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A hostile, cliff-lined coast, countless hundreds of kilometres long, backed by an expanse of seemingly endless desolation - for at least three centuries after Magellan's voyage, this is what the word "Patagonia" conjured up in the imagination of the Western world. You may prefer to cover such vast distances by air, but if you're committed to discovering what Patagonia is really about, steel yourself for the overland crossing and arm yourself with a thick book - though preferably not one by the Argentinian novelist Roberto Arlt, who in 1934 said of Patagonia: "This landscape really winds me up. I'm already starting to regard it as a personal enemy. It's like a tiresome old windbag who keeps on saying the same thing." Nowadays, you can drive all the way from the Rio Negro to Rio Gallegos in around 36 hours, though a more realistic estimate - depending on how much you like thornscrub steppe and desert - is to spend four or five days making the trip. This allows time to see the world-famous wildlife reserve at Peninsula Valdes , usually accessed from the seaside town of Puerto Madryn ; to investigate Patagonia's vaunted Welsh legacy in the towns and villages of the Chubut valley near Trelew ; and to break the journey south with a stopover in beautiful Puerto Deseado or convenient San Julian , each with their own significant populations of marine wildlife and rich historical associations. If you have your own transport you might be able to fit in a side-trip to the petrified forests of the Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados or those near Sarmiento , or (depending on the season) the penguin colony at Punta Tombo . The historic town of Carmen de Patagones is also worth a brief stop.
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