Patagonia

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After leaving Bariloche, I headed down to Patagonia. Patagonia was the part of my trip that I was most looking forward to. While planning my trip to South America, I was overwhelmed with the possibilities of South America. Its such a vast, amazing continent, with so much to see - the beaches in Colombia, the Andes mountains in Ecuador and Peru, the salt flats in Bolivia, the famous hospitality of Chile, the beauty of Brazil - but for some reason, seeing Patagonia was something that interested me the most (maybe my love of mountains?), and it did not fail to disappoint. When I was in Pucon, Chile, I read Bruce Chatwin's "In Patagonia" to get myself hyped for Patagonia, and it made me even more excited to see the mountains, lakes, small towns, and of course, the "ends of the earth" of Tierra del Fuego.

Trevelin was my first stop in Patagonia, which is where I would spend New Year's Eve. Trevelin is a small village (approximately six thousand people), originally settled by the Welsh. The Welsh went to Trevelin, as well as Gaiman and Puerto Madryn on the East Coast, to have a better life and preserve their culture and language which was being threatened in the UK. Even though Trevelin is quite small, there was a beautiful hostel there. The hostel I stayed at, called Casa Verde, was an absolutely beautiful place on a hill slightly out of the town centre - a log cabin that the owner built himself, with the help of a microcredit agency. I had heard a lot about microcredit agencies before, but had never had the pleasure before of meeting a business owner that had been helped by a microcredit agency. After meeting the hostel owner and seeing his beautiful hostel and the business he has not only created for himself, but for his sons to take over one day, I would strongly encourage people to contribute to this type of non profit organization if they can. It gives hard working people the chance to create sustainable businesses and employ people in their communities. Trevelin was a very enjoyable town - I went on a couple of hikes around town, and also went for Welsh tea (yum!). I went to the Nain Maggie tea house, and it was delicious. I also got to see the tomb of Malacara - legend had it that this horse recused John Evans, Trevelin's founders, from the natives that he had a battle with. This tomb and replica of his house are at the house that this great-granddaughter still lives at - much of Trevelin is decensed from the orginal settlers of the town. At New Year's Eve, we had a great dinner at the hostel. Charly, the owner, made a very nice asado for us, everyone brought some wine, and at midnight, there were fireworks overlooking the town.

After Trevelin, I headed over to Puerto Madryn on the east coast. Puerto Madryn was nice and warm - the Lake District and the rest of Patagonia was quite cold, so it was GREAT to go spend a day at the beach - 30 degree plus weather! The day after my time of beach relaxation, I headed over to another Welsh colony called Gaiman. Getting to Gaiman was a bit of an adventure - you could pay for an organized tour out of Puerto Madryn, but this was quite expensive. Instead, I took a bus out there myself. In Gaiman, I went to another tea house called Plas y Coed, recommded to me by a Welsh teacher I met in Trevelin who had actually lived in Gaiman for six months at the Welsh school. (I learned from him that the Welsh government actually sends over Welsh speaking teachers to both Trevelin and Gaiman to work at the local schools and teach children Welsh, as a way of encouraging the Welsh langauge to grow.) After Plas y Coed, I headed down to the river in Gaiman, went on a short walk, and then also checked out the Welsh museum in town, which was very well cared for by the mother and son duo that ran it. They were very proud of their Welsh heritage and very excited that they had so many visitors to the museum.

The next day in Puerto Madryn, I went on a tour to see the Peninsula Valdes. Although it was no longer whale watching season, it was still really great to go on the tour, as I got to see penguins and sea lions. In addition, the ride out to the Peninsula was so beautiful. Being in Puerto Madryn and its surrounding areas made me really admire the settlers that first came to the area - the land is so barren (abliet beautiful) and it must have been very difficult to survive, yet they did, and thrived.

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