. But as always, it depends which suburb you’re talking about of such a big city. The south of Rosario is a different topic, in particular in the night. As there’re ongoing conflicts about drug dealing areas from low level gangs, Emiliano told me. The big drug smuggling down the Parana River are apparently no involved in this kind of low-level quarrel. There was a street fair in downtown on Saturday afternoon, and by coincidence we met Leo, one of Emiliano’s friends. Leo has a small farm at the Isla del Espinillo on the other side of the river, which he rents out for people who want to camp there. He needed to make a ferry tour with his boat, in order to bring a family onto the island, and 4 of his guests back. Spontaneously, he offered me to go with him on this boat tour. We still had some time until Leo would leave in the late afternoon. So, we continued our walk along the shoreline to the Parque de España. This is nowadays a huge flat area used for recreational purposes.

Parque de España on the former harbour premises

The Parana-Paraguay waterway comprises a more than 3,000 km waterway providing ocean access to the only two landlocked countries of South America: Paraguay and Bolivia. From them, this trade route is essential. And even for the Southern Part of Brasil, the export of agricultural products, in particular soya beans, is done via this waterway. Oceangoing vessels can reach at least Santa Fe along the Parana River, with a maximum depth of 9.75 m. The products come down the Parana River in massive push barges, much bigger than you’re used to from Europe. After picking up the family, Leo navigated the boat directly across the river in front of a big oceangoing vessel. We followed the shoreline of the Isla de la Invernada all the way to the North. I was surprised to see, some many people along the shoreline partying or just enjoying the sand beaches, now in the late afternoon sun. We reached the huge Rosario-Victoria Bridge after about 40 m. Technically, we’re now already in the Entre Rios province of Argentina. We followed an old branch of the Parana River downstream. We passed several huge private boats. Those are far from being cheap, and you wonder how the heck they get the money from, when Argentina experiences such an economic crisis. Leo’s farm is a tiny green oasis, seems so far away from the busy city. Several people were camping there, and he was busy organising the people coming and leaving. In the meantime I just talked to the guests, who waited for a ride back. On the way back it slowly got dark. But this opened up a stunning view of Rosario during nighttime. We observed the sunset over the Parana river and just enjoyed the nice view on our way back. It was a surprising experience for my first day in Rosario, far from that, of what people warned me about.

Leo took me on a late afternoon boat trip

Former Loading Facilities at the Parana River

A huge push barge coming from upstream (maybe Paraguay, or even Brasil) and going to the Rio de la Plata

Having a surprise boat tour on the Parana River, just after I arrived from Cordoba by train in the morning

People having a beach party on Isla de la Invernada

…is massive once you cross it underneath, and only 1 out of 4 road connections to the eastern provinces of Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Misiones

Oceangoing Boats are hiding in an old branch of the Parana River, you could think you’re close to Monaco and not Rosario

In the past, the up to 500 m wide strip directly along the river was used as harbour and completely separated from the city, and not open to the public. The harbour areas covered several kilometres of quay. Gradually, the transshipment centres were moved out of the city, for example to Puerto General San Martin about 35 km to the North, and the brownfield sites were renaturalised for local recreation. Further down is the flag memorial. Yes, they built an own memorial just for the flag. And for sure, they have even a flag holiday in June (and an extra holiday day for the holiday…this is Argentina), which I experienced when I was in Bariloche.

On Sunday evening I met with Maria, and we had a very intense discussion while walking along the Parana River to the Flag memorial. We had dinner at the “VIP Rosario”, which is owned by Messi (because he was born in Rosario, but escaped when he was 13 to Barcelona, earning millions of dollars, and evading taxes), and as I’m a seasoned football fan, I couldn’t wait to generate more revenue for the poor Messi in one of his business affiliations. Maria lived for several years in London, and you could see how that coined her. She’s fully aware of climate change, environmental pollution, and the impact on our food. She tries to become a vegan, but is mainly a vegetarian nowadays. When she tries to speak with their friends about simple things like, recycling or waste separation and treatment, they don’t get the gist. They just look at her incredulously. The same, as she took the bus to Mendoza in order to reduce her CO₂ impact…her friends couldn’t understand her…at all, why she’s not taking the plane. So Maria is very passionate about her values, and told me that she’s going to vote for her values, and not just votes for Massa in order to prevent Milei. So her friends were upset with her, but in the end she was right, because who votes for Massa will make Milei president. And that’s exactly what happened. After the first round, all the Peronista were very euphoric, but I told them that’s only a short lived Pyrrhic victory. Maria despises Milei, but said maybe Argentina needs it in order to wake up. Maybe yes, or maybe no and the two extremes are just getting more extreme in their demands. I wanted to take a bus back to Emiliano, and despite several apps telling me various times, after waiting for more than one hour I took a taxi. Maria was very concerned that I was still on the streets alone at 1:00 o’clock in the morning, and maybe she was right. Even though the taxi was 10 times more expensive, it might be the safer way to get home.

Another old building in downtown while I was waiting for a bus (which never arrived)

On Monday, which was still a public holiday, because the actual holiday was on Friday. So, you need to create an extra holiday, to have a long weekend. Right!? You get the gist of Argentina. First, I went to the former narrow gauge Central Railway station. Rosario Central (Belgrano) is closed for passenger services since 1952, and it was operated for freight trains until 2015. Since then it was converted into a public space for recreational purposes. To my surprise, there I passed a memorial of Che Guevara (the second most famous person born in Rosario…after Messi, right!?). I continued to walk to the river front and then continued again to the flag memorial site. This time during the day. After crossing the Plaza 25 de Mayo, behind the Cathedral of Rosario, I passed by the birth house of Che Guevara. There’s not much to see, except a memorial plaque. There’s a small exhibition in another building, but it was closed on Monday, as far as I’m aware of. I walked passed the Rosario Central railway station, which once connected to the wide gauge tracks of the Rosario Norte station to the North, and a tunnel to the harbour to the South (which is now remodelled as Parque de España). And the tunnel is now a road tunnel, how could it be any different. I met with Emiliano later on in a bar, and we waited for his other Chilean guest, as she just came back from a trip to Victoria in Entre Rios, at the other side of the Parana River Delta.

…while approaching the Rosario (Central Cordoba) station.

The actual railway building was renovated…

…but since 2015 there’s absolutely no railway traffic anymore.

The River Terminal was open to the public, but seemed also out of actual service

Important to note, in Argentina only men are at work 😜

23 flags around the National Flag Memorial…Albert Speer sends his regards

The Cathedral behind the National Flag Memorial

Palm Tree Lined Boulevard Oroño…Emiliano told me, that his grandparents were walking here back in the days, in their finest suits on Sunday afternoons

Former Rosario Central Railway Station of the wide gauge Mitre railway (the tracks just end 5 m after the end of the photo)

Former Railway Tunnel connecting Rosario Central to the Harbour was converted into a road tunnel

I, Emiliano, and his other Chilean Guest

Cordoba – Rosario

On Friday evening, 13th October 2023, I walked to the Mitre Railway station in Cordoba. Again, per ticket, Trenes Argentinos insisted we should be at the station 2 h prior (for no obvious reasons). And when I was there about 50 min before departure, the main gates were still closed. Then everybody needed to queue up, and waited (as always in Argentina, because this is how paying customers are treated here) until your ticket got checked. By accident I saw one of the guys from the hostel in Bariloche in the same queue. After my ticket was checked (which I bought at the same day back in Tucuman), I wasn’t allowed to take my backpack into the carriage. Instead I needed it to check-in into the rear luggage waggon, even though it worked without any issues on the last train from Tucuman. There was no chance for negotiation here. So, 35 min before departure all people were onboard, and did exactly one thing…waiting. This is Argentinian efficiency.

This is what you do in Argentina (yes, also drinking mate)…you’re waiting

Another train was waiting (for better times?) with blind windows (presumably for the stone throwers) at another platform

Today I wasn’t allowed to make a picture from our train, the security guards were quite nasty in Cordoba, and then I thought about my experience in Mudanjiang…that was in China, think of it, in China where police is omnipresent

On the train there was one family with several kids. Some were in other carriages, but the youngest was with his parents. The young child was watching a movie on (his ?) smartphone. Letting a child watch so long a movie alone is already questionable. But he watched it without earplugs, and the parents didn’t give a flying fuck. I even asked the father after 30 min or so, if he had earphones. Simple answer: No. Case closed. What’s the matter. So you, as passenger, just suffer, and need to listen to its children movie, if you like it or not. Imagine the noise, if all passengers would listen to their music, TikTok videos, WhatsApp messages or whatever without earphones.

This child was not due to be disturbed, as it was busy watching a movie…and the whole waggon needed to listen to it

Clear Sky Night, I was even surprised to see some stars

Crossing one of the several small towns in the plains

The train ride was about 14 h for 400 km (yes I know, you can do the maths on your own). But this time it wasn’t too bad, as the train ride was only about 2 hours into the night, and then another 4 h in the morning, which in the end felt like only a 6 h train ride. The next day we had again a nice sunrise. The landscape was characterised again by flat fields. There weren’t too many cattle around actually. It was more like farming various grains. Hence, in the small towns along the way you’ve still several grain silos (some seemed no longer be in use). I only could enjoy a few hours in the morning from the scenery, as most of the time it was dark during the train ride.

That’s the annoying thing of these specific carriages, that the toilet and the conductors compartment are not separated by another door to the waggon…so you can hear the doors banging all night long. And the toilet is actually not unisex, but male only (the female one is on the opposite end), how stupid is that – and I’ve seen several woman, who just ignored the sign, or didn’t even realise it.

Grain Silo…not sure, if this is still in use…definitely not by the railway. I mean why would you, if there’s a sealed road next to it

Nowadays, Rosario Norte is a terminus station. Thus, the locomotive needs to be changed from one end to the other. Hence, the stop is a bit longer than usual. Maybe it’s even the longest stop in this train journey. Also the trains from Tucuman stop here, making Rosario one of the busiest long distance railway stations in the country. By “busy” I mean, maybe 3 trains on a busy day. Afterwards I went to met my host Emiliano, which just had late breakfast with another guest from Chile (she did mainly her own thing, so I didn’t spend much time with her). Emiliano told me that in the 1950’s it was just a 4 h train ride to Cordoba…well, makes sense for about 400 km.

There was oncoming cargo traffic, waiting for us on a siding

The old railway sheds are now used as canvas for art

Natural Gas Transfer Station…that’s the only way Peronista come up with to pay their bill

Looks like an old water storage tank at one of the old railway stations

The only platform which is actually still in use in Rosario Norte…

Sightseeing Cordoba

On Wednesday afternoon, 12th October 2023, I met Dani at the central Plaza San Martin, obviously there’s a statue of San Martin on his horse in the middle of the square. Cordoba is one of the oldest towns in Argentina. And as such it still has many churches. Besides the Cathedral directly at the Plaza San Martin, there’s the San Jose de Carmelitas church and the Iglesia Compañía de Jesús, which we visited briefly, just one block away. We continued our walk to the bustling neighbourhood of Nuevo Cordoba. Presumably one of the busiest squares in Cordoba is Plaza Vélez Sarsfield with the landmark building, Casa Radical from UCR party. We continued along the main boulevard Hipólito Yrigoyen to the “dancing fountain”, which wasn’t dancing at the time, when we passed, and also not when I came back in the night. The massive Iglesia de los Capuchinos, with its one and a half towers, rises just behind.

Cathedral of Cordoba at the central San Martin Square

Old Building at the corner of the Plaza San Martin

Even the locals need to queue up for cash for hours, as the next day is public holiday, under a socialist Peronista government

Casa Radical from UCR party at the Plaza Vélez Sarsfield

The neighbouring suburb of Güemes is well known for its nightlife activities, but all the bars were still closed, when I passed there. Then Dani showed me the Palacio de Justicia Tribunales, where the high court of justice resides. It’s not only her workplace, but also an impressive old building. Directly opposite Plaza Colon is the Iglesia María Auxiliadora, and next to it an impressive building, which is just a high school. Some pupils may have luck living in the right suburb to attend such a school, but it’s also questionable if the building might tell you something about the quality of the school itself.

Having a new Hilux, and can’t drive it (he hit the tree with the bumper)…with such new cars, it’s hard to believe that there’s any economic crisis in Argentina

That’s just a high school at Plaza Colon…

…as well as the is the Iglesia María Auxiliadora

After crossing the Arroyo La Cañada you’re back in downtown, and can enter directly again the pedestrian streets. When crossing the General Paz avenue, you can see the Basílica de Santo Domingo (sure, another church), next to the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes. I didn’t go inside, but the building looks nice from the outside with its tower. By following the pedestrian streets you cross the Flower Passage and arrive at the backside of the Cathedral. Here’s a monument of the Jeronimo Luis Cabrera, who founded Cordoba in 1573. Walking along the Cathedral, you pass the Archivo Provincial de la Memoria de Cordoba, which actually should remember the forced disappearance of people during the last dictatorship. But apparently also the death of Santiago Maldonado is mentioned, which drowned after the police cleared a road block, in the Chubut River. Cristina Kirchner tried to politically exploit his death, by labelling it a forced disappearance, even after his body was recovered and no evidence suggested that he was harmed by police forces. Instead he just couldn’t swim. That’s a tragic death, and should not exploited in any case for any political gain. But obviously politics in Argentina are very extreme, either to the left or the right, and their young democratic system of 40 years is just rotting away.

Walking through the tree lined pedestrian streets

Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes (in front) and the Basílica de Santo Domingo (a bit hidden behind the trees)

Jeronimo Luis Cabrera who founded Cordoba for the Spanish Crown

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria de Cordoba, former detention centre during the last military dictatorship

To watch the sunset Dani drove me to the Rio Primero, where we had a short stroll along the riverfront there. She said we couldn’t go further, as the next suburb would be quite dangerous once it’s getting dark. Instead she drove me to her university, which is a huge area, next to the Parque Sarmiento. The National University of Cordoba, the oldest university of the country, was founded in 1613 by the Jesuit Order. And nowadays Cordoba is a huge university city. Dani told me that she wouldn’t be able to study, if the university wouldn’t be for free. Something the new president, apparently wants to change. I asked her about the then upcoming elections, and her answer was quite surprising, because she despised the Peronista with Massa, and the same with the far-right libertarian Milei, and then she said also the conservative Bullrich is not experienced enough to be president. That left her in a predicament, because there’s not much left, for whom you can vote for. In the night I walked over the roundabout of the Plaza España and passed the lit Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes. Directly behind stands the Faro del Bicentenario, which was illuminated in purple that evening. I strolled through the park, which was still quite populated with families at this time. And at the other end you can see a ferris wheel in the colours from the wide stairs at the Mirador del Coniferal. Just before that you pass the old zoo of Cordoba, which was closed down in 2020, and is now transformed into a biodiversity park.

Argentinians have an Aversion to Work, but instead are found more protesting (no money in the wallets, and still want to spend it as good consumers on the new stuff)

Fuente de Aguas Danzantes…well the fountain was off, but the lighting was still nice in the night

Mirrored Swimming Sculpture in front of a hotel in downtown

Walking Valle Hermoso

Tuesday, 10th October, early morning I walked back to the Mitre Railway station. Without luggage, it’s not an issue. And it’s not worth the risk being too late at the train station, because of a delayed bus. There’re only 2 trains per day, and the late afternoon train isn’t helpful, if I want to return the same day to Cordoba. I purchased both train tickets of the day directly in the train station that morning. The train ticket was about 0.09 US$, yes 9 cent. I mean you don’t need to wonder why Trenes Argentinos is not profitable. Presumably the paper on which they printed the ticket, had the more value. The wide gauge tracks finish just a few metres after the Mitre railway station. From here to the North, only the narrow gauge Belgrano railway operates. The tracks to San Miguel de Tucuman branches off shortly after the exit of the Mitre railway station. The train follows the Rio Primero upstream for the whole time. It’s a distance of only 70 km to the final destination of Valle Hermoso, but the train takes about 3.5 h. This leads to an average “speed” of 20 km/h. It already takes more than 1 h to reach La Calera, on the outskirts of Cordoba.

From the Mitre Railway Station to the North only Narrow Tracks exist, the wide gauge tracks end shortly after the railway station

I was surprised to see a cargo train coming towards us on a siding

This Train was heavily affected by the stone throwers, but police seemed to have it under control now

After La Calera we enter the narrow valley of the Rio Suquía (aka Rio Primero). We pass several weirs of the river, and the environmental contamination, with all kinds of plastic floating around is more than evident. The only hydro powerplant in the valley, is the Central San Roque with an installed capacity 24 MW. The two other powerplants are just of historic value and no longer operating, because they run out of water. The valley is quite lovely, and even though the water quality is questionable, several people enjoyed a bath in the river on our way back in the afternoon. The train made a longer stop at Casa Bamba, for no obvious reasons, except that there were some food hawkers around. We continued for another 30 min along the deep valley until we reached the San Roque Lake. It’s a man made reservoir, primarily built for the water supply of Cordoba, and also used as feed for the San Roque hydro powerplant.

One of the few weirs we passed on our way along the river

The road runs parallel on the other valley side

We followed the lake only a short bit, and then continued along the Rio Cosquin, one mayor inflow into the San Roque Lake. Since the afternoon before, a bushfire was growing in the region, due to campfire got out of control. I got see the smoke during the day on my walk, and thought it’s normal preventive burning. But I also thought that the smoke was quite big. On the way back the smoke cloud could be clearly seen above the San Roque Lake. At late morning we finally arrived at Valle Hermoso. I walked through town and had a stop at a local bakery, to have a snack and a coffee, which I desperately needed.

Operations are totally inefficient (I’m not surprised by that in Peronista Argentina, why would you make anything efficient, that just cuts jobs, and hence, costs votes in the next general election… Socialism in Purity – GDR sends its regards), as those blokes travelled in a pickup in parallel to us to close and open the railway barriers for the train

Finally arrived at the Valle Hermoso railway station…the tracks continue, but you know, it’s Peronista Argentina…no money for nothing, only the own voters (uhm, no sorry, own corrupt party cadres)

The Vaquerias National Reserve is about 5 km out of town. So, it takes you about an hour on a gravel road to reach the actual entry. Shortly before the entry you pass some nice buildings. There were two rangers onsite when I entered, but they didn’t really care, despite it was signed that you should sign in. One of them just showed me the map, and that’s it. To get to the Los Helechos Waterfall, you basically follow the creek along its bed. Keep left on the only junction, and that’s not. There wasn’t much water, so the waterfall, wasn’t impressive, and even with water it’s tiny. The walk itself is more beautiful. Then I went back to the junction, and crossed over a mountain spine into the neighbour creek valley until I reached the Del Angel Waterfall. For the way back, I took the shortcut. This track was much faster, and offered nice views of the valley towards Valle Hermoso. I took my time, and wasn’t in a hurry. On the way back I passed Casa Jahive, but for the track Cerro de la Cruz, it was definitely too late. I didn’t want to miss my train. There’s a local museum about the village in the train station. It’s for free, and has lots of artefacts, but it’s not really worth the visit, after 5 min I was already out of it.

Surprisingly some villas appeared in the forest

You basically follow the creek (or what’s leftover of it)…

…until you reach the Los Helechos Waterfall…

…and the Del Angel Waterfall (yes, I know, you almost need a binocular to see it).

Lookout on the way back out of the valley…

…and to the surrounding mountains on the other side.

Tower of a derelict Sleeping Beauty Castle

On the return journey, the train was hijacked by a drunk group of travellers who thought they had to sing songs at the top of their lungs on public transport. The female Capo with her loudspeaker (which is already forbidden on public transport) couldn’t resist starting a new song again and again. Lucky them, they got out after 30 min in Cosquin, where they went back into their tourism bus. Why do they even think, they’re entitled to do that in public transport. If they want to get drunk and sing, do get the fuck out of her and do that in your fucking bus. That’s private. You can do whatever you want there, but don’t annoy the fuck out of me. I didn’t pay for that. I just paid an ordinary train ticket, without noise pollution.

The Capo with her loudspeakers couldn’t resist to make more fucking noise in the train…and crowd loved it

Smoke from the bushfire over the San Roque Lake

…is already in the shade, but now you see actually more colours.

People enjoying the evening at and in the water…

So in the end I sat 7 h voluntarily in the train that day. I’m not complaining. It was a nice ride though, but it also took me the whole day. The train actually doesn’t ride all the way back to the central station in Cordoba, instead it stops Rodriguez del Busto, a suburb in Cordoba…for no obvious reasons. Thus, you need to take a bus back to downtown. The Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity is observed tow days later on 12th October. Columbus initially set foot in the Americas on 12th October 1492, while attempting to find a sea route to India. Throughout history, the name change and departure from the traditional date reflect on how indigenous communities have shone a light on a different, sometimes overseen, angle of the colonial history of the Americas. And there’s a special law in Argentina. If the actual holiday is on a Tuesday or Thursday, then the Monday and Friday respectively, are also automatically holidays…that’s normal Argentinian Work ethics, officially to promote local tourism, but essentially because nobody would come to work anyways. Trenes Argentinos refuses to work at the long weekend (and we complain about the GDL railway strike), and announced that the train would only run from La Calera on Friday and Monday. Who would thought of, that maybe, maybe on a long weekend, there would be tourists around wanting to take the train, but that would meant work, I mean actual work. They’re even worse than our German Beamte.

An old turn table near La Calera railway station

River Pollution is obvious here with the floating plastics

Surprisingly there were some Mansions directly at the track in the outskirts of Cordoba

Announcement of Work Refusal by Trenes Argentinos

Rafaela – Cordoba

On Monday morning, 9th October, Nora accompanied me to the right bus stop. I took two local buses to the bus terminal, despite the fact that you need to change the bus once at the main square, it’s not a big issue as they’re using the SUBE card. As there are no passenger trains from Tucuman to Cordoba, as the narrow gauge railway line is only operational for cargo, I took the slightly detour via Rafaela in order to get to Cordoba. Sure, I could’ve taken a direct bus, but I don’t want to give this bus mafia even further revenues. After being on a four lane highway for the first 80 km, we reached our first stop in San Francisco. In San Francisco we joined the narrow gauge Belgrano railway line from Rosario to Cordoba, which basically run parallel to the road until Cordoba. And as you can imagine, back in the days there was even a connection from San Francisco to Rafaela on the Belgrano Railway Line I visited the day before.

An old Wind Turbine on the farm adjacent to the four lane highway

The Mural at the San Francisco bus station…I mean, you know all the guys, right!?

Straight Lines in the Fields as far as you can look

Just an ordinary bus serving the former railway connection…that’s supposedly called progress

Narrow Gauge Railway line runs mostly parallel to the road after San Francisco

The area here is essentially flat. Even though we gained some elevation from about 100 m in Rafaela to about 400 m in Cordoba. In Arroyito we crossed the narrow gauge Belgrano railway line, and shortly afterwards we also crossed the Rio Segundo. The highway basically runs straight all the way. And they even build now a four lane upgrade around towns. Sure, here the money is spent for the road mafia, but no funds are left to maintain the railway infrastructure. Because this is less popular, and eventually would cost votes for the ruling Peronist party (not that they would’ve won the election at all, so they could’ve done something for the common good, but obviously the Peronistas are just interested to stay in power, no matter what it costs).

New concrete blocks are being built in the suburbs of Arroyito

Someone built his own castle in the middle of nowhere near Rio Primero

Even if it was flat the whole time, we still managed to gain 300 m in elevation

Upon arrival at the huge bus terminal in Cordoba, (by huge I really mean huge, there’re hundreds of buses coming and going, and who would’ve thought of, this is going to happen when you essentially shut down the railway transport – directly on the opposite site of the road), a van was on fire on the Bajada del Pucara bridge. It looked very impressive to see all the black smoke and fire coming out of the van. In Cordoba, the second largest city in Argentina, I needed to buy a new plastic card again for the local buses, because it’s Cordoba and not Buenos Aires. So, they need to have their own card. They just can’t have the same one as Buenos Aires. Thus, after purchasing this, I went to my host Sofi in Cordoba in Argentina, not Cordoba in Spain 😜.

If your homeland looks like this, I doubted that people would vote the Minister of Economy into Presidency

Sightseeing Rafaela

On Sunday 8th October I strolled through the city of Rafaela. I passed by the main square with just another San Martin statue on his horse, and the Cathedral to the South. There seemed to be a running event earlier that morning, but when I passed all the runners went already home. I then continued further North and walked by the huge concrete building of the Rafaela Meat Processing plant. That’s the city highlight. Gustavo said once you’ve seen Rafaela, you’ve seen all rural towns in the region, as they all look the same (maybe except of the meat processing plant). I passed by the Old Central Market (Viejo Mercado), which is now a cultural centre, and contrary to the announced opening hours, it was closed. There was some street art work next by, and I some drunk people sitting opposite to it in the shade.

Tree Lined Four Lane Alley…one of the central axis of the city

As Rafaela was founded by a man from Sigmaringendorf, it’s now a twin town of it

The Pride of the City…the Meat Processing Plant

Rafaela also has some nice corners with cobblestone streets

I walked to the Mitre Railway Station, where I arrived a day earlier. Today the station was totally deserted, and only an old steam locomotive was on display. I sat down on the platform for a short break in the shade. And then 3 kids/teenager approached me. They looked like siblings and were very annoying. It seemed they were bored and didn’t know what to do on this Sunday afternoon (who knows what their parents are up to). After they stopped nagging at me, they took some stoned from the railway tracks and threw it against the corrugated iron shed at the other side of the tracks. An railway company employee came out and the two youngest brothers run away, while the eldest pretended to be innocent and said he just wanted to have water. Once the employee went back into his office, he took another stone and threw it onto roof of the railway building…isn’t it just amazing what a noise it makes. Then he was running away. Sure they were bored. But it looks like a great start for live, or should I say to become the next best criminal.

..at the wide gauge Mitre Railway Station…with the corrugated iron shed for the local stone throwers opposite to it.

I then walked over to the defunct Belgrano railway line. The Argentine railway network consisted in the 1950’s of more than 47,000 km network. Nowadays barely 18,000 km are leftover and operational, of few more thousand kilometres are overgrown. What a Destruction of Value through neglect. Instead of investments into the railway infrastructure, more highways are built. For sure, it’s not helpful if you’ve 5 separate railway networks with 3 different gauges. This leads to duplication of infrastructure in some areas. Most of the metre gauge Belgrano tracks are overgrown or overbuilt. There are several “rolling” stock left at the railway, but mainly its vandalised. To my surprise the Belgrano railway station has a small railway museum, and as it was Sunday it was even open. I was the only guest so far, and had a short talk to the volunteers. The last train departed more than 30 years ago here…unfortunately. I walked back along the old Belgrano Railway Tracks. In parts there’s a cycleway running in parallel, and in parts it’s just grass. There’re even the remains of an additional stop in town. You still can see old platform.

What an immense railway network Argentina once had…everything neglected, run down, or overgrown nowadays, very sad to see such a destruction of existing infrastructure

Neatly renovated Belgrano Railway Station

Some platforms further down the track with trees growing on the track itself, and the current bike path next to it

The old crossing of narrow gauge and wide gauge tracks is nowadays defunct…

…and the rest is overbuilt with streets, which takes away any hopes of a revitalisation.

San Miguel de Tucuman – Rafaela

Friday evening, 6th October 2023, I took the local bus to Cevil Pozo about 15 km out of town. The train returned end of October 2023 to the Tucuman Railway Station, once the bridge was fixed (after 3 years). The train leaves at 22:30 o’clock, but you’re supposed to be already 1 h earlier at the train station. Not sure why, because I’ve already my ticket. Anyway, I did it, as I wasn’t sure how often the local bus would drive (and the bus driver is also hopeless to let one know, when to get off the bus, nor are there any sign indications, in the end a woman next to me told me to get off the bus now), and in the end I still needed to wait another 30 min until boarding begun. It was all a bit chaotic, but in the end the conductor just checks your ticket (my trophy I finally got after one day hard work). The train also never filled completely, despite the fact that it was basically sold out a few days earlier. It seems, that lots of people didn’t pick up their ticket in the end.

In the bus to the Cevil Pozo train station

Technically I was directly opposite the train station…

…but the entrance was a few hundred metres up the road.

Our locomotive was ready for departure into the night

The waggon was quite empty, and that wouldn’t change until Rafaela (and my luggage fit without any problem into the overhead compartment)

Once the train started rolling into the night, you would’ve expected that it gain some speed, even after leaving the train station. But this never eventuated. The train will rattle along the lines for the next 19 h all the way to Rafaela, which is about 670 km away. And as you calculated right, this gives an average speed of 35 km/h (including all stops in between). Hence you can guess the top speed along the tracks. Leo told me that one of his friends is a train driver on this route. And he told me, that once they tow a grain train, they spend all the money for the employees, and nothing is left for the maintenance of the tracks itself. Thus, Trenes Argentinos is just riding down the infrastructure until to a point that you can’t safely operate it anymore. I tried to sleep a bit from the start, as it was dark outside anyways. But the conductor had it’s compartment directly behind the seats, and run frequently in and out of it. The same goes with the toilets, they were not separated by an additional door. Hence, people running all night long to the toilets (I don’t know why, just try to sleep). And then for sure people don’t use earplugs but watching their stupid TikTok (or whatever short clips, with annoying noises), directly on their phone, because they don’t want to sleep. I had enough with that woman behind me, and told her after one hour to use her fucking earplugs or stop it. In the end she opted to turn the noise off.

What I wasn’t a aware of, that throwing stones onto trains is a popular sport in Argentina as you can see on all the dents, but back then I was just wondering why the waggon looked that bad (and why some windows have extra protection). Instead of finding those teenagers and put them into correctional centres, or let them do some social work to reflect on their wrong doing, Argentina opted for the supposedly easy option (Police know in which suburbs they’re, but does nothing to protect public goods – I mean the train was paid by tax payers money)…but nothing will change, if you let them continue to throw stones. Throwing Stones is not a human right, it’s bluntly property damage.

In the middle of the night we only stopped at La Banda railway station which is opposite of the river of Santiago del Estero. At the next stop at Colonia Dora it was already daylight and we had a longer stop. Thus, at least you could get out of the train and walk for a few minutes outside. The rest of the day the train jerks along the tracks, and the Ruta Nacional 34 runs in parallel for the entire length. As the speed limit on the highway is 110 km/h, the truck mafia just laughs about the train, with a top speed of maybe 40 km/h. But that’s Peronista Politics, just give the mob what they whinge about, because you want to get re-elected. And instead of investing into railway infrastructure and enabling convenient train transport, the next highway is upgraded into a four-lane section.

The truck driver mafia doesn’t take the train serious anymore

New concrete electricity poles are due to being erected

Two cargo trains came towards us on two different sidings

Several birds occupied the old telegraph poles

Cattle farming is a thing in the Gran Chaco

The landscape for most of the day was flat and part of the Gran Chaco area. Later on in the day you could see more cattle farms, whereas no farming on fields was present. Nevertheless, most of the time the pastures were fenced off all along the way, creating thousands of square kilometres of meadow for huge cattle herds. It was nice to see the landscape passing by, but it also was dragging on, due to the very slow speed. It was so slow that you could count the kilometre marks. In Ceres we had our lunch stop and several people boarded the train. On the sidings a few corn trains waited to get towed away.

Corn Trains are being loaded in the Ceres Railway Station

Passing through another small town, the train only stops if you purchased a ticket beforehand it seems

You could count the kilometre tags on the poles…so “fast” was the train

In Rafaela my host Nora and her friend Gustavo picked me up from the railway station. Rafaela is not that super big, but due to limited public transport on a Saturday afternoon, it could’ve been quite hard to get the 5 km to her place. We had some late coffee and snacks, and Nora told me that she lived near Esquel for more than 30 years. So with my limited Spanish I tried to tell her a bit about my adventures near Esquel in particular and Patagonia in general.

Sightseeing San Miguel de Tucuman

On Tuesday morning, 3rd October 2023, I walked to the Mitre Railway Station of the Wide Gauge Mitre Railway Network. I looked up the availability of tickets before, and there was only a handful available. When I was at the ticket counter the friendly man told me that all tickets where sold. I thought: F*CK. So, without being able to do anything there, I walked back to my host’s place. I looked it up online again, and there was still a seat available. I wondered why everything was booked out, but Leo told me that the bus companies actually bought the tickets, because they’re so cheap. Hence, the people can’t take the train but need to take the more expensive buses. In order to prevent this, Trenes Argentinos made it now mandatory to verify your travels 72h to 24h before departure. And only then you get your actual ticket. That’s such an annoying procedure.

Since 2019 no trains departed from here, as the bridge over the Rio Sali was damaged

Ok, back online I tried to book a ticket. I put in all my personal information, but even then the system asked for a DNI. WTF, I don’t have a DNI, if I’ve a passport. So, there’s no way around it. You need to have a DNI to buy a train ticket in Argentina, even if you don’t have one a foreigner. Hence, Celeste offered to call Trenes Argentinos, and explained the problem. And 2 h later they came back with this email:

Nos ponemos en contacto con Usted en respuesta a su Pedido Nº

Luego de analizar el mismo y como solución a su planteo con relación a la nueva funcionalidad de la plataforma de “Venta online”, le informamos al respecto que, para su caso y uso exclusivo, con sus datos personales aportados se le ha generado una combinación de claves que deberá ingresar en la página web cuando le sean requeridos los datos de su DNI y número de trámite:

Datos que deberá ingresar en el campo “DNI”:112233
Datos que deberá ingresar en el campo “Número de trámite”: 11223344

Por cualquier otra inquietud, puede comunicarse con nosotros al Centro de Atención al Pasajero al 0800-222-8736 (TREN). Le invitamos también a conocer todas las novedades del servicio en http://www.trenesargentinos.gob.ar y/o a descargar la Aplicación Trenes Argentinos.

With this kind of fake DNI and “Número de trámite” I was able to get one step further. Now, I could select a seat. Yay, one step further. Now, I “just” need to pay. But in order to do that, you need to register an account first. Ok, that was easy. But then I run into a timeout and my seat was lost. Please start again. It’s like a video game, just in real life, where you get each time one level higher. Ok, this time I got to the payment process. But I can’t pay, because I only have an international debit card. I need a national one with a DNI 😤. So, again I needed the help of Celeste. And for sure, in between I run into the timeout. But now I mastered the process, and after about numerous attempts, and working on it for the whole day, I got a train ticket with an equivalent of 4.50 US$. That’s Argentinian Productivity, and you wonder why the country is bankrupt, if it takes a day to buy a simple train ticket.

On Tuesday evening I met with Silvana and later her friend Julian joined us. Silvana couldn’t host me, but it turned out she lived just across the road at the next block. We walked a bit through downtown before we decided for a cerveceria. She told me about her current struggles to get her Italian citizenship due to her great-grandfathers ancestry, and about other things. It was a long and funny evening.

On Wednesday afternoon, 4th October, I picked up the ticket from the Mitre Railway station, and the man smiled at me, because he realised that I was finally able to book a ticket. It felt like a trophy once I held it my hands. That was damn hard work. Afterwards I guymet Ana, and she gave me a walking tour through the city. We passed the post office, which was scaffolded unfortunately, and the theatre, before we got into the 9 de Julio park. During the day the huge park is quite safe, but she recommended not to go in the evening alone here. We went into the museum of the local sugar cane industry. The old part is housed in an original building of a farm, whereas the new part explains a bit the history. Including the violent union protest of the 1960’s after the Coup D’Etat in 1966 (yes, in Argentina you almost loose count on the many dictators calling themself presidents – in the end there were 6 Coup D’Etats which lasted in total for 25 years), which culminated in the murder of Hilda Guerrero de Molina.

Ana inspecting an old truck at the museum

On the way back we passed the Flower Clock (but Ana said it wasn’t that beautiful), as well as the access tracks to the old narrow gauge Belgrano railway station, which was closed after pretty much exactly 100 years, after the privatisation of the railway sector. It was once the second largest railway station in the country (after Retiro in Buenos Aires), and is now directly opposite of the huge bus terminal of Tucuman (or maybe actually the other way around). I said good bye to Ana, and walked back to the Independence Square, passing the Virgen de la Merced Church, and had a look at the illuminated government building. Later on Wednesday night I met Cecilia. We were talking about politics. You could see how she patiently loves her country, but despises the right-wing candidate of the presidential elections, as well as the Peronista for different reasons. It was a very intense and interesting conversation. She made sure I took the right street walking back, so I don’t get lost nor robbed. But it was election time, there were coppers at each street corner (even though they were busy with their Insta account – that’s Argentinian Work Ethics, so not sure how well that would’ve worked out in case of emergency).

Access Tracks to the narrow gauge Belgrano railway station still exists

Iglesia Santo Domingo with a Bluesmobile in front of it…how apt 😅

I visited the house were the Argentinian Independence was declared. The province of Buenos Aires thought she’s something better, and wasn’t quite sure if she wants to be part of the game or not – still the case today, nothing has changed in more than 200 years. Obviously, it’s quite popular with school classes and local tourists, as Argentinians are always proudly Nationalists. I still believe you can only be proud of something you have achieved on your own. Or to put it in the words of the Kaiser: “We thank God every day that he has allowed us to grow up in this latitude. It could have been in the desert in Africa.” (Franz Beckenbauer). After Leo recovered a bit from his flu (or Covid, who knows…) we had a dinner together on Thursday night.