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Río Gallegos is the capital of the province, and the continental city farthest south in Argentina.
We can start by telling you that the total surface of the country is 3.761.274 km2, while the province of Santa Cruz has a surface of 243.943 km2, and is inhabited by 159.839 people, what gives an average of 0.7 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Today it is a city of more than 80.000 inhabitants, head of the department of Güer Aike, second important city in the patagonian coast, with an international airport, banks, hotels, restaurants, etc.
Gallegos is in the immensity of the patagonian plateau, crossed by river valleys in a west- east direction.
The city is precisely on the steps descending to the Argentine sea at a latitude of 51º 38' south and a longitude of 69º 12' west.
It is a centenary city on a low wet land, only 20 m. above sea level, 2.636 km. from Buenos Aires, by the river Gallegos, the most austral river in continental Argentina. This river is born in the confluence of the rivers Penitente and Rubens, in Chile, and is a typical patagonian river, middle size, with banks alternating beaches and cliffs, with calm waters as well as rapid currents, mainly in its upper part where it presents many curves, stoney grounds and deep pools.
In these latitudes, the weather is severe in winter and the sun only warms for three or four hours a day, while in summer it is present up to half past ten in the evening.
The city has become a distribution centre for tourists who visit austral Patagonia. It has a dry cold weather with temperatures around -15ºC, strong winds in spring, and up to 25ºC in summer.
At present these farms are devoted to extensive sheep breeding.
The port of Río Gallegos is opposite the capital, 8 miles from its outlet, and one of the most important ones in Patagonia. It presents the problem of tidal amplitude (17 to 20 m.), and so ships have to wait for long periods in Punta Loyola to the south of the outlet before they can anchor. It has a commercial pier and a timber pier. It is a fishing port, and they export ovine frozen meat, wool and leather, as well as coal from the mines in Río Turbio.
Its international airport is the base for aerial operations to Antarctica and also a stopover for the jumbo jets of Aerolíneas Argentinas that perform the transpolar flight to New Zealand and Australia.
