Following Bruce Chatwin’s adventures, I am hoping to visit parts of Patagonia in Argentina where some Welsh is spoken next week (and hope to have my first conversation in Welsh there too!)
Getting half-way through level 2 means I have just learnt the Welsh words for tea and coffee just in time, as I believe that Welsh tea houses are quite a big thing around there!
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Enjoy yourself! :-). I’m sure your trip will be really interesting! x
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If you visit Gaiman, I can recommend Plas Y Coed tea house run by Ana Chiabrando Rees who learnt Welsh as an adult - although from a Patagonian Welsh family, like many she wasn’t taught Welsh as a child (she also runs the Plas Y Coed guesthouse next door if you shoul dneed accommodation)
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Excellent - I will definitely keep a look out for Plas Y Coed!
What a lovely opportunity - high up on my bucket list - hope you have a fantastic time… 
Many thanks for the thought - after I get back, I’ll say if I have any tips or advice for others who might consider going there too!
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Well I wish I could now recount tales of Welsh-speaking joy and tea house extravaganzas …
… but unfortunately after a very long time in Buenos Aires airport, the only thing I have to report is that I didn’t even manage to set foot in the region …
Now I will be spending some time filling in forms to try and get a refund on tickets for the flights which the airline cancelled.
I am still hoping … maybe one day I will get there!
Oh what a shame! I do hope you get your money back. Did you arrange everything yourself, or was it with a travel company? One to avoid if that was the case!
What a miserable experience! Good luck with getting that refund!
Ditto. We had 2 bad experiences with the airlines in Argentina and Patagonia last October. We were stuck on the southernmost tip of the continent because of a pilots’ strike, so spent about 18-20 hours on a bus which circumvented the Welsh Colony—rather disappointing 
A week later we were stuck in Buenos Aires airport so long we missed our connections back to Vancouver—but we were compensated for the latter without any fuss. I hope you have similar luck with compensation anyway.
Sounds like quite an unfortunate experience there - still, at least it’s nice to know I’m not the only one!
I think strikes in Argentina are quite the norm unfortunately.
What also doesn’t help matters is having 2 different airports in Buenos Aires (broadly speaking) for international and domestic flights and having to travel between the two - even using the shuttle service it took (no exaggeration) hours to get between the two!
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I’m starting to think that if I ever get round the the “Patagonia” stage of my Bucket List I should hire a car, rather than depending on unreliable air services or buses that do not go where you want them to.
But I will have to do SSiS first as my old School Spanish is far too rusty and never really hit the SSi mark for street usability in the first place.
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Yes, that is probably a very good idea!
Thanks for the message - unfortunately the worst of both worlds! Booked with a travel company, but the airline was 100% responsible - they say contact the travel company as it was booked through them not the airline, but the travel company says they will only forward requests to the airline!
My message to anyone is: try booking directly with airlines if you are just booking flights!
Sorry to hear things turned out so disappointingly. My experience was a much more positive one, I’m glad to say (although admittedly rather expensive 
) - I booked a tour with Teithiau Tango of Aberystwyth, Patagonia being one of their specialities. We had a guide with a minibus which made a big difference, I think, e.g. there was a strike and demo by lorry drivers and gridlock in central Buenos Aires (as happen from time to time), but the guide rearranged things to avoid this. The flights - Buenos Aires-Esquel & Trelew-Buenos Aires - were fine and more or less on time.
Another positive was that all but two of the others were Welsh speakers, along with our guide in Patagonia, so lots of practice! Plus arrangements had been made for meals to meet up with Welsh communities in Trevelin, Esquel, Gaiman, Pto Madryn, a chapel tea in Dolavon as well as visits to Ysgol Y Cwm in Trevelin, Coleg Camwy in Gaiman and Ysgol Yr Hendre in Trelew, so quite an immersive experience and well worth it if you can manage it at all
Really sorry to hear that @Welshhead. I have friends that travelled with Teithio Tango and their experience was similar to that of @johnwilliams_6
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Excellent - I’ll look into Teithiau Tango and hope to make it there some time in the future! Many thanks for mentioning them
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For anyone interested in the Welsh community in Patagonia, there’s a link in this article to a facinating video by the ebullient Simon Wilson of his wanderings around Gaiman in Chubut in a search of Welsh speakers: https://nation.cymru/culture/watch-travellers-astonishment-on-welsh-pilgrimage-to-patagonia/