| Picture: Image Bank |
Most travellers go to far-flung destinations for a taste of
the exotic. So imagine being in deepest Patagonia and stumbling
across the Lady Diana Spencer tea room, which sells tea and scones
and has a radio in the corner that blasts out what appears to be a
Welsh soap opera.
It’s one of two special reasons for visiting the northern
coast of this Argentinian region: whales and Wales.
As well as encountering sea life at its most magnificent, visitors
to Patagonia can uncover a little corner of Welsh culture that has
remained virtually unchanged for years.
Inland from Valdés, and just a two-hour drive south, is the
Chubut valley. It was here that settlers from Wales established a
colony in the second half of the 19th century, using the Chubut
river to irrigate the dusty plain and recreate something of the
Welsh landscape they’d left behind.
The first wave of settlers descended from their ship at Puerto
Madryn, now a popular beach resort – though rather chilly if
you’re heading here after Rio or one of Uruguay’s
beaches.
Scuba diving, kayaking, horse riding and sandboarding can be
organised here, and there are great seafood restaurants and bars
for the evening. The city also boasts a good science museum and the
EcoCentro, an outstanding child-friendly exhibition about the
marine environment.
Other Welsh immigrants settled at Trelew, now the region’s
biggest city, and home to an impressive palaeontology museum.
But it is the Chubut valley itself that offers the most colourful
glimpse of the Welsh influence on Argentina. Here you see Welsh
flags alongside Argentina’s, and quirky tea shops with names
like Ty Te Caerdydd and the aforementioned Lady Diana Spencer tea
room.
Today, the town that has best preserved its Welsh connections is
Gaiman, home to an excellent museum about the settlement. You hear
locals speaking Welsh and there is even a radio station that
broadcasts shows in the language of Cardiff and Canarvon.
As Trips Worldwide marketing manager Julie Middleton points out,
the Chubut valley is unmissable if you have any Welsh connections.
“For anyone with a Welsh connection Trelew and Gaiman are
fascinating. The Welsh settlers keep up the traditions of ‘te
Gales’ (Welsh tea) and even host an annual eisteddfod –
music and poetry festival – in early September, celebrating
Welsh traditions,” she said.
But beyond the tea shops and red dragons flapping in the Patagonian
breeze, this little corner of Wales is a far cry from Rhyl. My
guide took me on a tour of the valley, passing though the towns of
Dolavon and La Angostura and with stops to visit traditional Welsh
chapels – and yes, we stopped for a cup of tea and some fruit
cake and scones.
Beyond the valley is the Patagonian steppe – barren, wild and
blustery. From Gaiman’s impressive palaeontology park you can
look back on to Gaiman and gape in wonder at the millions of years
of rock strata on display – and marvel at the courage and
commitment of the Welsh in settling here 140 years ago.
Most British tour operators offering Patagonia also take their
clients to experience the whale-watching – few encounters
with nature can compare.
From August to December female southern right whales migrate to the
shallow gulfs off the Valdés Peninsula to give birth. Their
gentle show of breaching – turning over at the surface and
lobbing their tails, often with young calves hugging their sides,
is a mesmerising experience.
Argentinian families and schools have long made the annual
pilgrimage to see this spectacle – and with the weak peso and
Argentina increasingly a feature in long-haul itineraries, many
foreigners are now also making the trip south.
Valdés is a UNESCO World Heritage site, protected for its
2,000 whales, and for its large colonies of elephant seals,
southern sea lions, Magellanic penguins and seabirds. From December
to March, it is also possible to spy killer whales dipping and
diving along the shore, on the look-out for vulnerable seal cubs
they can eat.
Exsus Travel Latin America specialist Lucy Clark said: “The
Valdés Peninsula is so special because you can get really
close to whales, elephant seals, sea lions and penguins. Our
clients also value the wild, remote setting – after
whale-watching or bird-watching on the beach you can go and chill
on a ranch.”
Exsus uses the Rincon Chico estancia, a ranch near Punta Delgada
not far from the elephant seal colonies. Like most operators the
company offers itineraries that take in Valdés and the penguin
colony south of the peninsula at Punta Tombo, the biggest on the
continent.
In Patagonia, Wales and whales are more accessible than ever, but
for those early Welsh settlers it was a far cry from the green,
green grass of home.
