Esquel

Esquel is a town in the northwest of the province of Chubut, Patagonia, Argentina. It has almost 29,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the department Futaleufu. The name comes from the Mapuche language and means burdock, heard here with the Calafate ( Berberis buxifolia ) and other thorny shrubs to local flora.

Foundation

The foundation of the city is closely tied to the immigration of Welsh in Chubut in 1865. It was on 25 February 1906 as the enlargement of the settlement Colonia 16 de Octubre, today Trevelin, which in Welsh " mill town " ( Tre = "City" and Melin = " mill ", M is Anlautveränderung to V) implies constructed.

Location

The most important city in the region of the Andes lies on the banks of the river and valley Esquel, surrounded by the hills of La Zeta, La Cruz, Cerro 21 and the mountain La Hoya. Esquel is also known as snow-sure ski resort with excellent snow quality, which can be seen from July to mid-spring. Also known are the fish and game resources.

Climate

La Trochita

Another major tourist attraction of the city is the narrow gauge railway in 750 mm width with regular running steam locomotives German ( Henschel & Sohn GmbH, Cassel ) and American ( The Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia ) and Belgian ( Societe Anonyme Ateliers de Construction de et al Famillieureux ) cars since 1922 times drives to date ( 2005) two to three a week for tourism purposes. The tracks are located between Esquel - Nahuel Pan and El Maiten - Leleque Museum. The web is locally La Trochita and English The Old Patagonian Express named after the book by Paul Theroux. Since 1922, the boilers of the locomotives are heated with heavy petroleum, currently repaired with a mixture of fuel oil and waste oil from ship engines in the ratio 1:5, maintained Maiten in the workshops of El and according to the original plans here individually manufactured parts.

Environment

Esquel is the closest town to the 70 km distant Los Alerces National Park and was able to record with 30,000 inhabitants, is the largest growth of the region according to official figures from 2001.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Aldo Duscher, Argentine football player with an Austrian passport