Why Patagonia?

It could have been because of “In Patagonia”, the book written by Bruce Chatwin in the late 70’s.
But I must confess I only read it for the first time a month before leaving to Patagonia.
And no, it was nothing like Chatwin dared to do some 40 years ago.
You know, he worked at The Sunday Times, in London, and he simply quit his job by cabling his boss: “Have gone to Patagonia”.
Yet, when I bought Chatwin’s book, I did it precisely because I had already decided to go to Patagonia.

Well, I’m sure the Beagle certainly played an important part in my decision. Yes, the ship where Charles Darwin embarked in the 1830’s under the invitation of Captain Robert Fitz Roy.
How can you not be seduced by a place having mountains named after Darwin and Fitz Roy, or a channel called Beagle?
And what if there is still a Magellan region with Magellan Penguins and a Strait of Magellan (the Portuguese navigator, yes, the one of the first Circumnavigation expedition)?
Do I need to mention a ‘land of fire’ (Tierra del Fuego) which capital is known as “End of the World”?

I probably should not remind you that, no matter what the cause, at some point in our lives we all feel that leaving to the end of the world seems the only reasonable thing to do.
Like Chatwin, you see? Instead of cabling, an SMS will do: “Have gone to the End of the World.”

(Yet, further arguments will be posted to answer the question.)

Margarida Fonseca Silva

philos team