El Chalten near Lago Viedma, in Parque Nationale Los Glaciares, 14th - 17th  January

We drove for two days across part of Patagonia and it is flat, arid and windy all the time. And the scenery is interesting but rather repetitive.

 Sometimes times the roads were tarmac...

 but there were miles and miles of gravel road.

 The area is arid but there are rivers that flow out from the mountains which form lakes in the lower lying areas.

 We saw lots of vicunas...something like a llama but I never got a good photo of one as they are well camouflaged and I only saw them some distance from the road. They are timid and tend to move away before you can get close.

But we did see other wildlife such as this mother rhea leading her chicks across the road. There is little traffic on the road but this particular bird must have waited for some traffic before deciding to cross.

 As we approached the mountains, the weather turned bad. It was hot and dry on the plain but cold and wet in the mountains.

 The weather changed constantly and in El Chalten it might be a nice day...

 with hills rising around the outskirts of the small town...

 but it was still cloudy and raining further into he mountains.

 The trek into the mountains was easy but the rain and wind was coming straight into your face and every one coming from that direction were wearing their raingear.

 But this is what the glacier should look like on a clear day.