Argentine Patagonia

Darwin at the age of eight (photo Wikipedia)

"In calling up images of the past, I find the plains of Patagonia frequently pass across my eyes; yet these plains are pronounced by all to be wretched and useless. They can be described only by negative characters; without habitation, without water, without trees, without mountains, they support merely a few dwarf plants. Why, then, and the case is not peculiar to myself, have these arid wastes taken so firm a hold on my memory?" Charles Darwin: The Voyage of H.S.M. Beagle