The Amazing Argentine: A New Land of EnterpriseFraser, John Foster
History
The Amazing Argentine: A New Land of Enterprise
Fraser, John Foster
Argentina -- Description and travel
Nowhere, out of Russia, have I seen the coaches so admirably adapted for
small or large parties. You can have a section of a coach
self-contained, dining-room, bedrooms and bathroom, suitable for
families; and meals can be supplied from the buffet. If you travel over
a certain distance you cannot miss having a buffet car; the law insists.
Also the law insists on dormitory coaches on the all-night journeys.
They are more commodious, because on most of the lines the gauge is
wider than in England. There is none of the uncomfortable sleeping
behind curtains, with, maybe, a stranger in the bunk overhead, and then
having to wash in the smoking-room, which the long-suffering men of the
United States put up with under the notion they possess the most
luxurious travelling in the world. When you come to "special cars," a
thing we know nothing about in England except for royalty, the United
States comes first, but I would say Argentina is a close second.
Nothing could be jollier--when a sand storm is not on the wing--than
travelling with pleasant friends in a reserved coach. It is like a flat.
There is a sitting-room, and on a chill evening the fire burns brightly
in an open grate. On a hot afternoon you have your easy chairs out on
the platform at the rear and, with legs cocked up on the rail, you can
smoke your cigar. You press a button, and when the attendant has brought
you an iced cocktail you agree that "roughing it" in Argentina is a
delightful experience. If your car is properly equipped with a good
kitchen and a good cook, and there is a decent "cellar"--hospitality is
one of the legitimate boasts of the people--you fare as well as you
would do in a first-class hotel. Were it not that I might be thought a
sybarite, I could write like a chef about the menus I experienced and
enjoyed in my long excursions throughout the land.
"This is a nice chicken," I said to my host one night. "Yes, we have a
chicken run under the car," he answered. I laughed, for I imagined the
innocent stranger was having his leg pulled; but the next morning
personal inspection assured me there was a "run," in the shape of a long
galvanised screened box beneath the car.
It was pleasant to have a bedroom four times the size of a crib on an
English "sleeper," to have a writing-table with electric light, and a
bathroom adjoining. But the chief joy of a special car was that there
was no changing to catch trains. Instructions were given that we would
stop at a certain place at nine o'clock in the morning. The car was
detached and shunted into a siding. We lived on the car and slept on it.
Orders were given that we were to be picked up by the 3.15 local train
in the morning, taken down a branch line forty miles, attached to the
express which would be coming along at seven o'clock, and were to be
released somewhere else at 10.15 and put into a siding. I lived this
sort of life for nearly a month. It was the best possible way of seeing
the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account