Cholila

Though it’s barely a wide spot in the road, Cholila has become an offbeat pilgrimage site ever since U.S. author Anne Meadows pinpointed the house of yanqui outlaws Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Longabaugh in her historical travelogue Digging Up Butch and Sundance (Lincoln, NE: Bison Books, 2003). Bruce Chatwin also told of the Cholila cabin—perhaps taking literary license—in his classic In Patagonia.

Butch and Sundance presumably tried to go straight here, but fled to Chile in 1905 when accused of a robbery in Río Gallegos [1] and the Pinkertons got on their scent. After the 1999 death of its elderly occupant Aladín Sepúlveda, souvenir hunters targeted the unoccupied and crumbling cabin, but the municipality has restored the buildings—in fact, they look livable enough that you almost expect to see cardboard cutouts of Paul Newman and Robert Redford—but there are no exhibits within. In theory, a caretaker collects a small admission charge.

Near Parque Nacional Los Alerces [2]’s northeastern entrance, a few kilometers north of Cholila at Km 21 of RP 71 near the signed junction to the Casa de Piedra teahouse, the cabin is visible on the west side of the highway;Transportes Esquel buses between Puelo and Esquel via Los Alerces pass within sight of it.

Beyond the entrance, a westbound lateral leads to the Casa de Piedra (tel. 02945/49-8056, US$53 d), a hybrid B&B/teahouse that’s open from December through Semana Santa. It makes an ideal detour even for day-trippers.