Trevelin y Esquel

I left the Parque Nacional los Alerces on a cloudy day and cycled 35km to Trevelin, the grey sky certainly helped me feeling a bit sad as I was slowly realizing that my cycling days were coming to an end.

Trevelin means "mill town" in Welsh, and it is here that in the 19th century Welsh settlers moved from the Atlantic coast, with the help of the Argentinian government in an attempt to populate the then deserted Chubut region to stop Chile from expanding their territory.

I arrived at the very homely Casa Verde hostel and was greeted by the owners who offered me a very nice and warm plate of ravioli, what more could I ask on a Sunday at lunchtime?

I spent the next two days relaxing in the hostel, getting to know some lovely travellers from Argentina and other parts of the world. I visited the local museum where pictures, objects, furniture, clothing and machinery tell the stories of the Welsh immigrants who founded this town and of their descendants.

An old map of the Argentinian side Patagonia from the beginning of the twentieth century was hanging from a wall, it showed this vast territory divided into hundreds of sections, each one of them baring the name of the family who owned the land (Welsh names like Evans, but also many German, English, Italian and Dutch surnames).

In the hostel I met Nico, from Cordoba and his girlfriend Maria, from Mar del Plata and together we visited the Nant y Fall waterfalls on a very sunny day, we went back a bit disappointed....perhaps we should go back in spring one day, when the amount of water coming down would certainly increase the "wow" factor.

I also met Jordy, a cyclist from Spain and together we cycled 25km to my last destination, when I arrived in Esquel my computer reached 3,400 km, it was the end of my great cycling adventure !!!!

Esquel people have been fighting for years to prevent a gold mine being set up nearby, fearing for the contamination of their soil and water and the creation of the "no a la mina" movement has been an inspiring example for other villages around the country who have fought against the economical power of mining companies.

We stayed in a dormitory in a camping near the centre, there I bumped into Claudia, my friend from the Parque Nacional los Alerces and together with Santiago, another spanish traveller we all went to see a theatre performance on the Dia de la Memoria, the Argentinian Remembrance day remembering the victims (desaparecidos) of the military dictatorship which seized power with a coup on the 24th March 1976.

After saying goodbye to Claudia once again, I went to visit the main attraction in Esquel: La Trochita, the Old Patagonian Express, the steam train made famous by the travel book by North American writer Paul Theroux.
The excursion left Esquel station and after a 45 minutes ride back in time through the countryside and mountains we arrived at Nahuel Pan, a Mapuche community whose main income comes from the sale of artisans' products to tourists.

On the last day in Esquel I packed my bycicle and sent it to Buenos Aires together with my tent and one of my bags....after 3,400 km and 4 months spent riding, it was time to separate from my travel companion !!!!!