Your Guide to Wild Argentina and Chile!

Glaciers, peaks, whales and Wales: travel through Argentina and Chile to experience South America's most epic adventure.

- Chris Moss

Flight-hopping isn’t the way to really see a region. This is especially so when considering one as vast as Patagonia – shared by Chile and Argentina, striding over the Andes and touching two oceans. With this in mind, myself and a friend hitched our way down Argentina’s Ruta 3, from the southern edge of Buenos Aires province to the Magellan Strait, in search of a more intimate look.

And we saw plenty. The 3,045-kilometre highway runs parallel to the Atlantic coast. We dropped in on the Welsh Patagonians to see where their ancestors first landed in 1865, explored Punta Tombo and its massive penguin colony, marvelled at the cormorants and porpoises at Puerto Deseado, and visited San Julián, where Magellan met his ‘giants’.

He named them ‘Patagones’, thus baptising this region with its mythic name.Drake landed there, too, and hanged a mutinous crewmember. Cheerier British connections were found in the topography (Brunswick Peninsula, Bridges Island) and names of estancias (Harberton, Ponsonby). There were links to France, Yugoslavia, Nazi Germany, Australia and Italy. It’s no wonder Patagonia’s rich history inspired Bruce Chatwin to write his famous travelogue.

We ended our epic ride on the back of a lorry (well, four lorries) at the Los Glaciares national park, camping beside the emerald-hued waters of Lago Argentino. After traversing mile upon mile of arid steppe and wind-blasted hinterland, the Perito Moreno glacier was the photogenic frozen finale. But, for me, the trip was its own reward. As naturalist WH Hudson advised: if you’re feeling infirm, down or desperate, “Try Patagonia!” It might just cure you.

ARGENTINA’S WILD COAST

DURATION: 10 DAYS