VII) PATAGONIA

Hills in the San Rafael district

This zone covers the South ZONE of Argentina, with an area of 787,000 km2 populated by 1,481,000 inhabitants. A vast semi-desert wind swept cold zone, with some beautiful areas of privileged micro-climates, clear water mountain lakes and rivers with trout fishing, Andean Forests with some varieties such as the Alerce Tree that have specimens of upto 4,000 years old, the best ski resorts of the country, glaciers to the South, and a peninsula Valdes on the Atlantic coast with the whale mating season, sea elephants and sea lions, and penguin colonies of upto 2 millions penguins. Patagonia is composed by the following Provinces from North to South:

Neuquen: Has an area of 94,000 km2 with a population of 389,000 inhabitants of which 265,000 live in the Capital city by the same name, and its sorroundings. It is mountainous to the West, coming down to undulating and flat land to the East, covered by a scrubby and poor vegetation. It has important large Rivers coming down from the Andes in the West and flowing out to the Atlantic Ocean to the East, of which the most important is the River Limay with 5 dams producing electricity. Where the River Limay joins the River Neuquen to from the River Negro, one finds the biggest irrigation oasis of the Province, with fertile soils producing apples, pears and peaches. This river then continues through the Province of Rio Negro, and between them export U$S 60 millions in apples and is the largest pear exporter of the world with a yearly export volume of U$S 80 millions. Also some grapes for common wine are produced as well. Up against the

Andes, there are ski centres, trout fishing waters, Andean Forests, and valley's protected from the winds and cold, that allows for some cattle raising.

Andean Forest

Rio Negro: Has a surface of 203,000 km2 populated by 506,000 inhabitants, of which 264,000 live in the Capital city of General Roca and its sorroundings (also an irrigated fruit oasis), and 100,000 live in Bariloche which is the biggest tourist centre of the South, the largest ski centre of South America, and also an important summer resort with lovely lakes and Andean Forests. In the rest of the land, is dry with very scant vegetation, the only activity is sheep breeding, with about 2 million Corriedale sheep, which bring in a small income due to the low world prices of wool.

Chubut: Has a surface of 225,000 km2 populated by 357,000 inhabitants of which 100,000 live in the Capital city called Rawson, and another 128,000 inhabitants live in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia which is a petroleum producing centre. This is mainly a sheep breeding area, with 5 million head of sheep, Merino's in the West against the Andes, and Corriedale's in the centre and coast zone. All the country's aluminium is produced in a plant in the city of Puerto Madryn, with it own shipping facilities on the Atlantic Coast. Here there is a peninsula called "Valdes" where during 6 months of the year many whales come to mate, and are visited by tourists from all over the world, including Princess Diana just before her unfortunate fatal accident in Paris. This area is also full of sea elephants and sea lions. And close by has a colony of 2 million penguins that arrive in the spring to hatch their eggs and bring up their young, before emigrating back to the North at the end of the summer. The Andean forests cover an area of 1,000,000 hectares, with a microclimate of upto 200 inches of yearly rainfall, where in the rest of the Province the yearly rainfall is no more than about 10 inches, and have had droughts lasting 6 years that between snow and rain have not averaged more than 3 inches per year.

Trout fishing waters in Patagonia

Santa Cruz: Has a surface of 244,000 km2 populated by 160,000 inhabitants of which 79,000 live in the capital city called Rio Gallegos. The more interesting areas are up against the Andes, which has some special micro-climates that allows both cattle and sheep raising, Andean forests with a predominance of the "Lenga" variety, timber which is rationally exploited for furniture making. In the rest of the surface, the rainfall is a bare 8 inches per year, improving towards the Magellan's Straight, and in total carry around 3 million sheep. One of the tourist attractions is the Glaciers in the National Park called "Los Glaciares" in the Andean zone. The only mineral coal mine is in this Province in "Rio Turbio" in the South West with a reserve of 450 million metric tons.
What has not been mentioned, is that all this Patagonian Area is the most important oil producing area of the county, with many oil wells and ample reserves. By national law the oil below the ground belongs to the Government, whereas all the other minerals belong to the owner of the land.

Exploring the Atlantic coast of Patagonia

Tierra del Fuego: This is a small island, with a surface of 21,000 km2 populated by 69,000 inhabitants, of which 40,000 live in the capital "Rio Grande" and 27,000 in the other city on the island called "Ushuaia". It has a special micro climate of its own, a land with rivers, lakes, forests and much better natural pasture land than the rest of the Patagonian area, allowing for a fixed stocking rate of around 600,000 head of sheep. The trout and salmon fishing in this area is very good and of yet unspoilt, and with a good guide in a days fishing each fly rod brings in about 20 trouts none weighing less than 10 lbs.

Observation: What I have not included, is the "Antártica Argentina" area of the Antarctic belonging to Argentina that cover a surface of 964,200 km2 and is populated by 142 inhabitants.

In this zone the land is today worth (2008) between 50 USD upto $ 200 USD per hectare. (Este texto ponerlo antes de Observation ).