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 (3rd edition, University of Nebraska Press, 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 and the Pinkertons got on their scent. After the 1999 death of its elderly occupant Aladín Sepúlveda, the unoccupied and crumbling cabin became a target for souvenir hunters, but the municipality has undertaken some salvage repairs and set up a booth where, in theory, they collect a small admission charge.

Near the northeastern entrance of Parque Nacional Los Alerces, 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.

Beyond the entrance, a westbound lateral leads to the Casa de Piedra (tel. 02945/498056, US$47 d), a hybrid bed-and-breakfast/teahouse that’s open from December through Semana Santa. It makes an ideal detour even for day-trippers.