Tea and Beer Cans

After we'd had our fill of watching sea lion placentas being ripped apart by gulls, we continued south to explore towns in the Chubut province of Patagonia. In 1865, 153 emigrants from Wales sailed their ship the Mimosa (we are both particularly fond of this name) to Puerto Madryn, where they proceeded to establish a small community and, eventually, radiate outwards to the surrounding towns of Trelew, Gaiman, Rawson, and Dolavon.

From our base in Trelew, we hopped a commuter bus to Gaiman to see just what this clash of cultures looks like. We were not disappointed—-the town of roughly 5,000 inhabitants is relentlessly charming. Dusty and windswept, with wide streets and scrubby vegetation, the place could almost be some Western frontier town if not for the rose bushes, neatly manicured lawns, and tea houses scattered through the village center.

We visited two sites that pretty aptly illustrate the weird and wonderful cultural disconnect. El Desafio is a 5-acre living museum—-an outdoor, outsider art sculpture garden built from thousands of pieces of refuse. The place was built by an octogenarian named Joaquin Alonso, called "The Dali of Gaiman" by our guidebooks, but actually a mild-mannered man who shook each of our hands and complained about the heat. We walked through what felt like miles and miles of rusted beer can flower patches and polka dotted cars until Alonso's daughter corralled us into a gift shop of sorts, where she proceeded to talk to us about everything from Tehuelche art to her recent vacation to Egypt.

An hour later we were sipping tea and stuffing our faces with cake at Ty Nain, a tea house in the village center. Rusted Winchester rifles, antique cannons, and yellowing newspaper clippings covered the walls, and because we had the place to ourselves, we spent awhile surveying the collection. The piece-de-resistance was definitely the pair of 19th century porcelain poodles on the mantle—-artifacts that survived their voyage on the Mimosa. When Emily reached out to pet one, I gasped in horror, certain that we were going to be responsible for causing 150 years of Welsh-Argentine history to smash into a million pieces on the floor. Fortunately, she was very careful and we finished our tea and left without incident. –NSH