Patagonia's enduring Welsh legacy

Gaiman, a town of some 8,000 people, is the main Welsh settlement in the lower Chubut valley. Many of its shops and businesses, like this bread shop, have Welsh names.

This guest house in Gaiman advertises its owners' Welsh roots. 'Ffarm Fach' means 'Little Farm'.

The Welsh settlers left their mark on the local cuisine. This sign in Gaiman advertises 'Torta Galesa', a dark Welsh fruit cake available throughout Argentina.

Tourists flock to Gaiman's famous Welsh tea houses, which are a major local attraction. This one, Ty Nain, ('Grandmother's House') is advertising teas 'with taste and tradition'.

The Welsh are determined to pass their language on to future generations. These bilingual signs are advertising Gaiman's thriving Welsh nursery classes.

The name 'Gaiman', 'rocky point', comes from the indigenous Tehuelche people with whom the Welsh lived peaceably. Welsh placenames are common too: this restaurant's name is 'Cornel Wini'.

Trelew, 18km from Gaiman, is the main regional town. It has a population of more than 90,000. This is the Welsh society's community centre, Asociacion San David.

This statue in Trelew shows Lewis Jones, one of the founders of the Welsh colony, and the man from whom the town takes its name.

Pupils and staff at Ysgol yr Hendre, Trelew's recently-established Welsh-medium school.

Welsh pioneers reached the Andes and founded the community of Trevelin, 'Town of the Mill'. This mill, Melin Nant Fach, in Cwm Hyfryd ('Beautiful Valley') is a reconstruction by local man Mervyn Evans.

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