El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina: Flying into El Calafate kind of looks like you are landing on the moon. The landscape has very dramatic mountains but is completely brown and desert-like.

Driving into the “city” the landscape changes drastically. It’s still not green, but there is vegetation closer to the lake, including Calafate plants, naturally.

A place dedicated to outdoor sports – the sky is the limit.

My first day I went zip-lining. The course of five lines was set up at Estancia Alice over a gully between two hills. The first run was truly terrifying, but about half way through I realized that I was not going to plunge to my death and I started to relax. By the third run I even tried to flip over and ride across upside down.

In the valley between the hills were some very cranky cows and an eagle circled us overhead. Off in the distance I could see the peaks of Torres del Paine.

In the afternoon I went to another estancia, Estancia 25 del Mayo, to see some of the plants and animals indigenous to Patagonia. The local flora includes Calafate plants with their bittersweet berries and a particularly nasty looking cactus that has been nicknamed colchón de suegra (“mother-in-law’s mattress”).

In addition to cows, sheep and horses the farm also had rheas and wild guanacos, the species of llama unique to Patagonia. There were three condors circling over head and bones picked clean showed evidence of pumas.

The farm served dinner: lamb stew (they take their lamb seriously in Patagonia) and Patagonian Malbec.

Every area has its own microclimate and the weather and vegetation can change dramatically within a matter of kilometers. It’s stunningly beautiful and unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been.