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Published: April 8th 2013
Welsh Cave, Puerto Madryn
These caves were excavated and used as shelter by the first Welsh settlers to arrive in Argentina. They were eventually assisted and helped to survive by the native Telhuelche.1st April 2013, we are now in Puerto Madryn, coastal Patagonia. It took 9 hours by bus from Bahia Blanca passing nothing but endless flat grazing land, this country truly is vast. We checked into a wonderful hostel here where the owner greeted us by name and immediately made us a cup of coffee, just the welcome we needed. We spent the first couple of days orientating ourselves walking all along the sea front promenade and pier and deciding what to do with our time here, there are a lot of options. We also came across a free open air concert on 2nd April which was in memory of the fallen from the Argentine loss of the Falklands war 30 years ago, it was great to sit out and enjoy the music. Lots of people have quizzed us about the Falklands, but no one has given us a hard time.
We decided to hire bikes for the day and cycle 14km out of town to an area where you can see sea lions (I know I said I wouldn't seek them out again, but there you go!), it was a lovely ride on a dirt road all along the coast
Punta Lomo
Rock shags and sea lions line heading south from Puerto Madryn. The area to view the seals from was very well set out with a viewing platform at the top of some cliffs, away from the stink but close enough to get a good view. The cliffs are also home to Rock Shags which lay their eggs in the cliffs, the male and female birds take it in turn to look after the eggs then chicks alternating turns, they are only found in Patagonia (Chilean and Argentine). On the cycle ride back we stopped off at two different places to try a bit of fishing, all in all a very pleasant way to spend a day. We topped it off by joining in on the Hostels shell fish evening, about 15 people from different parts of the world (England, Jersey, France, Switzerland, America, Argentina) enjoying shell fish, beer and salad, a warm and social evening.
Welsh Patagonia! Puerto Madryn, Trelew, Gaiman, and Dolovan were all founded by Welsh settlers in 1886. We took a local bus first to Trelew where we visited the Paleontology Museum, some unique and important fossil discoveries have been made in Argentina, many of them not far from here. We
Hereford?
No Gaiman! saw a brilliant copy of a Titanosauraus and the front legs and vertebrae of the Argentinasauraus (see photo). Another short bus ride took us on to Gaiman, the Welshest of them all. We went to afternoon tea at Ty Cymraeg and couldn't fit anything else in for tea later, 6 cakes each, 2 scones each, bread and cheese, 3 litres of tea in a tea cozy adorned pot. It´s the street names that really tickled me "Avenue Miguel Jones" and "Juan C. Evans Street", fantastic blending of two cultures of this little riverside town that could be Hereford (apart from the temperature).
Peninsula Valdes is a UNESCO world heritage site protected in Argentina for it´s unique wildlife. We booked an excursion to see as much of it as possible. The main attraction of the area is the resident killer whales who are unique in the world for having learnt to beach themselves to catch the baby sea lions as they learn to swim. We saw blow holes and killer whale breath! No drama unfortunately but this is wild life, film makers spend weeks camped out here waiting for the perfect moment. We were very lucky to see plenty of
other animals though, especially the Guanacos, these are the wild descendants of domesticated llamas. We also saw Giant Petrels, Turkey Vultures, Burrowing Owls, Elephant Seals, Sea Lions, Magellanic Penguins, Patagonian Geckos, Patagonian Cavy, and Hairy Armadillos. The scenery around the peninsula was beautiful, and the excursion was just 5 people in a car not a giant bus load so we had a lovely day with an English speaking guide who was very knowledgeable.
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karen
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Afternoon Tea !
My kind of afternoon tea - in a Welsh tea-room in Argentina !!!! You both look as if you are picking up a bit of a tan ? Keep enjoying yourselves - keep sending these blogs !!! xx