End of the Journey

The next morning, Trelew had been transformed into a completely different place. This small city that had been sleepy and deserted the afternoon before was now a bustling metropolis on a Monday morning, with heavy traffic on the streets and sidewalks packed with people.

After a nice breakfast in the hotel, I took a drive out to Gaiman, a small Welsh settlement about 17 kilometers inland from Trelew. The Welsh first came to Argentina in 1865, when 200 people from all over Wales set sail from Liverpool with the intention of creating a new Welsh homeland in Patagonia. They landed at what is now Puerto Madryn and their first settlement was nearby Rawson. They also settled Trelew, Gaiman, and much of the Chubut Valley going up into the foothills of the Andes at Esquel. Gaiman is small, so possibly the most authentic of the Welsh towns of the Chubut Valley.

I wandered around the town for the morning, spending most of time sitting in a shady part of the plaza. It had been getting hotter each day for the past three or four days, and on this day the sun was particularly strong. I found a small bakery and picked up a Torta Negra Galés (Black Welsh Cake), a fruitcake made with cognac that is a specialty of the Chubut Valley. Then I hiked up to a small hill that overlooked the town, affording a spectacular view of the valley and the distant desert. The Welsh must have been surprised to arrive in this dry and austere landscape, after leaving the lush green valleys of Wales.

When I got back to Trelew, I still had time to visit the biggest attraction in town, the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio). Patagonia is known for having some of the richest fossil remains in the world, so it does make sense that there should be an impressive gallery here of the archaeological finds of this vast region. 65 million years ago, when the mass extinction of dinosaurs and many other living organisms took place, Patagonia must have been home to an extensive population of a rich variety of species.

I love natural history museums, especially old and funky ones in small towns. They are often dark and gloomy, with dusty dioramas and questionably scientific interpretive displays. This was not the case with the Museum of Paleontology in Trelew. I was really surprised to see such a well-designed and impressive museum in a small city like Trelew. I wandered from room to room through the museum, taking in the exhibits and stopping to watch to video in the auditorium. It was a nice place to cool down for a while and rest my weary feet.

After a few hours enraptured with dinosaur skeletons, I wandered back out into the hot Trelew sun. I sat in the plaza for a few hours, enjoying a light lunch and reading my book. It was almost time to head to the airport, so I cleaned up the car and arranged everything in my luggage as neatly as possible.

My road trip around Patagonia was over and so was my grand voyage around Argentina. It was a fantastic trip, but unfortunately it had come to an end. From the old colonial streets of Buenos Aires to the wild desert landscapes of Patagonia and raw natural theater of the Valdés Peninsula, I have only scratched the surface of this big country. Amazing place. Gracias Argentina.

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