Lewis Town
"From Whales to Wales"
Trelew was our next stop after Puerto Madryn, and straight away we noticed how less touristy a place it was in comparison to Madryn. For every 10 backpackers in Madryn, there was about 1 in Trelew. Trelew has no hostels and few cheap hotels, though with the help of a friendly girl in Tourist Information, we managed to find a double room for 50 pesos a night!
Our main reason for visiting Trelew was to see Punta Tomba, a penguin colony home to thousands of Magellanic penguins. However, the weather put paid to that as our planned excursion was cancelled and, as we had already booked onward travel to El Bolson, we couldn't rescheduble.
We had also hoped to see Gaiman, a traditional Welsh town, but the conditions were so bad that we only stayed there a couple of hours. I guess in Patagonia you are always at the mercy of the weather.
Nevertheless, we had a couple of enjoyable days in Trelew, which, despite its Welsh heritage is a refreshingly untouristy town. The town was founded in 1886 as a railway junction and was named after Lewis Jones, one of the first Welsh settlers.


Trelew Museum
Ranger's Station/Entrance to Park
Facade of Trelew Regional Museum
St David's Hall
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