The land of Patagonia
The following sums up the gist of many conversations we have had with travelers in southern South America.
“You are of course going to Patagonia right?” – other person
“Of course.” – one of us
“It’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in the world!” – other person
“Supposed to be.” – one of us
Pause.
Everyone looks around a little.
Continue the pause.
“So do you know where exactly Patagonia is?” – other person
The word sounds so familiar, even if you’re not a huge traveler, most people have heard of Patagonia and have an idea it refers to a geographical location in South America. Less known is what and where exactly Patagonia is. More than once we were in a small group of travelers sitting around and would confide to each other prior to coming to this region, many of us weren’t really sure where ‘it’ was. Of course we knew of Patagonia, that it was beautiful and we were going to it, but where exactly was this elusive place? Was it a region, a town, a district, a range of mountains or a clothing goods store?
Patagonia is still a mysterious place, embodying a harshness caused by mountains, yet embracing the mimicking slowness of their glaciers. Shared by both Chile and Argentina, the region encompasses the southern section of the Andes mountains down through Tierra del Fuego. The region is immense and all the lakes, mountains, towns, rivers, people, flora and fauna create a geographic area unlike no other on earth. Some of the towns could hold me in their charm for years on end, while others have lost some of their special magic and I could pass through in a day.
For those wishing to step into another world and embrace the sense of this place, there is a dirt road somewhere in Patagonia for you. Hopefully there will always be a dirt road with a person riding down the middle on their horse – down the middle because there is not a worry of a dozen cars to come speeding by. Here are just a few snippets from our first introduction to Patagonia, mostly from the town of Futaleufu.
And of course a good cerveza doesn’t hurt also.
Entertainment takes on a different pace, and although I don’t necessarily love the use of animals in this context, there was something that seemed so innocent about a bunch of young kids chasing around a baby pig in this giant mud pit while all the adults laughed and cheered.
When so much of life is directed by their extreme weather patterns, people seemed to carry on their daily living with such a straight forward manner.
We loved the coziness of our hostal with the old wood stove that always kept burning.
We saw beautiful horses all over the valley feeding off lush growing grass.
Yet, I think no matter where we’ve ever been around the world, mechanic shops…
…always seem to be the same.
No matter, I don’t think one can argue the scenery was not spectacular.
I just loved all the people who would ride by us, almost always with their working sheep or cattle dog.
But eventually we had to leave our cozy hostal with these two dogs I named Yellow Dog and Lil Scruff. Yellow Dog and I had become good mates, but Lil Scruff ran around and did whatever he wanted.
We caught a bus to the end of the road where it would continue north. We were able to get a ride south to the town of La Junta, where we were told there were more bus options.
La Junta did not prove to be any bigger or offer any better bus options, so we did what every other back packer did: try to hitch. Hitch hiking in Patagonia is completely the norm.
We had our food ready, corn frittas, a recipe we still use from New Zealand.
The competition was high for hitching to get space in the few cars that went by. After hours of seeing completely full cars pass us, we left the roadside about 5:30 pm and about a dozen other backpackers were still trying to hitch. We resolved to take a bus the next morning at 5 am.
With so few buses, they fill up fast.
Previous Post
Next Post
Well, now I know where Patagonia is and it is just gorgeous! I can think of a lot worse places to be “stuck” in.
One could pass a whole life time in Patagonia! We just loved it and Futaleufu was one of the most relaxing places we went.
Nice! You got lemonade out of the lemons received. Futaleufu looks like a beautiful spot to take advantage of what fate has dealt you. Nice website.
Oh Futaleufu is so pretty. If one ever wants just a quiet place to re-energize, this is it.
I loved this comment best and plan to record it in my journel because its a moto to live by, ” Traveling is largely about rolling with the punches and never being sure what’s around the next bend. Sometimes a traveler may find a special gem or other times a town of crumbling buildings. Knowing how to embrace the unexpected is the lesson travel repeatedly helps to instill in the traveler.” and we could use this bit of wisdom with our journey through this life, the punches come and we have to learn how to roll with them and come out smiling and a better person for it.Loved this post and it was nice to see a picture of you in it, I love seeing Chris but come on Chris take some pictures of your beautiful wife once in a while!! LOL!:)
Glad the quote resonated so well. Occasionally we forget to handle the ‘punches’ and we’ll be somewhere feeling dismayed over some random event in our traveling journey, but when traveling, as in life, the only thing to do is figure stuff out and move forward. Sometimes I feel like the unfortunate things that happen can at times seem like ‘sink or swim’ and when your on the road, sinking is not an option.
Beautiful views of a beautiful area around a quaint little town. You must have loved it there.
This was one of our favorite, cutest little towns. We just loved Aldofo’s B&B as the chimney for the stove went right through our room. Chris and I sat in our cozy beds with wifi while the rain pounded the windows, and the owner was so nice. It was just charming.
This has always been one of my all time favorite areas. tnx for bringing it all back for me.
Oh you are more than welcome! We have plenty more photos and post to come! 🙂
More pictures of horses!! Looks beautiful and a photo can never do justice.
Heck yeah more pictures of horses. We have seen such beautiful, well cared for horses here. Because they are so critical to everyday life, they look so healthy and often all four hooves are shod.
HEY! YOU”RE LATE! WHERE ARE YOU?
Coming, coming. Thanks for asking! Got held up in heavy rains throwing the city of Buenos Aires into disarray, then what was supposed to be an easy 13 hour bus ride turned into a 23 hour bus ride (very, very bad accident on the road, closed the road down both ways for hours), then losing internet, the list goes on, but post are coming. 🙂