Río Mayo

Set in beautifully bleak landscape, by the meandering Río Mayo, there's little of tourist interest in this very rural little town, and you're most likely to find yourself here to change for buses or pick up fuel. But every November, it is the site for an extraordinary display of dexterity at the

(national sheep-shearing competition). Teams of five or six

, who travel around Patagonia from farm to farm in shearing season, compete to shear as many sheep as possible. A good shearer might get through 20 in an hour.