Nico el Patagónico

Hey! This is it, you can now call me El Patagónico (the Patagonian in English). Indeed, with a certain emotion, I arrived in Patagonia. San Carlos de Bariloche (or simply Bariloche) is my first step in the Argentinian Patagonia. Emotion and pride also, I admit, to succeed in reaching the Great South from Alaska safely, in time and (almost ...) in the budget. Finally I am there! And that's what moves me from the start: to discover Patagonia was the original idea around which I then built my Pan-American route.

Patagonia, what is it? where is it? For me, this is a wild land to explore. For geographers, this is the most southern region of the world, except Antarctica. For politicians, it is five Argentinian provinces and five Chilean regions. For some of you, it's only a clothing line. And for nature lovers, these are mountains, glaciers, lakes, trees, condors, penguins and southern summer sun that still shines enough to warm us ... but for how much longer?

I will spend a month and a half going down the 3,000 km (2,000 mi) that separate me yet from Ushuaia, crisscrossing the Argentine-Chilean border from time to time. My first step, accompanied by Aïssata and Jack (two very good friends from France), made me stop in Bariloche on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. And here I fell in love almost instantaneous. I certainly rank the lake among the most beautiful ones in the world. I'll let you discover in the photos.

On-site program: a lot of hiking in the mountains, on the shores of the lake, on a day or for several days, and generally under the sun. Also my first rafting experience (you'll see in the gallery of portraits to the Photos page). Very good restaurants with beef to die for. And good Argentine wine, unsurprisingly never bad. All this bodes well for the rest of my stay in the region!