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Recently, some members of this young Patagonian Basque club gathered at an end of year dinner and proposed a new first activity to begin 2017: an outing that includes a walk to the mouth of the Confluencia, a natural luxury, to enjoy its panoramic views.  After lunch, there will be an afternoon of open air Basque games, near the joint of the Neuquen and Limay rivers.  The walk is easy and allows anyone wishing to, to participate.

Neuquen, Argentina.   The new Baskos de la Confluencia Basque Club invites everyone to its first activity in 2017, the last week of January, TBD, which will include a picnic lunch near the joint of the Neuquen and Limay Rivers.  “The plan is to continue to get to know each other and take a hike in the landscapes that surround us and that we love so much, paying tribute to the tradition of mendigoizaleak and acknowledging the attachment and respect Basques have for the environment,” club president Oscar Mendiberri explained to EuskalKultura.com.

“We will be in a shaded area near the water where we will build a fire.  While lunch is being prepared, anyone wishing to can take the hour and a half long hike, through the landscapes and formations on the bank of the Negro River, with geologic formations from the Tertiary Period and dinosaurs and petrified trees; we will appreciate the mountain, the Patagonia Steps and the Galeria Forest, and hopefully we will see some of the species of the typical birds in this area that are not very common in other places.  The tour will begin at the mouth of the Confluencia to enjoy the enviable panoramic views that it provides.  We will be accompanied by a professional guide, and connoisseur of the area.  There we will have group activities and we will return for lunch.  Afterwards we will spend the afternoon with Basque entertainment like Sokatira and Mus,” Mendiberri said.

Anyone interested in participating should email the organizers here: baskosdelaconfluencia@gmail.com.

Also looking towards 2017, members of the Baskos de la Confluencia Basque Club are putting together a program that includes cooking classes, a txalaparta workshop and if all goes as planned the First Basque Film Series in Neuquen and Cipolletti that will begin in March or April.  “These proposals came out at our end of year dinner, where we said goodbye to 2016 and where we went through the gatherings and meetings we did in 2016. They have left us very satisfied”, the club president concluded.