Not far from the coast lies a little town called Gaiman. It is the unofficial beating heart of Welsh Patagonia where massive Welsh teas are served and you are forever reminded of the fact that this might not just be Argentina. Here the streets have good strong Spanish names like Aaron, Jenkins, Matthews, Hughes, Jones, Humphries and Daniels!

In the mid 19th century, the "empty" spaces of Patagonia were identified by the newly formed Argentinean government as needing filling (plus newly arrived settlers would make a good buffer against the hostile Indians in the area) and some Welsh were looking to get away from the oppressive English rule. Little did the Welsh settlers know that Patagonia was a little oversold and not quite like the lowlands of Wales at all! The early financiers of the first expeditions were keen to establish a " little bit of Wales beyond Wales". They certainly got their wish.

After a very rough, and near starvation start, the Welsh headed inland, discovered that the Chubut river and its shallow valley was a good place to settle and make a better go of it. Needless to say, the rest is history and the Welsh are responsible for much of the area's prosperity. There are many towns in the province of Chubut that owe their existence to those early Welsh settlers. From the east coast all the way to the Andes. Towns like Rawson (good Spanish name that!), Esquel and Trevelin.

We were not very pleasantly surprised as we headed inland and watched the landscape get drier, more rugged and just that more windswept. Both of us looked at each other and wondered what we were doing in the pursuit of saving a little bit of money (well a lot actually!). At PM, we had two choices. Either we head south and see the fabled south of Patagonia; places like Ushaia, El Chaten and Calefate and the world famous Glacier Perito Moreno, and Chile's Puetro Natales and the Torres Del Pain. Or we head west to the equally famous Argentinean Lake District and keep some semblance of control on our ever diminishing budget!

We were very happy to see the Chubut river and its green lush valley open up in front of us! Banished were the images and thoughts of sand blasted tents in amongst the stony rubble of a rubbish strewn campsite. Maybe a little like the first Welsh settlers when they got to the same spot? Although I can not fathom what it must have been like to leave the land of the fathers, for a place totally beyond ken and know that this was it! Were they just stupid, courageous or desperate? Maybe so were we? Me, stupid definitely! Ing definitely not (Ed: not so sure about that)!

Gaiman is a sweet little town with a river running right through it and a shady riverbank campsite at the volunteer firestation at the end of the main road. Here 20% of the population claim direct Welsh ancestry and there are plenty of other reminders of Wales, but also of little country towns. Here time is not of undue importance; the shops and stores all close for the afternoon siesta, the streets are wide and the old American pick-ups drive slowly without a care in the world and it seems as if the man behind the little till greets everybody in his shop by name. This was a world far removed from BA, and even Puerto Madryn. Maybe this was what all little country farming towns are like?

It seems that most people rush into town for the afternoon tea ritual, feed themselves into almost unconsciousness and then stumble, dazed, into their tour buses and head back to their cruise ship, or hotel somewhere else. Once they wake up again, and their stomachs stop straining from all the different delicious cakes, scones, breads, pies, tarts and biscuits consumed, they say that they have "done" Gaiman and how disappointed they were. They expected to see so much more and Gaiman didn't deliver. But at least they got their tea!

We had the afternoon tea; cakes and tarts galore and a decent cuppa, and stumbled back into the sunlight with stomachs groaning, but we also experienced a little bit of Argentinean Patagonian Wales when we walked the streets and exchanged greetings with locals, bought camping food supplies (a yoghurt pot makes a brilliant beer glass...very classy), watched the sun set while across the sluggish river the dogs barked the night in and the stars alight.

In every little community there are traces of its history worked in somewhere. In Gaiman, it is not just the road names and the familiar Welsh and Argentinean facial features, but also the little Welsh chapel tucked discreetly away behind the weeping willows, the first formal schools in Patagonia proudly pointed out for all to admire and more tea houses to enjoy (although one tea ritual is more than enough!). Here is the town that the late Princess of Wales came and enjoyed what this little town has to offer. How strange it is to see the Welsh flag flying just as proudly next to the Argentina national flag!

Like eating the lotus, it would have been easy to stay and enjoy the afternoon siestas and easy life, but it was the catching of a bus in the nearby town of Trelew that encouraged us to pack bags, fold tents and head away from Wales and into Argentina. Little do people know, but Patagonia was where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (played by much younger, and alive, Paul Newman and Robert Redford!) actually went straight to and tried their hand at farming for a few years. But sadly the money ran out, the life too hard and a bank or two was robbed.

While we waited for our bus to the Lake District in the west, we soaked up the atmosphere in Trelew's famous Touring Hotel bar and watched the locals come and go and have supper and discuss whatever it is that keeps them occupied. But just next to the bar is an original wanted poster for the Sundance Kid. Wanted Dead or Alive! Considered extremely dangerous. What must he have thought when he came across such a poster, I thought. Probably was upset at the price on his head (if movies of these types of guys are to be believed!) and wanted it to be a lot higher! After all, he was The Sundance Kid!

Who said a wide empty place like Patagonia is without any colour or history?