Spring is in the air in Patagonia and daffodils are beginning to bloom, a visual reminder to the community of their Welsh roots, a legacy of the 153-strong contingent of intrepid settlers who landed on the east coast of southern Argentina in 1865.
It is the time of year, too, when backpackers and tourist numbers start to rise, travelling the several hundred miles south of Buenos Aires to soak up the cultural legacy of those first migrants among the small communities stretching from Puerto Madryn in the east to the foothills of the Andes, 400 miles west.
They potter around the smattering of Welsh tearooms and chapels around Gaiman, and head out of Trelew and Puerto Madryn where the settlers came ashore, to seek penguins and watch whales. At lunchtime on Saturday , many will instead be invited to watch Wales play Argentina in the Rugby World Cup.
In Trelew, the doors of Asociación San David will be thrown open to hundreds of people with a cinema screen; welcoming families from around the area to watch the quarter-final between the two sides. Across the country, in Trevelin, they are putting together a big event at Ysgol y Cwm, one of three Welsh-Spanish bilingual schools in the region, to watch the game. The students have built a giant Welsh dragon to add atmosphere and members of the community have prepared Welsh cakes and teisen ddu, the traditional Welsh black cake, which will be washed down with tea rather than beer.
Clare Vaughan, the coordinator of the British Council’s welsh language project in the region, who is based in Trevelin, says: “When the Welsh team came to play Argentina in a Test in 2006 in Puerto Madryn, we travelled the 600km to watch; people had made scarfs that were half red and green, half light blue, the crowd was full of dragons’ heads and flags and I’m hoping there will be little bit of that on display.
“It’s a marvellous opportunity for the community to come together, and you could say they are going to be happy whatever the result, because one of Argentina or Wales is going to win … although I guess you could also say they might be sad, because one of them is going to lose!”
Vaughan arrived in Patagonia 18 years ago from Abermorddu, between Wrexham and Mold, as part of the project established in 1997 by the British Council to help combat the decline of the Welsh language that occurred during the 20th century.
“I was a jack of all trades, teaching from ages three to 83, from nursery kids to old ladies who learned Welsh from their families and came for conversation,” she says. “While they could speak the language, they had never had the opportunity to learn how to write it, or to understand the grammar.
“The difference in learning Welsh here is that in Wales it is seen as something useful, maybe to help you get a job, but here it’s more emotional, about connecting with your roots.”
After meeting her Argentinian husband, Victor, Vaughan stayed in Patagonia and became the coordinator for the welsh language project which has grown and adapted: there are now more than 6,000 Welsh speakers across the region.
One of the places the work has been particularly evident is at the annual youth Eisteddfod, one of many offshoots of the festival and competition to celebrate Welsh culture, held in Gaiman in the lower Chubut Valley.
Vaughan, who was invited to judge some of the competitors at this year’s youth Eisteddfod in September says: “In the Welsh recitation classes there were 35-40 entries in each class, reciting their poems perfectly in the language. When I arrived in 2005, you were wondering who was going to be taking part in the years to come, but now look what has been achieved, it’s incredible.”
In two weeks’ time on Rugby World Cup final weekend, it will be time for Patagonia’s main Chubut Eisteddfod in Trelew, where adults, including Vaughan, will compete alongside hundreds from across the province and 100 visitors from Wales.
There are other competitive battles to be won first. When it comes to kick-off on Saturday, there will still be some boundaries between the Welsh- and Spanish-speaking communities.
“I’m watching it with friends,” says Vaughan. “But not my [Argentinian] husband … that would be too painful.”
Tomos Luque from Esquel, who plays rugby for the local team, says: “I play rugby in Patagonia and I am Argentinian, but my mother’s family migrated from Wales to Patagonia in the 1870s and we are still very proud of our Welsh heritage.
“But when it comes to Saturday, we think the Pumas of Argentina will savage the Dragon of Wales and we will cheer the Pumas in Welsh. If the Welsh were playing the English, of course, it would be different!”
Additional reporting by Jeremy Wood from Welsh Patagonia
