First of all, a petite introduction about who am I. I'm Bart de Graaf, I was born in The Netherlands some 35 years ago. I'm married to Karin and father of Edie, our beautiful 16 month-old baby girl. I studied International Tourism Management and Consultancy at the Superior Institute for Tourism Studies in Breda, The Netherlands, but my constant urge to get away into the wide open spaces of traveling freedom made me a nightmare for my professors and fellow students. After barely graduating in 1996 I almost immediately made my way to Peru to make my dreams reality.

I've been an active South America explorer for over 12 years now and have seen and experienced many of the surprises one can encounter living, working and traveling in this wild continent.

You won't believe it when I tell you, but I have found a portal into mental piece and quiet. My last journey to the southern parts of Argentina and Chile turned out to be the most mentally relaxing and creativity inspiring trip I have made in a long time.

The ancient ice near Calafate and Puerto Natales, the whales and sea elephants near the Valdes Peninsula, a glance at the end of the world (which was actually quite comfortable!)in Ushuaia! Amazing experiences, dotting a region that is so vast, so open, so wild and unexplored!

All this beauty and peacefulness makes one wonder if we humans - allegedly at the top of the evolutionary chain - are making a good job in managing the rest of the "civilized" world. In this remote spot of the globe, almost untouched by men, species co-exist within an incredible balance... For those of us who believe in ecologically conscious adventure travel and understand the necessity to leave a soft footprint during our encounter with this amazing regions, the experience of visiting Patagonia is a remainder of our duty as keepers of our planet instead of just acting as temporal tenants.

I'd be very happy to give you tips or any recommendations about this region at the end of the world.

Sincerely, Bart Buenos Aires, Argentina