The spectacle of the snow-capped
Cordillera de los Andes rising from the plain calls to mind
the forming of the earth. The giant rift that split the surface
in volcanic eruption was encased in ice millions of years later.
That period of glaciation and the living process of glacial
formation are visible throughout the Patagonian Andes, most
prominently at Parque Nacional Los
Glaciares.
While most of the earth's glaciers have been in regression
since the end of the Ice Age, there are a few that continue
to advance due to the peculiarities of their location and the
surrounding climatic and atmospheric conditions.
Patagonia is an area where these
conditions exist within the same region as volcanoes to the
north at Parque Nacional Lanín
--truly a land of fire and ice. Left behind, in the lower reaches
of the mountains are the deep glacial lakes and streams of
Bariloche's lake district and, to the south,
Parque Nacional Los Alerces where
some of the oldest living trees on earth stand.
These mountains and forests create a habitat for creatures
unlike anywhere else. Patagonia's two native deer, the
elusive pudú, the world's tiniest deer, inhabits the thick
cane forests and the huemul lives
above the treeline. Everywhere the land and waters are alive with
bird life both common and uncommon, from the magnificent
Andean condor, the largest land bird
in existence to the southernmost parakeets and hummingbirds.