Patagonia is the portion of South America in Argentina and Chile made up of the Andes mountains to the west and south and plateaus and low plains to the east.

It is for the most part a region of vast steppe-like plains, rising in a succession of abrupt terraces about 100 meters (330 feet) at a time, and covered with an enormous bed of shingle almost bare of vegetation.[1] In the hollows of the plains are ponds or lakes of brackish and fresh water. Towards the Andes the shingle gives place to porphyry, granite, and basalt lavas, animal life becomes more abundant and vegetation more luxuriant, acquiring the characteristics of the flora of the western coast, and consisting principally of southern beech and conifers. The high rainfall against the western Andes and the low sea surface temperatures offshore give rise to cold and humid air masses, contributing to the ice-fields and glaciers, the largest ice-fields in the Southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica.

About a month ago I was watching Discovery Channel HD (regular Discovery Channel is for suckers!) and caught a show about a trip through the Chilean part of Patagonia. I knew about the Tierra Del Fuego geology down south, but was not familiar with the landscape of the Patagonia region. It is a really cool looking place carved up over millions of years by glaciers and the ocean.

After seeing it on TV I talked about it with my mom who told me more about it, and also said that my grandfather had always talked about going there someday. Cut to a few weeks later when after a brilliant idea on my part, my mom, sister and I pitched in and got him tickets for a cruise and excursion through Patagonia for his birthday. He just got back last week and was so happy to have finally gone there. Today my cousin forwarded us some pictures from the trip so here's two of them:

Some glaciers

Grandpa