Croeso y cymru! [= “welcome to Wales”] Did you know that Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins are Welsh? Catherine Zeta Jones, too! And the Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers, where do you guess they come from?
You are right! Wales!
For the last 15 days I have been travelling with Kirsty and Richard. Kirsty is from the same town as C. Zeta-Jones. Rich must have been born in a Welsh brewery. And even though I have been off-roading in Wales only a year from now, I learnt a lot more about that pretty little nation. And, today – for the last day of our travelling together – we are having a typical Welsh tea-time. We have reached Gaiman, a Welsh settlement in the middle of Patagonia!
Since Ushuia we made some 1600km – always with the sun blinding us. Down here in the very South, the sun never rises high in the sky. The temperatures are corresponding. We did not know whether we should be fascinated or bored by the often absolutely flat country-side. No trees, some dry grass, a very strong wind. The Atlantic coast of Patagonia is not too spectacular – nothing compared with the bumpy and adventurous “Ruta 40” in the West of Patagonia.
We always left before the sun rose, drove till it was dark, then spent considerable time in an internet café in order to book flights all over the planet (in my case: Switzerland for a visit to the Chinese Embassy, then Dubai and Singapore in order to pick up the Land-Cruiser), had some lousy dinner and then called it an early night.
Even though the last 3 days have not been that adventurous (except for the fact that on the last 800km all the filling stations were out of Diesel) , it was great to travel with Kirsty and Rich and I am glad to have friends in a Wales, a country where every second person seems to be famous.
A cwtch [= “hug”] from all of us.