Thewesternprovinceblog

A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷

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A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷 in 🇨🇴

  • The Last Side Quest: The historic sites of Montevideo plus a boozy finish!

    Hola todos! So this one is going to be a bit of a compressed blog as time is rolling on and looking to get things wrapped up. So after we did our walking tour on the Tuesday the next few days went as follows:

    Wednesday we had a bit of a lazy one on both sides and didn’t really do much in the day but met up for drinks in the night but kept it fairly chill.

    Thursday was a museum day around the old town, the notables being the Andes plane crash museum which was the infamous crash in the Andes mountain pass when the rugby team was flying to Santiago. What happened after that was the survivors being stuck in the freezing passes for nearly 100 days before eventually being rescued. Interesting as they have bits from the wreck and a climate chamber where’s you can experience -20 Degs C and howling winds to get an idea of what it was like.

    We also visited this art gallery place which was an old aristocratic house and we imagined this is what that castle might have been like back in the day in Sucre as it was stripped of all furniture.

    Friday we visited the fort on the hill on the opposite side of the bay, this fort is a military museum and inside can be found different weapons and artillery from the 1800’s as well as a collection of WW1 stuff. It was interesting though I cannot say we read everything there though the idea was it was built to protect the bay from attack and then got made a monument in the 1930’s.

    After getting back from this fort visit we made a tentative plan to hire a car and do a road trip to the Eastern part of the country but for various reasons on both of our ends this never quite came off.

    Saturday was a lazy day to begin with but I met up with Ed Sheeran in the afternoon and as this was my last day we ended up getting on the beers and hitting it pretty hard all day. I will skip over the details but let’s just say on Sunday when I had to go back to Buenos Aires I had a lovely hangover from hell having to get back onto that foggy bus.

    The return to Buenos Aires and what happened afte deserves its own installment so that will be the next one.

    While it feels I am rushing this one out know that it was a great send-off for both of us being able to get one last little adventure in before the end of both of our respective trips. To Ed, its been a top trip and if you ever find yourself in the UK hit me up as I will for you if I’m ever back in this part of the world.

  • The Last Side Quest: The Journey to Montevideo. Ft the return of Ed Sheeran!

    Hola todos! This is the first blog for the final side quest of this adventure. A trip to Uruguay!

    So after leaving little miss passive aggressive’s Airbnb I was soon in an Uber and went to the Colonia Express terminal where I was soon reunited with my good friend who is totally not Ed Sheeran and his husband and we had a good catch up and chinwag about what we had been up to since we parted ways back in Bolivia. 

    Well those fellas went up to Santa Cruz which is 8 hours north of Sucre and from what ed tells they had an *amazing* time there. Might have to visit the economic powerhouse of Bolivia myself if I ever go back! They stayed for a while then went into Argentina. 

    While I was in Patagonia they spent about a month in Buenos Aires then another few weeks in a place called Delta Tigre about an hour from Buenos Aires basically living in a hovel on stilts in a swamp next to the river, it was an hour boat ride to even pick up groceries from what they told me. They were glad to be moving on they said.

    Back to the present we had some time to kill before we could board the ferry so we had some breakfast and a cheeky celebration beer for getting out of our predicaments. Soon it was time to get ready, check in was quick and simple and so was immigration, it is done for both sides at the outbound port on this ferry so your quickly on your  way once on the other side. 

    It’s a bit of a bunfight but soon were aboard and like the degenerates we are we booked it straight for the bar and got ourselves some coronas since we weren’t exactly spoiled for choice here. It’s only a 1.15 hour ferry crossing to Colonia. Still we had to wonder what the record for how many beers someone has pounded down them in this short crossing was? We had a few but weren’t trying to beat it today! 

    The crossing was quite pleasant seeing the rundown parts of Buenos Aires leave us and hitting the muddy but open waters of the Rio de la plata estuary. Before long it’s land ho and we are soon docked up and are walked through a fancy walkway that resembles something of an airports arrivals hall then walked downstairs have to put our bags through metal detectors and then the best part? A 2 hour bus transfer to Montevideo! Yay! 

    While the buses were decent coaches they did cram everyone they could in there so we all got split up and also the windows were steamed up so you couldn’t see anything outside. Nevertheless we are soon into Montevideo, we quicky get our stuff together and grab an Uber to el centro where we go out seperate ways to check into our Gaffs and reconvene later for some more beers and grub. We get ourselves booked onto the obligatory walking tour for the next morning. 

    Long day but has been excellent to catch up!

  • Buenos Aires – Walking tours and Airbnb fun.

    Hola todos! First one for Buenos Aires. This first few days here were very annoying and I felt like I didn’t have a very good start to the place.

    To start things off I have a 9am bus ride here from Bahía Blanca and I’m set to get in around 6.30 pm more or less. Mrs lady who owns the Airbnb I’m staying in sends me the usual hello how are you messages then sends me a big long copy pasted list of house rules and extra charges if you do this or that or if you stay for more than 7 nights (I was booked for 5) which didn’t apply. Okay fair enough but I’m sent this list about 5 different times over the course of the bus ride up and have to send a reply to yes understand and read. This already isn’t giving the greatest vibe. Next thing even though I told her when I booked what my ETA was she seemed to be very pissy about me not being able to give an exact time as to when I’ll be there. Lady it’s a 12 hour bus ride I can’t control wtf happens on the roads can I? Best I can give you is half hour window depending on how much pissing about there is between getting off the bus and when actually arrive! She says fine and goes quiet though pretty much every interaction involved a passive aggressive tone from her right from the get go but as money was paid and it would be a bit late in the day time I got there kind of let it slide.

    Once I’m there I message her to say I got an Uber and will be at the place in half hour. I arrive at the gaff and it’s not her but a clumsy helper shes sending over with the keys. Her helper WhatsApps me says she’s on way but I’m kept waiting for a good 20 minutes after I’m there but say nothing keep it cool. Eventually I’m checked in and sorted but this whole nonsense didn’t set us off on the best foot here. My first night I do the usual thing of go out get food etc and see what the neighbourhood was like, the neighbourhood I was staying in, Palermo Soho was pretty relaxed and had lots of bars and restaurants about which again would’ve been great without Mrs ladys attitude.

    Day 2 here I do the usual thing get myself booked onto a walking tour in the centre though I opt for an afternoon slot as was a bit tired from the travel day, at midday the guide says he had to cancel and moved it to the morning of the next day. That was fine for me honestly a bit of rest was good. Later that evening I went to Mundolingo which is a language exchange but everyone was in tight groups and couldn’t really break in so chinned if off after an hour and went to an Irish bar.

    Day 3 we have the morning Walking tour of the Centre of Buenos aires, they show us round the cathedral, presidents house and other places though I’ll be honest here my head wasn’t in the right space and had to move some money about quick right as the tour started on the phone so most of the details kind of drifted over me but was interesting from what I could get. 

    Later that afternoon my mate Who’s not Ed Sheeran phones me up and we have a bit of a chat. I had been talking to him over WhatsApp the last few days and a rough plan had formed in my head which roughly involved going out to where they were after my stay in this place is up to hang out for a few days then go over to Montevideo in Uruguay 🇺🇾.

    We have a bit of a conflab and he says they need to be out of their place on Sunday (it’s Thursday at the time) and decide that it would be best if we went to Uruguay together. It’s decided then at this point I will cut my stay short by 1 night and travel to Uruguay with them for one last side quest before my flight back to reality. I soon get to booking the ferry and then comes the hard bit, I ask Mrs lady for an early check out and if she can refund me for 1 night not stayed.

    So as predicted she gets pissy about this then goes on about how kind they have been to me not charging me for a late check in (7.30pm in a country where people don’t have dinner till 10pm isn’t an unreasonable check in) and now I want to change the checkout? Oh the temerity of it I say!!

    She eventually says she’ll give me a partial refund then tells me she is paranoid about losing her super host status and that the last guests complained (I wonder why?) and that to approve my refund she wanted me to give it 5 stars. Ugh eventually I say yes though this point I just want away from there and I’m leaving on Sunday refund or not. Eventually that’s that business sorted but I have one more day here before we make for Uruguay.

    Day 4 here I just do laundry and get my stuff sorted for the most part then get packed up and all ready for kick off the next morning. I also have a big thorough tidy up of the place moreso than I typically would though this was so I could take a video just before I check out to show that the place was left spotless as I got the feeling she might be the type who would ‘Imagine’ something got damaged and try to charge you through the platform for it.

    On check out I do just that and take photos before my Uber shows up and I’m off to reunite with the bois. 5 stars all round was what it was won’t be coming back thank you 😁

    On to Montevideo!!

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa – Puerto Madryn and the road to Buenos Aires

    Prynhawn da and hola todos for the last post from Yr Wladfa and Patagonia. After doing the Welsh towns of the Chubut valley I moved over to Puerto Madryn for a few days. Unfortunately Puerto Madryn really wasn’t much to write home about, the only notables here were a monument on the waterfront to the Welsh settlers and the old train station opposite the bus Terminal. 

    It is possible to do a few whale watching excursions from here but these are organised tours and could be expensive. I went to see if any agents were open but being out of season their all working from home, which I have nothing against but a bit crap for me as stops us being able to get discounts from paying in cash. Also the weather turned foggy after arrival here so wouldn’t have seen much anyway so lo que hay wasn’t happening. At this point having done the last town of Yr Wladfa I have effectively declared mission accomplished on this trip but that doesn’t mean the journey is over yet. I still have to get to Buenos Aires, which is the exit point for our return to the old world.

    After those 3 nights I decided to start my way out of Patagonia a little ahead of time. I am largely skipping the events of the journey as nothing noteworthy happened on the journey until we started on the last day to Buenos Aires. It taken 3 travel days to reach here with day 1 being an 8 hour bus journey to Rio Colorado then day 2 being another 3 hour hop to Bahía Blanca with an overnight stay in both of these stops with a final 12 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires but that and what happened after that I will cover on the next one.

    From this point I was nearly in Bahia Blanca and I had to decide weather to go to Mar del Plata first or straight to Buenos Aires. The 2nd option won out and straight to Buenos Aires it was. A number of reasons for this, firstly Mar del Plata is  in the summer months a big beach place but it’s now winter here so there won’t be much going on, I’d wager if I went here even for 2 nights that day of looking round I’d most likely end up in a pub or casino at 2pm if it’s that much of a snore out of season. Also it was about 8 hours on the bus from Bahía Blanca and then another 6 to go from there Vs 12 to go straight to Buenos Aires.

    Also while in Puerto Madryn I had been in Comms with my friend who’s totally not Ed Sheeran. Turns out him and hubby went to Argentina after we parted ways back in Sucré. They were still in Argentina and not far from Buenos Aires and it looked very likely we could link up for one last side quest together and so the decision was made to push straight on to Buenos Aires. I would be getting here nearly a week ahead of time so could always revisit the first option if I so wished.

    To that end it was decided, I would get to Buenos Aires, spend a few days getting the lay of the land there then work out the next move with my friends from there. Shortly after getting into Bahía Blanca i booked the bus ticket to Buenos Aires and also an airbnb in a nice part of the city that my pals recommended I stay. 

    Things looked good……or at least they did on paper as we will soon find out!

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa – Dolavon and Rawson

    Hola and bore da once again from Yr Wladfa! For todays excursions we decided to visit Dolavon and Rawson. Let’s go over these then.

    So firstly it was another colectivo excursion over to Dolavon, getting over here was simple enough jumping on a bus that first stopped in Gaiman then carried on over to Dolavon another 15 minutes away. We soon arrive and it’s time to look round.

    I decided to do the mirador first since the bus kind of dropped me at the edge of town and this was a short walk with a decent view point but not as good as the one in Gaiman. Like in Gaiman there is a trail where you can hike to Gaiman from. I think it’s about an hour to walk but didn’t do this.

    Next it was into town and there are a few small chapels like the one in Gaiman but they were not open. Walking through the centre of town there are buildingd similar to that of the ones in Gaiman including former offices of the Chubut Mercantile Company now turned into cafes and bars. 

    On the other side of town can be found another old train station turned into a museum, I had a look in there though to be honest the history was more or less the same as what was shown in Gaiman. One interesting bit they did have was a the seats of the difgerent Eisteddfods held here. There are actually 4 held at different times of the year in Chubut, if I recall they are held in Trelew, Gaiman, Puerto Madryn and Trevelin. Unfortunately none of them would be happening while I was here but interesting to know.

    Walking on past the train station there’s a river and a few parks, one of which had an absolutely sick mural I had to get some shots of which depicts the intermingling of the native and Welsh ways and the land itself.

    Walking back to town I found myself jumping on a bus back to Trelew and after a quick stop back at the gaff I went to the bus station and jumped on a colectivo heading to Rawson.

    So what is Rawson? Well it’s the provincial capital of Chubut and has this name after a man named Guillermo Rawson who was a minister in the 1860’s who helped the Welsh sailors map out the region of Chubut and set up the agreements that allowed the early colonies in 1865 to be set up. 

    Unfortunately the Town didn’t quite live up to the reputation of the man it was named after. Coming in on the colectivo all I really saw was ugly government concrete buildings that looked like they were mass built in the 80’s and residential housing. Rawson also has a beach but is a desperate town called Playa Rawson and would have had to take another bus to that. From what I read online you might also see dolphins or whales from there but as it was getting late in the day I never bothered heading over there.

    In Rawson itself I had a walk round for about 5 minutes then walked right back to the bus station and went back to Trelew.

    The next day I moved over to Puerto Madryn though as I previously said, it is a modern city similar to Trelew so there wouldn’t be too much to see here.

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa – Gaiman

    Hola and bore da from Gaiman, what can be considered the best preserved Welsh town in Patagonia from around the times of the colony.

    Gaiman is quite close to Trelew being only half hour away on the colectivo but a visit here will take up pretty much a full day to do everything here.

    Getting off the bus in the centre of town you will find a plaza with a cute little dragon on it which is a good little touch, crossing the road are different shops and here translations are done from Spanish to Welsh. 

    There are a lot of places you can visit here from back in the day and there is a bit of a route you can do though the way I did it and with some things being closed I did it a bit randomly but it’s all interesting.

    First place I visited was the first house of Gaiman, which as the name implies was the first building built here in 1874 by the Welsh settler David D Roberts. He would later be one of the main founders of the Chubut Mercantile Company (CMC) in Welsh Cwmni Masnachol Camwy in Spanish Compañía Mercantil del Chubut in 1885. In fact the company was run from this house between 1885 and 1888 until it was well established enough to have a proper head office building in town and later in Trelew. 

    The CMC was basically a farmers cooperative that also acted as an import export company being a vital link for both exporting what the farmers were able to grow as well as bringing in new tools and equipment. At its peak in the early 1900s and 1910s they had a branch in every major town of Chubut province. The CMC however faced major economic issues in the 1920s and eventually went under in 1933 in the great depression. 

    Moving on from the first house I found an interesting little school called Colegio Camwy. I walked past it and there was an outdoor dance class going on and while I was a little late to catch it on film they were teaching kids traditional Welsh dance! I knocked on the door and someone let me have a little look round and asked me “ydych chi’n siarad Cymraeg?” “Typyn Bach” which in South Walian basically means none (feel free to rip into me on this one!!). End up chatting to the staff there and they let me take a look into one of the old classrooms and there is an impressive book collection all in Welsh. Chatting to them some more  Welsh is still taught here and people still speak it among themselves so yes the lingo and culture is still very much alive and well in Gaiman at least. Could have talked for ages but moving on.

    Walking up from there there was a museum about the native Tehuelche peoples who helped the early colony but it was closed. One important detail to note was the Name Gaiman was from this tribe and not the Welsh settlers.

    Just past this we had the train tunnel which was built in 1914 to expand the Chubut valley railway line from Dolavon to Gaiman to Trelew and Puerto Madryn. The line operated for nearly 50 years before it got closed down in the early 1960s. Today it’s another one of the attractions in Gaiman and you can walk one side of it to the other in a few minutes.

    Next up was the mirador. Coming out of the tunnel you are at the start of that trail and it’s a 10 minute walk up. It’s not a particularly high valley but you can get a good look at the town from there. It’s also possible to hike to Dolavon from here but didn’t have the time to entertain this today.

    Next up as it was lunchtime and the other 2 museums were now closed for 2 hours I had some lunch then went over the river to have a look at the chapel, well in fact there were 2 chapels there, one from the early days of the town and a more newer one, unfortunately they were not open outside of events a local told me.

    The last two stops of the day were the poet’s house, the former home of Welsh poet and Journalist Evan Thomas, yes back in the day newspapers were made in Welsh here but unfortunately not anymore here. Today the poet’s house is a time capsule of how the Welsh settlers lived and what life would have looked like back in the day.

    The final stop of the day was the old train station which is a museum on the history of Gaiman and the wider Welsh colony in the region. To be honest I have already covered the gist of this on previous posts but one interesting detail they had was the layout they intended for the colony which was that each family was given a stretch of land to develop and farm from Dolavon to Puerto Madryn.

    There would be more to see and write about here if everywhere was open but this was an interesting day out and really does feel like stepping back in time visiting this town. 

    Next blog we explore Dolavon and Rawson before moving to Puerto Madryn and starting the Journey to Buenos Aires.

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa 🇦🇷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇷 – The road to Trelew

    Hola todos. Quick blog post for this one, after I left Trevelin it was basically 2 travel days getting across to Trelew and the main Chubut valley cities that would be the first and main Welsh settlement.

    When I left Trevelin it was a 10 hour detour to a place further south called Comodoro, I spent one night there, it was okay but other than that pretty unremarkable, the next day it was a 5 hour bus ride up to Trelew. 

    Trelew is probably the largest city here and as such it is not like some of the towns nearby like Gaiman or Dolavon, Trelew looks more like a typical Argentinian city and has lost much of its Welsh roots however there are still things here from the colony days, mainly the old train station that has now been turned into a museum.

    Trelew is bit the oldest Welsh settlement here having been founded in 1885, the oldest would be Puerto Madryn where the first settlers landed in 1865, that said it’s development was very much influenced by the original 150 settlers being eventually turned into a central railway hub inside the Chubut valley. It’s name Lewis Town (Tre-Lew) comes from Lewis Jones who was one of the leaders in the original settlers.

    Another interesting point of Trelew is much like Trevelin the area around here was harsh and the early years the colonists struggled and their survival depended on cooperative and possibly sometimes shaky relationship with the local Tehuelche peoples – a native people where not much is known of them but they are seperate to the Mapuche tribes found further north. The main gathering of these tribes was around Nearby Gaiman, which is the most famous Welsh settler town here, this we will cover on the next one.

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfla – Nant y Fall

    Bore da once again everyone from Trevelin 🇦🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇷

    So after checking out town and learning the history the next 2 days I spent here were not the most exciting. As you could probably imagine getting round in this part of the world isn’t that easy. Firstly I had to take a trip into Esquel to work out my logistics for getting across to the East Coast of Patagonia. I was able to get a bus for Sunday so that was that sorted and back to Trevelin.

    I had looked into doing some tours but as it was out of season nobody was working in the offices there though they still had a Whatsapp number so I asked them if the tour I wanted to do waa running they said yes but minimum 2 people and if I wanted to do it I would have to pay for 2 people which would be north of £100 so didn’t bother with that. What I did do however was find the local taxi rank as see about getting out on a trip to these little waterfalls called Nant y Fall and it would basically cost £40 to go out there, have him wait for an hour then take me back. I ended up doing this as didn’t want to leave here without seeing some of the scenery around here.

    It’s about a 30 minute drive here each way though most of the road is dirt and gravel track once your out of Trevelin. Once you get to the place you cross the bridge and pay a £5 entrance fee as a foreign gringo. The driver once we got out walked around with me and showed me round there. We chatted for a while and he was a pretty sound bloke. Eduardo was his name if I recall.

    The waterfalls show once again how unspoiled this corner of the world is and is quite a sight to behold. The hour here soon goes by and I’m back to town. It is now around 5pm which is the time for a traditional Welsh Afternoon tea so that’s exactly what I did. Went to one of the traditional cafes here and ordered my traditional afternoon tea ☕ quite nice it was though sending it to some folks back home apparently it’s quite off compared to an afternoon tea in Wales but there you go.

    After tea I was just in time out to catch the dragon breathing fire like…….

    All in all was a good time in Trevelin. The next installment will take us east to the main Welsh settlements of Trelew, Gaiman, Dolavon, Rawson and Puerto Madryn.

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfla – Trevelin and it’s history

    Bore da todos!  Apologies for the long delay but have been moving very fast since I left Patagonia as such the blog is running about a week and a half behind realtime. I will be trying to get us up to speed over the next few days. 

    Today we explore the town of the mill and see just what wonders this lost place holds!

    So to begin Trevelin is quite a small place being a small town that is centered mostly around the circular plaza in the northern part and the bit where I stayed. There are places around it though it is not easy to go without your own car, however I did get out to some waterfalls. I’ll cover this one in a different post. 

    Anyways to explore Trevelin the first stop was the Welsh History museum here and my gaff happened to be literally across the road from it. Going inside we learn all about the history of the Welsh Settlement and colony this place was.

    Trevelin was the end result of a joint Welsh-Argentine expedition in 1885 to build a colony in the “Valley of October 16” near the Andes which resulted in this little town being established and as the name implies several mills were built here to provide grain to the other welsh settlement on the eastern side of Patagonia and to further afield in Argentina. 

    It was a harsh existence setting up a colony out here this far south from the larger cities and coastlines of Argentina and in fact the colony did almost fail and would have failed if one of the local mapuche tribes didn’t help them when a particularly harsh winter meant they had little food on them.

    Once the colony got properly established it thrived throughout the early 1900’s for a while as a mill town exporting grain back to Trelew in the East and further afield in Argentina. 

    Trevelin would later decline in the 1930s as railroad expansion further north meant that other mills closer to Buenos Aires could sell their grain cheaper and get them to the cities way quicker and Trevelin was not able to compete with this. Eventually the mills stopped running in the early 1950’s. 

    Today Trevelin is a testament to the Welsh Pioneers who traversed the vast steppe to set up this place and to the hard work and ingenuity that went into establishing this place. Though very little Welsh is spoken here today people I talked to are proud of their past and there still is a school that teaches Welsh here.

    While small it is quite a fascinating and almost surreal place this little Wales in the Andes.

  • Arrival in Yr Wladfa 🇦🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇷

    Bore da todos! At last I can finally say it. Bore Da from the Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa! From Trevelin “Tre-Felin” Trevelin, known in Welsh as the Town of The Mill or El Pueblo del molino en español.

    Now you would think that arriving to what was the end goal of this journey that has taken over 8 months to reach from Mexico City would be a sense of achievement and accomplishment and it would be a victorious stroll on in to the final prize right? ¿Right??

    WRONG!!!

    As you should probably know by now how things plan out on paper tend to go differently when it’s put into practice and this dear reader was one of those days! 

    So after my last trip in Bariloche to the 7 Lakes I stayed one more day for a bit of a rest before pushing on down here and during this rest day I booked the 0800 bus as this would get me down there with enough daylight for a proper look round and maybe could even go for traditional afternoon tea after we get settled in? Well that was the plan and on paper it sounded good.

    Fast forward to the next morning. I wake up wondering what time it is as I don’t remember the alarm going off. Check the phone it says 0835 🤦‍♂️🙈 FAACK!! for whatever reason either my alarm never went off or I slept through it or did I somehow knock it off? We’ll never know! Oh well no time to dwell on that now how do we fix this clown 🤡 start to the day? Well I check the bus timetables and there is another one to Esquel today but I have to wait until 14:00 for it.  Shit though it’s going to be a long wait around for this one! I message my host at this gaff and tell him I missed my bus and about the new one, he’s cool about it and says I can stay there till 13:00 to sort myself out so at least we can wait around here and not in the bus station outside the city.

    Finally go time rolls around and the bus shows up in good order. We’re on board and rolling but now our ETA is around 19:30 instead of circa 1400. This is a slight problem as I need to get a connecting bus at either 20:00 or 21:00 so just have to sit and see how it goes. 

    The ride down is pretty pleasant actually seeing the lakes in the evening sun then it soon gets dark around 18:30. I look on the map and it’s going well. It’s  Looking like we’re going to arrive in Esquel about 18:45 nearly 45 mins ahead of time then all of a sudden we are pulled to the side of the road and stopped in the middle of nowhere. Looking up I can see the blue lights of a police stop.

    So I get my passport out thinking someones coming up do a check but nobody comes up though can hear the hold door being cracked open downstairs and can vaguely in the dark make out that they have taken everyone’s luggage off the bus and got the dog there doing the sniff test round them all. The dog doesn’t go crazy and 15 minutes later all the bags are back on the bus but we are still kept in place.

    About 1.5 hours go by and we’re left sitting here with no explanation whatsoever until someone near me basically says they are looking for some drug dealer passing through this way but still not letting us go. After nearly another half hour drive goes out and has a word and now they let us move. We arrive in Esquel and I am in luck as the Jacobsen bus – the colectivo to Trevelin is pulling in as well. It is 20:50 driver of the colectivo goes on his break and will be back for 21:00. Happy days.

    Drive of the Colectivo comes back and I’m first on board but you need to pay by debit card or a Sube card. I don’t have a Sube card and my Monzo card keeps getting rejected by the tapper. I’m lucky the guy is reasonable and says I can get on, we’ll sort it at Trevelin.

    We get to Trevelin and my card works first try there. Great I get off and am greeted by the Dragon above the tourist centre in the main plaza of the town. I had made it! At last I had made it! I soon find my gaff and get checked in and manage to find a cool bar nearby to get a light bite and a few well earned ales down me after that. Have to love when a bad travel day all works itself out in the end.

    Next installment we will explore the town of the mill properly! Croeso i Yr Wladfa 🇦🇷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇦🇷 por fin!!!!