The Empty South

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Like most self respecting backpackers, I planned as little of my trip to this continent as I possibly could before embarking. Accordingly, The large southern extent of the continent was given a correspondingly large portion of my estimated time - a decision which I am certianly not regretting, having seen the likes of Pucón, Los Alerces, Bariloche etc.

Something that I am finding a little unsettling is, as it turns out, the suitable destinations on the 'peninsula' are actually relatively small in number, given the extent of the area. This is something I couldn't quite comprehend until I got on a 24 hour bus between Esquel and El Calafate which, due to paved road restrictions, took me all the way to the East coast before cutting back towards the West for the Andes again.

As you will have hopefully read, Esquel is situated next to Los Alerces national park, a combination of lakes, trees, and mountains that was quite thoroughly enjoyable. However, within a couple of hours on the bus, the scenery had changed to a barren, flat scrubland. This is all a result of the way the continent is formed.

I cannot claim to be a geologist, but in layman's terms, two plates pushing against each other produced the Andes mountain range partly as a result of the upper plate being crumpled under the pressure. Beyond the crumple zone, the crust is left reasonably undisturbed - the flat area of Argentina. So far South, the smaller amount of advancing land produces a less overbearing mountian range, and on the East side, an even lesser disturbed plateau of land.

Also in the deep south, there is an incredibly small amount of land to combat the swirling westerly winds screaming round the planet. This air picks up water and drops it either in the Southern end of South America or the South Island of New Zealand. Because of the considerable mountain range of the Andes, almost all of this water falls on the Western (Chilean) side and in the mountains, leaving considerably less to quench the plains of Southern Argentina.

And so, the entire 24 hour journey was spent amongst this featureless, almost treeless, and, in some places, unimaginably flat landscape, a stark contrast to the Andes I have spent almost the entirety of the last two months. Acres and acres of land would flow by, much resembling the barren moors of Scotland (for any Brits reading) albeit on a massively increased scale.

The pictures you can see are of the lesser flat sections. As it happened, during the tour of the flattest areas, I happened to not be bothered to get out my camera and the punishment is your inability to experience the landscape like I did. Sorry.

Fortune occasionally favours the lazy, and the approach to El Calafate turned out to be on the clearest day the area had experienced for the last month. So yes, from a distance, the fabulous snow capped peaks of the Andes were looming into view. There were cases of a previously unheard phenomena - hills! And, before I knew it, I was back in the familiar territory of the mountains again. This is why I came here, I remembered telling myself.

So... On the small number of locations in the span of Argentinian Patagonia - I completely understand. Unless you really lke scrub, or, if you're lucky, sheep.

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