Road to Patagonia

In October 2018, Nomadic Road's Road to Patagonia expedition took a group of overlanders 1,750 kilometres across Chile and Argentina over eight days. The route ran mostly on tarmac, threading through the southern reaches of South America at the start of the southern hemisphere spring. Patagonia is one of the most photographed and one of the least understood regions in the world, and the October 2018 edition gave the group a fast but deliberate crossing of its most iconic landscapes. October in Patagonia means changeable weather. The wind, which is the region's defining climatic feature, was constant and occasionally brutal. Days swung between full sun and snow flurries, sometimes within the same hour. The route worked through the Lake District on the Chilean side, crossed into Argentina, and pushed south toward the granite spires that define the Patagonian image: jagged, vertical, and somehow bigger in person than in any photograph. Driving days were long but the tarmac kept them flowing. Several scenic stops became extended halts: a glacial lake here, a viewpoint over a wind-stripped pampa there, the occasional wildlife encounter with guanacos, condors or rheas. The convoy stayed in a mix of small hotels and lodges, with evening meals built around lamb, Patagonian wines and the kind of conversations that come after a full day of big landscapes. The October 2018 Road to Patagonia expedition delivered the southern cone of South America at scale. Less off-road than other Nomadic Road expeditions, but every bit as visually intense, it remains one of the more romantic routes in the catalogue.