The most beautiful part of the world

To say a place is beautiful isn't to say that it's my favourite place to have been.... It's simply saying that, for me, it's beautiful. So many other aspects can contribute to making a place a favourite (like culture, the people, the interactions, the climate, ... even your family and friends might make a place special). 

But recently I was telling my father that I think that this Southern end of the Chilean Patagonia might be the most spectacularly beautiful place I've ever been. And he asked 'why, what makes it so much more special?'.

It's a good question to ask and it made me think. 

The landscape is 'difficult', it's steep and covered in thick forest. On the tops of the  mountains there is snow and glaciars, at the bottom of the steep valleys are rivers of flowing water and many lakes. I think it's the waters of these lakes and rivers that makes Southern Patagonia (Chile and Argentina on this point) so spectacular, and it's because of the colour of these waters. 

The waters in southern Patagonia vary in colour and the colours range from blues to turquoise to aqua to green. These colours are due to the waterways being glacial fed. Glaciers carve sediment and minerals as they move and this enters the water to make what they call 'Glacial milk'. The sediment content and mix can vary to make different colours and the water depth and lighting also effects the colours. 

Honestly, if I had seen photos with lakes and rivers these colours in the past I had thought them to be 'touched up', it just didn't seem possible. 

This parts of the world is spectacular, and although most the roads are gravel and rough, it's a good thing.... It makes you slow down and appreciate it.