Chapter 7: Northern Patagonia

Us (United States) and our new friends Rachel (Malaysia), Antonio (Mexico) and Marcus (Switzerland). How very multicultural. Península Valdéz, AR

After 4 days in El Chalten we headed back toward El Calafate for a 2 am bus to Rio Gallegos where we met Matis who took us all the way to Comodoro Rivadavia. Some gap in communication lead him to leave without us in the morning but we got a ride with Hector an YPF - Yacimientos Petroleros Fiscales, once a state-owned petroleum company, now privatized due to the structural adjustments the country went through during Carlos Menem's presidency in the '90s - employee hauling a tanker of gasoline to Trelew. He was amazingly friendly and taught us all about SOLIDARIDAD. Trelew is just south of our destination of Puerto Madryn and Puerto Piramides where we were to sit on the beach with some new friends, Antonio and Rachel, and warm up after 3 weeks of cold cold southern Argentina and then go whale watching. The whales swam right under our tiny boat.

Courtney with the whale, Puerto Pirámides AR

We also met a Marcus there who had already rented a car so he took us around the peninsula. The peninsula is an animal reserve so there's plenty to see. Guanacos, Ostriches, Foxes, Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, and especially Penguins!!! Otherwise in order to tour the island we would have been set back about $360 AR pesos or $100 US so it was nice to meet a friend.

Penguin parent and chick, Península Valdéz, AR

Actually we've had a lot of luck with that sort of thing. Any time we decide that spending money is stupid - which is often - someone comes along to say, oh, well I'm already going there/doing that/spending that money, so come with me! Or they say, oh well, you can do this other thing that tourists don't really know about and is free, so try that... Great news! we say.

Another important part about the area around Trelew is that it is the rare Welsh district of Argentina. At certain points in Argentinian History, the Colonialists were regularly harassed by the Indigenous populations. Having taken away their livelihood, the Colonialists had left the Indigenous to round up the wild cattle (introduced to the area by Mendoza, the first leader to attempt to create a European settlement where Buenos Aires now sits. The cattle and horses were left behind when the settlement was declared a failure and the inhabitants fled to Paraguay. Over the next several decades, with no natural predators, the cattle and horses multiplied and spread across the Pampa.) and sell it to the settlements on the other side of the Andes Mountains, European and Indigenous. These men were known as Gauchos. The Argentinean version of a cowboy. Today there is still a strong Gaucho presence in the plains of Argentina, although the outlaw aspect of it has dissipated. Gauchos are an important part of the mystique and identity of the country.

Unfortunately, the Cattle began to dissipate as well and the many a Gaucho was left to raid villages for his livelihood. At this point, General Julio Roca lead an army into the South to annihilate over 1300 Indigenous leaving Patagonia open to settlement. Roca was made a hero and the next president of the country. During his presidency Roca used the newly opened land as a system of patronage in order to consolidate his power. He later used this power to defeat indigenous groups in the Northern parts of the country. Roca also highly encouraged European immigration in order to fill the open space. Between 1880, the beginning of Roca's presidency, and WWI, 6 million Europeans immigrated to Argentina from Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Ireland, and Wales.

The Welsh mark can be found in Trelew and the surrounding towns. We found ourselves in Gaiman, after Marcus dropped us off on the way to the airport where he would fly to Ushuaia and his grand adventure to Antarctica. Gaiman is proud of their Welsh roots and is speckled with Casas de Té where you can fill up on 15 different types of traditional Welsh cakes and as much tea as you can drink. It was quite the experience. It was also raining outside. Pouring. And as we left the tea house (after 2 hours of attempting to finish all the different cakes) we managed to find a nice tree to sit under while we contemplated our next move. We were attempting to make our way clear across to the east side of the country to El Bolsón. Finally deciding that the rain was not going to let up we began to walk to the edge of town and were flagged down by a nice man named Domingo with a wood factory who offered us a place to pitch our tent in the one miraculously dry spot in all of Gaiman. Domingo is named such because his feet are too big and don't fit into any work shoes. He wears relaxed Sunday shoes all year round. In the morning he told us all about how Gaiman is full of Welsh and how important that is (he being Welsh descended himself). We thanked him greatly for his hospitality and headed toward the road.

Chris, sipping properly in front of our elaborate Welsh Tea Service, Gaiman, AR

In Trelew we might have been able to find a ride in a Semi-Truck but in Gaiman there was no truck-stop so we waited with our thumbs out, got a ride to the next town and were told we probably wouldn't make it more than half way that day. He was right, in that every car we saw driving in our direction turned off into town. But miraculously two adorable Chilean tourists stopped for us and took us all 700 km to Esquel, only 100 Km south of where we wanted to be. We had lunch in the Plaza and walked to the edge of town where we camped and got up early to get another ride the rest of the way.

Our Chilean tourist heroes posing for a picture, Ruta Nacional 25, AR

El Bolsón is something like an Argentinian Bellingham or Santa Cruz. They are famous for their artisan beer and their hippies. At our campsite we met some friendly people and learned some good Argentinian Slang. We also got on a bus to Lago Puelo where the campsite had become a river and walked around for a day. It's especially gorgeous there. In the town they have a artisan craft fair 3 times a week where one can buy jams, chocolate, cheese, jewelery, cutting boards and furniture.

The artisan craft fair, El Bolsón, AR

The lake at dusk, Lago Puelo, AR

On our way out of town we visited the brewery and were able to taste a few. Unlike microbreweries in the US, the El Bolsón Cervecería is famous for their fruity beers - such as raspberry, cherry, even honey flavored beer. We camped outside of the YPF and got up at 6 am to talk to the truck drivers on their way out of town. Jorge, the first person we asked, gave us a ride all the way to Neuquin, not without delays but we had fun all the same, where we spent another night. In the morning we had some trouble figuring out where the best place to be to head toward Mendoza was but eventually landed ourselves on the right highway and got a ride from Juan who took us all the way to San Martín. Juan was another gem of the highway. He was so friendly and we even shared dinner together - cooking on his fancy propane stove he keeps under the truck (there's a pull down cabinet door that works as great counter space). He wanted to learn some English words and he taught us plenty of Spanish. It started pouring rain so we finished our dinner in the empty refrigerator cargo hold where he let us sleep for the night. His truck was having technical problems but he told us that once it was fixed he would take us back with him to Buenos Aires.

Occupying ourselves while we wait for a job to be done on way to Neuquén, Ruta Nacional 237, AR