1-20 November 2013. Three weeks of adventuring in Patagonia, that vast empty land that is the southern part of the South American continent. It is mainly endless plains bare of vegetation broken by breath-taking vistas of the Andes Mountains.
Patagon is the Spanish word for big clumsy feet. There’s a similar Greek word meaning roaring, or gnashing of teeth. The original inhabitants of this land were apparently very tall (hence big feet), and ate raw meat (hence gnashing of teeth). Maybe they also roared. There was also a 1512 book with a savage character called Patagon. Either way Magellan named the people of this land Patagóns, and the land Patagonia – for big feet, or roaring and gnashing, or after the character in the book, or all three. Take your pick. Europeans arrived in greater numbers the 1880’s and it took them less than fifty years to render the indigenous people extinct, mainly through diseases but sometimes by actually hunting them down.
The endless plains are now mostly covered in great estancias, like Australia’s sheep and cattle stations, or the cattle ranches of Texas. Half of Argentina’s fifteen million sheep are in Patagonia.
Lest you think of Patagonia as this:
or this:
know that what is mainly seen through the bus window is this:
and this.
Mile after mile after mile, hour after hour. I loved it. If you watch carefully, in amongst the sheep you get to see llamas and rheas (like emus or ostriches) and, if there is water, pink flamingoes.
And occasionally a gaucho chasing after a lone cow.
If you don’t mind the isolation, and have a fondness for sheep farming this would be the place to live – on the plains of Patagonia beneath Mount Fitz Roy.
Closer to the mountains everything changes. There are lakes and rivers,
spring flowers, and birds,
^^Don’s photo
^^also Don’s photo
the ubiquitous black-faced ibis,
and the equally ubiquitous, and always paired, Upland goose.
And orchids! Who knew? Not me. I always think of orchids as tropical flowers.
It’s cold in Patagonia, even in the spring. Even in the summer. In Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world, on the banks of the Beagle channel, the average summer daytime high is ten degrees (about 52F). A little further north, in El Chalten, someone left the lawn sprinkler on overnight and it cascaded and froze all over this little tree.
In the mountains the glaciers flow down from one of the largest ice fields in the world, shedding great chunks of ice into the lakes
and way down south in the Beagle Channel, and on the island of Tierra Del Fuego, there are seals and penguins and wild wild weather.
This is just an overview. Ice trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier, trekking in Los Glaciares National Park, the glorious Torres Del Paine, Magellan penguins, Gentoo penguins, and, best of all, King penguins, and the shrieking shack, all to come.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted.
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2015.
Ever wonder why it is that the Europeans had the diseases the Americans’ bodies had never seen, but not vice versa? What if all the Europeans had died of some big-foot and mouth disease, or all been gnashed up or something, and never made it home? Looks beautiful! Michael
LikeLike
I have wondered about that. It was the same in Australia too – many Aborigines died from European diseases, and I think most places the European colonists invaded. Still, there’s a few tropical deceases (< isn't that a great typo! Had to leave it in.) that can get you.
Love the "big-foot and mouth disease" 🙂
I think if none had returned a few years later another intrepid group would have set out to "conquer the new world". I think it took several expeditions (with explorers not returning) for the British settlers to find a way across the rugged Blue Mountains in Australia, and through the desert there. People just keep trying.
Patagonia very beautiful, and very wild, and the climate is harsh.
LikeLike
I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that the deadliest disease to invade the Americas was small pox, for which Europeans had some degree of immunity but the natives did not. Without small pox, the colonization would have been a lot more difficult and prolonged and perhaps would have ended up in a truce like the Mauri and Brits in New Zealand. Small pox had the “advantage” of spreading very easily and rapidly (unlike syphilis) and with a very high mortality to the unimmunized.
LikeLike
I do remember reading of the European settlers handing smallpox infested blankets to the Indians. Heinous. Too bad – something like the Maori/Brit truce would probably have produced a much different new world.
LikeLike
Great photos & descriptions! Are there many tourists and amenities? Thank you!
LikeLike
Thanks Dave, glad you enjoyed it. There are certainly very good amenities there. It’s a vast empty land dotted here and there with small towns close to the major attractions (like places to trek in the mountains, glaciers, etc.) and each town is well developed for tourists. We were there in spring. There were quite a lot of tourists but it never felt overwhelming. In Dec-Feb it gets busier.
LikeLike
Wow! Fabulous photography of this wonderful place. Certainly looking forward to your updates.
LikeLike
Thanks Angeline. Yes it’s a wonderful place, a really special and unique place. I’m so glad we got the chance to go there.
LikeLike
Terrific photos, as usual. Didn’t Columbus bring back syphilis from the Caribbean? And the Europeans died like flies from yellow fever and malaria, to which they had no immunity. It wasn’t all one way!
LikeLike
Thanks Liz. And thanks for your knowledge of history. Mine is abysmal!
Now that you mention it I realize there’s some horrific diseases in Africa, for instance, that weren’t introduced by Europeans, so yes, of course it wasn’t all one way.
LikeLike
Wow. Wow wow wow. The photos give me the chills. How large and lonesome. I’m so terrified for Patagonia that civilization one day would invade and destroy it.
LikeLike
Thanks Jun. Yes, isn’t it an amazing place?! I don’t think we need to worry about civilization invading it – it’s so huge and the climate is harsh and most of it is kind of desert-like. It takes a special kind of person to live there, like living in the Yukon or Alaska.
LikeLike
Beautifully done Alison and Don. A great adventure indeed. The mountains call out to me and my wandering ways. –Curt
LikeLike
Thanks Curt, and more to come on the fantabulous Patagonia. You should go there 🙂 you would love it.
LikeLike
Sigh…
LikeLike
Thank you for the lovely photographic tour of this land.
LikeLike
Thank you so much. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It is a really extraordinary place and we feel very lucky to have been able to go there.
LikeLike
Your photos and post brought back memories of our trip there in Nov 2011. Of all the places we visited it left the most lasting impression. Looks like you and Don had a wonderful trip. Love your header photo of the flamingos. Happy Travels. Maureen
LikeLike
Thanks Maureen, we had a fabulous time. Re the header photo – we were in a minivan going to see king penguins and I saw them quite close to the road so I started shouting at the driver to stop lol. So glad he did.
LikeLike
Hi Alison: Recently found your blog via Nomadic Matt’s site. Love it. Great adventure you two are on. I have read through some but not every post (at least not yet) or all the comments but I am interested in knowing what camera(s) and lenses you are traveling with. I saw in other posts that your using apple computers for staying in touch and I assume your photo editing etc.. Happy Trails…John
LikeLike
Hi John, nice to meet you, and thanks for following. I hope you’re enjoying the stories of our great adventure.
I have a bridge camera – a Panasonic Lumix FZ150. It has a built in 24x optical zoom. I’d love to upgrade to a full DSLR, and probably will soon. I’ve always resisted that because of the weight factor – always trying to keep everything to the minimum as we’re travelling all the time.
I won’t buy a Panasonic again. For one thing the electronics in the zoom lens started to have problems within the first year but we couldn’t do anything about it as we were in SE Asia. The after sales service in Canada is – send it to Ontario and we’ll get it back to you in 5 or 6 weeks. Don took his Nikon into a repair place in Vancouver and had it cleaned and repaired in a few days.
My sister, a photographer, is recommending a Fuji – I think it’s one of the new mirror less cameras. I’ll be doing a little research over the next few months.
I love Photoshop though have a very limited knowledge of it, and yes I do all my photo editing on the laptop.
Cheers
Alison
LikeLike
Forgot to say – I had a look around your site too – fabulous photos. Your wedding photography obviously is excellent, but I really loved your travel photos – made me want to go back to Africa, and glad we’re headed for Galapagos.
LikeLike
Alison – Thanks for the info and the kind comments about my site at http://www.bayshorephotography.com . I have 3 DSLRs and many lenses but am about to pick up one of the new Fuji mirrorless cameras too. Reason being.. great reviews, and significantly lighter than any DSLRs… they seem like a perfect match for traveling photographers. You will LOVE the Galapagos!
LikeLike
i really enjoyed your tour – and i also have to say, wow! the flamingos – beautiful, well every photograph actually. the poor frozen tree. 😦 but to have an opportunity to live at the foot of Mount Fitz Roy with all that open space and livestock – a blessing for sure. thanks!
LikeLike
Thanks Sun. Aren’t those flamingos something?! So beautiful. And many more to come I understand in northern Chile and Bolivia. The whole of Patagonia – wild weather, wide open spaces and breathtaking scenery.
LikeLike
This was the most amazing post. If I were free to go I would hop on a plane this second and go there. AMAZING! beautiful photos u two!
LikeLike
Thanks Kimberly. Oh it was all so beautiful. I hope someday you do get to hop on a plane and go there.
LikeLike
Hi Alison,
I read this post in absolute fascination! As always, your photos are superb. My son is down there as we speak, about to leave Gaimon, a Welsh-speaking village in Argentina, where he had high tea and the air was decidedly British. Today he begins the 20 hour bus ride to Patagonia and his ultimate destination, Ushaia. He is meeting a couple of friends down there to go hiking, and now I can imagine what he will be seeing. Thanks so much for sharing a stellar series of photos and history.
LikeLike
Thanks Naomi. I certainly never knew about Gaimon, but I did know the Welsh have been in this part of the world as Torres del Paine (maybe your son will be going there) is a wonderful mix of Spanish and Welsh, paine being the Welsh word for blue. I’m sure he’ll have a fabulous time – we did some hiking in the mountains – just beautiful. Ah yes – the endless hours on buses. The land is huge, and it’s the only way to get around here. We’re planning a trip from Santiago to the north of Chile – one day on a bus, 2 days rest, one day on a bus, 2 days rest etc.
LikeLike
Safe journey, Alison, and a happy Thanksgiving.
LikeLike
Thanks, and same to you 🙂
LikeLike
Aww I missed my time in Argentina. Everyone was so warm-hearted. Anyway, enjoy your trip.
LikeLike
Yes, Argentina’s great. We’re loving it here. And I agree, the people are very welcoming and warm.
LikeLike
What an amazing place! Love the pic. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Kev, yes it is an amazing place. Glad you enjoyed it.
LikeLike
Alison,
Those are beautiful picture, you could make a book out of this collection of pictures…
LikeLike
Thanks so much Nin. We’re thinking of a book that’s mainly photos with short stories of our inner journey, and the outer journey, in between.
LikeLike
wow! those blues are gorgeous… such a beautiful place.
LikeLike
Yes, a very beautiful place. We had an amazing time there.
LikeLike