A time and a place... in Patagonia, Chile & Argentina

"An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour." - Albert Einstein Having spent the last ten months constantly planning at least a month in advance we couldn’t help realising, as we got ready to leave Chile, that we would be home in just three weeks’ time. But as Einstein pointed out, time is relative. Three weeks after forty six weeks travelling may be a mere fraction of our trip, but having never been away for more than a fortnight before reminded us we could still see a lot in the "short" time left. So, we packed our bags and got hitch-hiking with nothing but hope to get us to our next destination: Argentina. Just twelve hours later we had made it to the island of Tierra del Fuego, caught a lift to the colony of King Penguins in Onaisin, some 100km from civilisation, and successfully crossed the border into Argentina. It’s amazing how much you can do in a day.

The newly established King Penguin Colony in Onaisin is one of the few ways to see the world's second largest penguin, without travelling to the Antarctica. The following morning we travelled a further 200km to the touristy town of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina. As we took a catamaran to the famous lighthouse, the severe Patagonian wind creating fish-like scales on the surface of the sea, it was hard to ignore the overt irony of being at the “End of World” on the first day of our final month travelling. Despite our very remote location, three weeks suddenly didn’t feel so far away.

"El Faro del Fin del Mundo" or "The Lighthouse at the End of The World", Ushuaia.

But as picture-perfect as Patagonia had been, it was time to fly in search of lazy days and hot tango nights in the melancholic city of Buenos Aires, where Malbec and meaty meals shared with the Porteños in Palermo are just as much a part of the culture as the green plazas and museums dotted around the city.

La Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires.

With just a short week in the capital before heading to Iguazu, we ate, drank and danced our way through town, the sound of violins and bandoneons swirling through the air, each strum of the guitar another moment passing by too soon.

Streets that form part of "El Caminito" in Boca, Buenos Aires: the area where Tango was born.

We now have roughly 288 hours to enjoy Brazil, but twelve days separate me from the embraces of friends and family. Whether it flies by or passes slowly, it will be too little and too long, all at the same time.

"Don Fulgencio", one of many statues of emblematic Argentine cartoon characters that have been placed around Buenos Aires.

Guess what I found out in Argentina? 1. The name of Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires, translates as “good airs”, and owes its name to Bonaira, or the Madonna of Good Air. Priests who arrived in Buenos Aires from Seville in Spain, where her cult had become popular among sailors, named the city in her honour. 2. Although the true origin of Tango is a mystery, many believe it was first practiced in brothels and slum neighbourhoods by European immigrants in the early 19th century. A dance incorporating African rhythms and European music, it was eventually discovered by the higher classes and became popular throughout high society in Buenos Airies, before spreading to Paris, London and Berlin. 3. The “End of the World” lighthouse or Faro del Fin del Mundo doesn’t actually mark the end of the world; rather, it was used as a signal for sailors as the waters become dangerous after this point. It is said to have inspired Jules Verne's novel The Lighthouse at the End of the World, which was published in 1905.