Patagonia

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Our long road south from Buenos Aires took us through some of the most beautiful scenery of Argentina. We visited the lake district an area of outstanding natural beauty and also peninsula Valdes an unspoiled nature reserve, home to sea elephants, penguins and the magnificent Southern Right Whales which we saw up close on a magical afternoon on the sea off Puerto Piramides.

Our jurney then took us back west towards the mountains once again and the awesome glacier of Perito Moreno. It slides down from the Argentinian/Chilean icefields until it reaches Lago Argentino at only 180 metres above sea level. Rising to 40 metres above the lake it is one of the most impressive natural wonders we have seen. So we just had to sign up for a trek on its icy slopes, finished with a surprise glass of whiskey with optional 400 year old ice hacked from the glacier itself. A nice touch from our guides on the ice.

We passed through the long flat landscape of Patagonia and having crossed the straits of Magellan we arrived at "the end of the world" in Ushuaia. It is in a breathtaking location sandwiched between the Beagle Channel and the mountains which when we were there were impressively snowcapped. We left in a snowstorm and 2 C and arrived back in Buenos Aires (this time by plane) to 30 C. Quite a contrast!

As we headed north once again by bus we left Argentina by way of the Iguazu falls another natural phenonmenon which left us speechless and as you will see from the photo, very wet.

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