Gaiman is known for its traditional Welsh tea houses *-picture by willposh
Positivity and enthusiasm typically emanate from the screen when visitors come to World Travel for Couples. When I really love a place, it tends to show in my writing. But what about the flip side? What about when you head to a new place and it just flat out sucks? That’s what happened on a day trip to Gaiman, a little Welsh village not far outside Trelew in the northern part of Argentine Patagonia.
Why we visited Gaiman
*-pic by willposh
In my opinion, traveling as a couple is better than traveling solo 99% of the time. This experience was part of that 1%. There’s obviously a lot of give and take when traveling as a couple, whether that couple is a married one, dating, friends, partners, or family members. No two people are perfectly compatible, so compromise is a must when traveling together.
The wife read about Gaiman in our guidebook and decided that a day trip to a small little village in Argentina known for its Welsh heritage and traditional tea houses would be a good idea. When reading and hearing about it, I was less than enthusiastic, but she was super excited about it, so I played along. We had a day to kill in Trelew anyway (where there isn’t much to do) since our overnight bus trip to Bariloche wasn’t leaving until nighttime.
The Itinerary
The plan was to drink some tea and eat some sweets *-picture by aokettun
Gaiman was only about a 30 minute bus ride from Trelew, where we were staying for a few days as a base to explore Punta Tombo penguin colony. It was a Saturday, so we assumed it would be a good day to go. The plan was to walk around and explore the town, usually a favorite activity of ours when visiting a new place. Gaiman was known for their traditional Welsh tea houses, serving tea and a myriad of cakes and sweets, so the plan was to arrive before lunch, explore a bit, then find a tea house or two to chill and eat and drink at. While I wasn’t fired up about it, walking around and eating sweets and drinking tea didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world.
The Arrival
The bus was pretty empty as we headed out of Trelew towards Gaiman. Seeing the excited look on my wife’s face was good enough for me to get excited as well. We exited the bus upon arrival and headed to the nearby information center. Though curiously empty, the people there were quite helpful as they gave us a map that marked some chapels and tea houses. We had our map handy, and we were off.
Where is everybody?
It was a weekend day, and though it was early, we were confused by the completely empty streets. It was practically deserted. So we wandered further, thinking maybe we were a bit early. We came to the first tea house on our map. Opening at 2pm. “Hmmm,” we thought as we glanced at our watches (it was about 11:30), “guess we’ll check out some more.” Opening at 4pm. Opening at 2pm.
We thought it odd that none were actually open for lunch, but that was okay. We could grab a bit somewhere else and just have dessert later. We continued to walk. No one was around. There was a nice little park in the middle of town. No one. It was completely empty, devoid of both tourists and locals. We were baffled. I began to get annoyed, but for one of the first times in my life, I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything. We continued to walk.
The Chapels
Chapels and churches are always a great thing to see in South America. We saw some beautiful churches with tons of history, and the people at the information center pointed out several. We figured we’d kill some time seeing those until a tea house or two opened. Another fail. We expected to see some really old structures with a lot of character that were unique to the other chapels and churches we had seen thus far in our time on the continent. We hoped to view the Welsh culture evident in the buildings. Instead we found a few brick chapels that looked as though they could have been built within the last few years. Nothing special at all.
The Realization
Again, I somehow, miraculously, managed to say nothing. I knew Megan was excited to see this little town, and I really didn’t want to ruin her fun. Finally, she turned to me and exclaimed, “This place kinda sucks.”
Words had never sounded so sweet to me as I laughed quite hard and said, “Thank God you feel the same way!” She knew I had been biting my tongue, and I was relieved to finally be able to make fun of this ridiculous place. We found a little market and grabbed a quick bite to eat and decided we’d go to a tea house, have some tea, eat some cake, and make the best of the rest of the afternoon.
Another Fail
It just wasn't our day in Gaiman *-pic by styro
We walked and laughed at the absurdity of this weird little place. We came upon a tea house that would be opening soon and checked out a menu on the front door. The prices were high. Really high. While we didn’t expect them to be giving away tea and sweets, we also didn’t plan on blowing up our budget for some snacks. So we went to another one. Same thing. “Are you kidding me?” we both said to each other, laughing and giggling at yet another negative. This just didn’t seem to be our day.
At least there’s wine
We knew Argentine wine wouldn't let us down. *-pic by Manny Hernandez
Thank God we were still in Argentina. Everything we had planned on doing that day blew up in our face, but we rolled with it, trying to make the best of a bad situation. We made fun of this odd little place as we continued to walk and figure out our next move. We had a few more hours before the next bus showed up to go back to Trelew, and at that time we stumbled upon a little bar and restaurant that was actually open.
So instead of taking part in a new cultural event of tea and cakes, we decided to embrace the Argentine culture that we already knew we loved so much. A bottle of red wine would do just fine as we waited for the next bus.
Not all travels are great. Not all activities create memories that last a lifetime. Sometimes, visiting a new place just sucks. And while maybe we just went on the wrong day or the wrong time, but our trip to Gaiman will always remembered for what it was, an epic fail of a day. We had plenty other days like this on our trip. Not every day can be a great one, and we didn’t always handle days like this with such humor. But rolling with the punches and making the best of a bad situation made this particular day memorable for another reason-because it sucked so bad.
Now, whenever either of us mention the name Gaiman, we both chuckle and laugh at this funny little town and the day we spent there.
