Visiting the Welsh Museum

At 5pm, we both returned to the museum. We had a fascinating visit. The young guy in charge was clearly passionate about his subject. Despite having no Welsh heritage himself, when he was offered the job at the museum, he enrolled on a Welsh language course at Aberystwyth University and then travelled around Wales absorbing the culture and practising his Welsh. He is now fluent in Welsh and is learning English to be better able to communicate with the tourists who visit.

The arrival of Welsh settlers in Patagonia was beneficial to both the Welsh nationalists who were looking for a 'vacant' territory to develop their culture away from English oppression, and to the Argentine government which was happy to give them land to help assert its sovereignty in the region in the face of threats from Chile via the Straits of Magellan and the UK through the Falklands.

The Welsh pioneers set sail from Liverpool on May 28th 1865 and arrived in Puerto Madryn two months later. Apart from a terrible storm as they left Eng and another one as they arrived in Argentina, they had a smooth voyage.

Unlike previous settlement attempts that had failed, this one succeeded because the immigrants came in family groups and they quickly established good relations with the native Tehuelche people.

It was a fascinating visit. I definitely want to do some further reading.

Back at the campsite, we stopped to chat to Denise and Susan. Susan was waiting for a taxi to the airport. She was not relishing the prospect of two more long driving days, so she has decided to fly to BA tonight!

When those who had done the trip to the Valdes Peninsula returned, they had all enjoyed it, but it had been a long day (450-kilometre drive) and they hadn't seen many different animals. I think we made the right decision not to go.

Later, we had a barbecue for dinner - steak, chicken, sausages, vegetarian alternatives, green salad, potato salad, and roasted pumpkin. It was all delicious. We definitely eat better with fewer people on the truck!Read more