Magic and Majesty

The immensity of scale and the sense of isolation can be overwhelming, but the landscapes are truly breathtaking. Mountains and valleys, rivers and plains stretching out seemingly indefinitely reveal themselves through breaks in the cloud, behind violent rain squalls or sometimes just framed by nothing more than shockingly blue skies. There is a real sense of magic and majesty that emanates from every rock and blade of grass here.

Estancias and gauchos provide the most visible human element to Patagonia, immigrants from Europe having mixed with indigenous peoples to try and eke out a living from the land. These (often European-looking) farms dot the landscape and are like islands amongst the immensity of open land. Even during the boom years of farming, life here was hard but the rewards could be said to compensate. The estancias are larger now, conservation and tourism having become important, but the sight of abandoned buildings is not uncommon.

The days of early European exploration and the written accounts of Magellan through to Darwin saw the mapping and our understanding of the land we call Patagonia grow as never before or after. That said, it is the easiest of things to be on a hike, just minutes away from the luxury of a lodge, and imagine yourself pioneering a path through unexplored land.