It seemed like it took forever, but we’re finally in Patagonia, the ultimate destination for this trip. Patagonia isn’t a country or province, but rather a geographic area covering the southernmost parts of both Chile and Argentina.

Legend has it that the area got its name from the famous European explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who named the tall indigenous people after “Patagon,” a character in a popular novel of the time. Another theory says he was referring to the huge footprint the natives left, made larger by the guanaco skins they used to cover their feet. As we’re finding, many of the regions, plants and physical features we’ll be visiting were named for European explorers (e.g., Strait of Magellan.)

We started this portion of the trip with dinner at a local’s home, an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) hallmark. Our host was a charming, creative and hilarious Buenos Aires native named Gabriel, or Gabo. His home immediately called to mind the bright and lively residence of Frida Kahlo, and he was indeed a Frida fan, as well as Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Elvis, the show “Friends,” dogs and much more.

Gabo served us a delicious Patagonian lamb stew that even the professed non-lamb lovers enjoyed, along with vegetable soup and, of course, dessert featuring the Argentinian caramel, dulce de leche. Gabo volunteers at a dog shelter and has seven of his own dogs, a couple available for petting after dinner.

Sometimes traveling with a group can wear on you, but it’s experiences like this that make traveling with OAT worthwhile. You get a sense of real people, not just other tourists or hospitality professionals. (We had a similar experience in Norway using the travel agency Up Norway, but I was lucky to find that company.)

Today’s adventure took us to the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina’s Glaciares National Park. We started the day with a stop at a shrine to Gauchito Gil. Gil is a folk hero revered as a saint throughout much of Argentina, though the Catholic Church hasn’t declared him such. Travelers take his powers very seriously, and in an Argentine tradition we poured a can of beer over the shrine to ask for good weather and safe travels. Hopefully Gauchito Gil will come through for us.

So far so good. Although we pretty much experienced four seasons in one day (rain, wind, sun and something resembling snow), we had a great visit to the glacier.

Most glaciers are formed at around 8,200 feet above sea level, but Perito Moreno was formed at about 5,000 feet, which makes it easy to experience. We’ve seen other glaciers, in Alaska and New Zealand, but this was by far the most impressive. Since it’s so close to land, you get great views at eye level and from slightly above just by walking around the well-marked paths. We could hear the cracking and thundering as we walked the paths, and I was lucky enough to see four “calving” events, when a huge piece of ice breaks off and falls into the lake.

On our way to the park we spotted plenty of wildlife – a guanaco (similar to a llama), a condor, a buzzard eagle, a falcon and a family of rheas (similar to ostrich.) We also tried the Calafate berry, which provides the name for the town where we’re staying.

We tried to contain the urge to take pictures constantly and instead just enjoy the scenery and the feel of nature. As our guide told us, your friends and family don’t want to see 100 pictures of a glacier. But here are a few.