The Welsh-founded settlement in Argentine Patagonia known for its tea houses is Gaiman.
Gaiman lies in the lower valley of the Chubut River in Argentina’s Chubut Province, about 15 kilometres west of Trelew. It is a cultural centre of Y Wladfa Gymreig, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. Welsh immigrants began establishing communities in the Chubut Valley in the nineteenth century, preserving language, chapels, music and food traditions.
Gaiman’s tea houses are especially famous for serving an elaborate Welsh-style afternoon tea. Visitors may find tea accompanied by cakes, pastries, bread and torta negra galesa, the dense Welsh black cake associated with Patagonia. Several establishments also display family heirlooms and Welsh-language decorations.
Rawson is the provincial capital, Puerto Madryn is a coastal city known for marine wildlife, and Trelew is the nearby commercial and transport centre. All are connected to Welsh Patagonian history, which makes them plausible distractors, but Gaiman is the town most strongly associated with the surviving tea-house tradition.