ESQUEL

In the Cordillera area of Chubut province, some 300 kms south of Bariloche, and 650 km west of Trelew, lies the city of Esquel. This is an important town that opens in this region the gateway to a landscape of amazing natural beauty to the traveler.

Its name comes from the Mapuche word Esguel, meaning "prickly seed", and the first mention of it ("Esguel-kaik") is in the memoirs of an English seaman, George Chartown Musters ("My Life Among the Patagones"), who led an expedition in 1870/71 from Punta Arenas (Chile) to Carmen de Patagones, along the trail used by a tribe of Tehuelches.

It was founded in 1906, when Gerardo Morelli inaugurated the first telegraph office. It currently boasts the principal local communications services with the rest of the country and the rest of the world, and has become a well--balanced combination of a tourist spot and forceful modern city.

The city can be accessed along NR Nº 258 from Bariloche, or along NR Nº 25 from Trelew , or else from Comodoro Rivadavia, by NR Nº 40. You can also get there by air with Aerolíneas Argentinas, which has four weekly frequencies.

The city is in a hollow in the hills, 550 m above sea level, and seems to be occupying the stage of an amphitheater. Around it stand Nahuel Pan Mt (2,240 m a s l) and the Esquel Range, featuring the hill by the same name (2,145 m a s l), and Mt La Hoya (2,100 m a s l), hosting the city's skiing complex.

Provided with extremely attractive surroundings, Esquel is today the main service city close to Los Alerces National Park. With a varied and ever growing lodging capacity, gastronomy services and an important tourism infrastructure, the city has changed its profile a great deal over the last few decades.

Although it still provides services to the rural activities - and in fact this daily feature of its activity adds an attraction for the tourists - it has a high index of public employment because of the numerous provincial organisms that are based in the city.

Esquel is trying to define a tourism outline by integrating with Los Alerces district (including the towns of Trevelin, Tecka, Corcovado and Cholila), forming part as well of the Belt Lake that includes the 42nd parallel Andean districts and Pico al Sur River District, as well as important cities such as San Martín de los Andes (Neuquén) and Bariloche (Río Negro).

Warm summers and harsh winters are the weather extremes of the city. Esquel and its area of influence has attractions and services that waken the interest of travelers, giving it immeasurable national and international tourism possibilities.

Its magnificent natural setting includes many open air activities for visitors who can enjoy the calmness of the scenery, the rushing river rapids, horse-trekking with their friends or catching the fish of their dreams.

You will also find every facility for skiing in the La Hoya winter sports center, that offers a wide skiing area and all services neeed to enjoy skiing, sunbathing and looking out at the wonderful landscapes during your winter stay. Let alone the above, only 45 km from Esquel is placed Los Alerces National Park. In this park, Lakes, rivers and forests offer a thousand lovely views of Andean Patagonia. If you have a little spare time, a visit to the "Alerzal Milenario" (Thousand-Year-Old Larch Forest) boasting specimens 3,000 years old and making them some of the oldest living things on the planet. It is well worthwhile.

THINGS TO SEE AND DO
Esquel with its over 28,000 inhabitants, significant hotel service structure, restaurants, entertainments and transport services gives visitors all the splendor of the so-called "Comarca de los Alerces" (Larch District).

A wide and permanently growing service structure offers tourists the best options for adventure, excursions and treks that you can enjoy, be it on your own, or with any of the local tourist agencies.

Trekking, horse riding, fishing, hunting on skis, mountaineering, mountain bike, 4 x 4 touring, and any other activity you can think of, always surrounded by exceptionally beautiful sceneries: ancient trees, roaring Rivers, hundreds of expanses of water sheltered by mysterious woods form a region that features surprise, delight, adrenalin and vertigo at every step.

The store network selling the clothes, gear and other things necessary for different sport activities (fishing, skiing, mountaineering, etc.) guarantees a quality supply. Regional craft items are always a temptation, whether they be craft textiles made by the descendants of the indigenous inhabitants or the edible delicacies made from local flora and fauna food items, which as well as being on sale can be tried at any of the various restaurants in Esquel.

In this prime fishing area hunting is also a favourite pastime, with many game species, among them the bustards.

Various Lake excursions are possible over Lakes Futalaufquen, Menéndez, Cisne, Verde, Rosario and Rivadavia. There are quite a lot of specialized agencies that can take you on thrilling tours or on sporting outings.

The Esquel ski compound has just opened a new beginners' run as well as more snow cannon.

Finally, a historic "Express" train daily plying a dream landscape fascinates railway enthusiasts because it functions with its original locomotives and wagons.

LOS ALERCES AND TREVELIN NATIONAL PARKS
Among waterfalls, Streams and beautiful landscapes, this is a first approach to the borders of the amazing Valdivian forest (cold wet forest). Trekking or Lake excursions and the ability to program one's base of operations in one of the Park's camps makes this an interesting option. One can also visit Trevelín, the first community founded by Welsh pioneers from Puerto Madryn, who decided to sample living in a new territory.

FUTALEUFU HYDROELECTRIC DAM
A very special site in the centre of the Patagonian steppe. It offers the history and legends of a hardlly inhabited region. It is a main development of the seventies, whose function was to generate energy to satisfy the needs of Aluar aluminum factory on the Chubut coast.

A CHILEAN ESCAPADE, LAGO PUELO AND BOLSON
The San Rafael Glacier, located on the Lake by the same name in Chile, offers one the ideal excuse to do a very special excursion crossing the Cordillera forests near Esquel, the striking Valdivian forest in Chile and go back to the north part of Santa Cruz. At least 200 kms along a pleasant road winding along the Pre-Cordillera hills, to get to Lake Puelo National Park that offers beautiful scenery and countless activities.

LA HOYA
A winter sports center for everyone in the family. With sun-protected snow, it allows skiing up to mid-October at very reasonable rates. Most Rivers in the area go to empty into the Pacific Ocean, allowing fishing of species that would usually be only found in Chilean Rivers. You can try your luck in the Futalaufquen or in other close fishing Streams.

ESQUEL SURROUNDING AREA
The starting point for green and very Welsh Travelling and Los Alerces National Park, with its nice scenic routes and its spring through fall fishing activity and winter skiing. Patagonia's most famous train leaves this spot also: La Trochita.