Gastre

Gastre is the seat of the department of the same name in northern Chubut, on the Patagonian plateau 980 metres above sea level. It has 612 residents (2022 census). It takes its name from the nearby Gastre stream and plain. It lives mainly off extensive sheep farming.

Climate

Winter temperatures reach −25 °C and snowfalls pile up to about 30 cm. Rain is scarce. Because of the soil and climate, only olive trees have been able to grow in the town square.

History

The area was settled from 1904 around a service centre for rural families: school, church, magistrate, hospital and police station. A police radio-telegraph station opened in 1913. In the 1980s and 1990s the National Atomic Energy Commission studied building a nuclear waste repository nearby, which sparked environmental protests across Chubut. Until 2015 local authorities were appointed by the province; that year residents voted for the first time.

Distances: Northern Chubut · 980 m above sea level