9 THINGS TO SEE, DO AND EAT IN SOUTHERN PATAGONIA

Hello and welcome to my first post of the new decade! Patagonia is a hidden gem for globetrotters. Spanning the nether regions of both Argentina and Chile, a visit to the area is a great way to knock two countries off the bucket list and see some really awe-inspiring natural phenomena! And also eat. Heavily. The caterers of this region seemed so determined to smuggle their delicious wares out of the country via foreigners’ inflated fat cells I almost wondered if they’d slipped something in the food, and a border detention would await anyone who attempted to fly back to their home country without first taking the time to properly metabolise it all. In truth, though, Patagonia is very different to what is to be found further north. The food, the landscape, the climate and the brand of tourist that frequents the geographical endpoint are all different to the more accessible areas of Argentina and Chile – come here for peace, quiet and the great outdoors. Ready for a lot of superlatives? Here are my top 9 things not to miss in southern Patagonia!

Hike up to Mount Fitzroy from El Chaltén

This hike took us about 8 hours in total, and it had gorgeous views the entire way. It was mostly pretty flat, with the last kilometre being a serious ascent. There’s a minibus you can book to take you from your hotel to the starting point, and then you end close enough to the town to just walk back. Mount Fitzroy (the highest point on the spiky mountains in the photo at the top of this page) is one of the most recognisable features of the massive country that is Argentina, it’s brilliant being able to say I’ve been to the place on the front of my guidebook (and seen the mountains on the Patagonia brand logo up close, haha)!

Eat alfajor choc ices

Absolute must. I haven’t seen these anywhere else in Argentina, so make sure to stuff them in while you’re in Patagonia – not that that’ll be a hardship. An alfajor is two buiscuits stuck together with either dulce de leche or jam, sometimes dipped in chocolate. If that wasn’t enough, their respective choc ices consist of chocolate ice cream and dulce de leche ice cream, with a centre of dulce de leche, dipped in chocolate. Honestly, I don’t know why no one’s importing them yet, I bet they’d go for a lot in Waitrose.

Go horse riding in the mountains

Once your feet are too blistered and/or your thighs are protesting too much to hike any more, delegate all the effort to an equine friend to continue exploring the landscape. Obviously this isn’t exclusive to the area, but it was a great way to see it! With a trusty steed who knows the land and a dashing if slightly bad-tempered gaucho to guide you, you can admire the scenery fully, your enjoyment unmarred by being hot, sweaty, short of breath and unsure of the way, as we frequently found ourselves when hiking.

See the incredible glaciers

Absolutely nothing I’ve ever seen compares to the ice field glaciers in Patagonia. Hunks of ice higher than skyscrapers, several times the area of some of the world’s biggest cities, and in some places, hundreds and hundreds of years old – there’s actually something quite sinister about their frozen, unfeeling vastness, though at the same time the deep blue colour and spiky patterns are beautiful. They’re so big it’s difficult to really get a sense of perspective – looking down from the viewing point they didn’t look too big, until I saw a boat next to the face, which I knew was big enough to hold lots of tourists, but looked dinky next to the ice. When bits broke off into the water, they made a sound louder than any thunder I’ve ever heard, took an age to fall, and made a seemingly disproportionate splash – which then made sense considering they were falling about 100 metres, and each chunk was at least the size of an average family car. Seeing these glaciers gave me a similar feeling to looking off the edge of a precipice – you want to feel them, hike on them, explore them, but at the same time keep well clear. There are companies offering ice walking expeditions if your base desire to touch the ice overrides your evolutionary dread of falling down a crevasse and subsequently being crushed to death. No fear.

Visit Cape Horn and walk on the southernmost land before Antarctica

Views-wise, Cape Horn is not much different from a lot of Tierra del Fuego. Or Cornwall, for that matter. But emotionally it’s unique. Just across that bit of ocean is the South Pole! Standing on Cape Horn made the world feel very small to me. The 500 miles to Livingston Island, the closest part of Antarctica, paled into insignificance verses the distance we’d travelled across Argentina alone to reach Patagonia – almost 3000km between Buenos Aires and El Calafate, and that’s not even the entire length of the country (Iguazú for example is much further north!). My mother disagreed, saying she felt the vastness of the globe in that moment, but either way, it’s a pretty special place to contemplate the world and your part in it. It’s not called el fin del mundo, the end of the world, for nothing.

Try rich Patagonian stews

After a long day out hiking, there’s nothing quite like a dish of lentil or bean stew to refuel, and the ones we ate in El Chaltén hit the spot beautifully. Argentinians are famously proud of their ways with meat, and I have to hand it to them that they try not to waste any, so all the delicious offcuts go into these stews and make them flavourful.

Watch for (and seek out) wildlife

Patagonia is a total goldmine of wildlife, and you don’t have to have a pair of binoculars that you spent slightly too much money on or the ability to stay unnervingly still to appreciate it. If there’s one word that’ll sell you on this area, it’s PENGUINS. We met a British couple who seemed to have travelled from the UK pretty much exclusively to see these little birds, and fair play, because they’re adorable. Grown men made the 😍 face on seeing them. We also admired the fluid dynamics of condors, played with the dolphins that swam around the speedboat we were in and were honked at by a seal. Seeing these animals in a zoo (or as taxidermy) cannot compare to seeing them just existing in their natural habitats – it’s like the difference between listening to a poorly pirated song on your computer and seeing the artist perform it live.

Cleanse your soul at an estancia

We spent two blissful nights at Estancia Cristina, only accessible by boat. These ranches are ideal for a total spiritual detox – it’s completely quiet at night, there’s little to no wifi, very few guests, and someone else is doing all the organising and worrying. They arrange outdoor activities like horse riding, hikes, and trips to see glaciers, waterfalls, and areas rich in fossils. I also can’t understate that the food was just, lush. These places are ideal if you’re a bibliophile like me – without a strong wifi connection or anywhere to go in the evenings, you can spend many hours engrossed in a book, which is something I don’t think enough adults give themselves permission to do on a regular basis. I returned to the city holding the time we spent out in our little pocket of luxury in the middle of the wilderness as a talisman in my mind for the busy and stressful times.

Eat king crab

The rich and unpolluted waters of Patagonia encourage a huge submarine ecosystem, at the throne of which sit king crabs. Due to both the difficulty of catching them in the rough waters and fast winds off Patagonia and the need to keep them alive in transit, in London, these go for about £100! Restaurants in Ushuaia will clamour to sell them to you in a variety of dishes – I tried a king crab soup, which was divine.

So… tempted?!