From Puerto Madryn, it´s an hour through the desert to the small city of Trelew, then another half hour to the town of Gaiman. It´s got Welsh origins and still is home to many casas de té. The day before, in Puerto Madryn, I go to a second hand clothing shop and, luck of the Welsh, find a pink and blue floral dress that´s so perfect for taking tea.
On the bus ride there, I´m reminded of the opening part of Paul Bowles´ travel novel The Sheltering Sky, called Tea in the Sahara. It´s been a few years since I´ve read it, but I remember one of the main characters telling a story about two stuffy British types traveling through Africa who are determined to have their afternoon tea in the desert. I think they die in the course of it and later they find their skeletons in the desert amongst all their proper, British tea paraphanalia (if anyone has the book on hand, please confirm, my memory ain´t what it used to be). I completely ignore the moral of the story and plan to spend the afternoon drinking British tea and mange-ing on a huge pile of cakes in Argentine Patagonia.
I´ve been warned by other travelers that Gaiman is boring and that there´s nothing to do, but I quite like it. It´s a really small town with not much in the way of tourist attractions (which I like). There´s a small town square that is lush and green despite being in the middle of a desert. I´ve got a few hours until the tea houses open, so I wander down the dusty back roads and stumble upon the first house in Gaiman, built by a Welsh settler. I go inside and look at the cool antique furniture and pictures.
Later, I find a random stairway up a hill that gives a good view of town. I continue to walk around the quiet, residential streets. It´s hot and dusty, so I´m grateful when I get to the tree lined banks of a green river. I sit there for a couple of hours and read In Patagonia, really enjoying the peace and quiet. Some town kids are swimming in the river, racing each other to the other bank. They speak to me in Spanish, but I just shrug my shoulders and say "No entiendo." They giggle and splash off.
Afternoon rolls around and I pop into the tea house. I´m the only one there, so I get a nice seat facing the back garden which is full of cats and kittens. A pot of black British tea and huge plate of cakes and sandwiches are put in front of me. Mmmmm.
I spend a couple of hours there, drinking, eating, reading, going outside and playing with the cats. After a while, some other people come in for tea and are speaking Welsh to the owner. It´s a totally crazy sounding language and I like just sitting there and listening. How strange to be in Argentina, having afternoon tea and listening to Welsh!
I leave the teahouse and get the bus back to Trelew. I have a few hours before I get on the next bus north to Neuquén. I walk around and find Trelew to be a pretty nice town. It´s bigger than Gaiman, but still pretty small and laid back. I make a visit to their dinosaur museum, a preview of what´s to come in Neuquén.
