For the most part Patagonia is barren and windswept, more than you can possibly imagine. Along interminably long gravel-surfaced roads you might occasionally spot a cluster of poplar trees in the very far distance. These act as a windbreak for the main ranch house which is usually at the end of another long dusty track. Some of these estancias – immense sheep farms – are totally isolated and very much in interior Argentina.

Patagonia has lured some colourful characters in the past such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Che Guevara and it has inspired writers like Bruce Chatwin and Richard Llewellyn. The province of Chubut in northern Patagonia is where the first welsh settlers landed at Puerto Madryn settling there and farther inland at Gaiman, Trelew and Dolavon.

Aside from those following their Welsh ancestry the major attraction here is Peninsula Valdes, a spearhead of land jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s abundant in marine life and serves as the breeding ground for the magnificent Southern Right Whale which comes here to mate and calve in the Golfo Nuevo.

To the far west of Santa Cruz province are the marvellous fairytale peaks of the Fitz Roy massif and the advancing Perito Moreno Glacier, just one of many, in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, 30 per cent of which is covered by the Southern Ice Cap. Here, the small modern town of El Calafate’s burgeoning tourist industry hosts an ever-increasing number of visitors each year.