CALETA OLIVIA , a coastal town of 40,000 inhabitants, makes an inauspicious introduction to the province of Santa Cruz. Never the most beautiful of towns, the place is made less attractive still by the sense of depression that's settled on it since the oil boom bottomed out in the 1990s, causing high levels of unemployment. It's all a far cry from the heady days of 1969, when the locals proudly raised El Gorosito , the thirteen-metre-high stucco statue of an oil worker that still dominates the town.

If you do find yourself having to overnight here, try not to get too confused by the mix-up of old and new street names. The Granada at San José Obrero 953 (tel 0297/485-1512; $30-45) is the best of a poor lot in terms of less expensive lodgings, and is situated only two blocks from El Gorosito. More upmarket, but nothing special, is the three-star Robert (tel 0297/485-1452, fax 485-2924; $60-80), right near El Gorosito, with two grades of rooms. The municipal campsite , a stony site on the Avenida Costanera by the beach, deems it prudent to offer 24-hour security, but is run by an amicable bunch.