Lakes & Rivers

Like every year by mid-May the Patagonian forest is bursting in autumn colors, as lengas, ñires and other Nothofagus trees are turning into yellow, orange and fire-red on the mountain slopes. Last year in San Martín de los Andes area we had the Calbuco volcano eruption, and the forest was partly covered in grey ashes, but this year the fall is being as spectacular as it used to be. As in the north hemisphere spring is starting to melt the ice and the snow, warming the weather and making the minds dream about the prospect of summer holidays, here down south days are turning shorter and shorter,...

One of the best tours off the beaten track you can do from San Martín de los Andes is going to Villa Pehuenia 200 km north of San Martín and a gem still hidden from the massive tourism. Villa Pehuenia lies in the middle of the Pehuen District, one of the best touristic circuits of the Neuquén province. Some tour agencies in San Martín de los Andes do it as a day tour, but we think is much better to spend at least one night in Villa Pehuenia, so you have enough time to enjoy the place and als go thorough the so-called "Pehuenia circuit", one of the main attractions of the area.    The...

After spending the last couple of days in the pristine Perito Moreno National Park we started the third and last part of our tour. Our last destinations were two of the highlight spots in Southern Patagonia: El Chaltén and El Calafate, both in Los Glaciares National Park. This park protects an area of 724.000 hectareas of colossal glaciers and lakes, surrounded by magnificent landscapes of steppe and forest. Due to its amazing splendour this park was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1981 and it is undoubtedly one of the most wonderful natural landscapes in the world. El Chaltén,...

The Baker River in Chile, runs by the south of the Aysen Region, going from the Bertrand Lake to reach the Pacific Ocean in Caleta Tortel. It is the drainage of the huge bi-national Buenos Aires/General Carrera Lake, the second largest in South America, which is fed by the melting of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. Along its course of 175 Km. the Baker River valley delivers unforgettable landscapes and an enormous environmental richness, being one of the main attractions of the Chilean part of Patagonia.     From its source in the Bertrand Lake the Baker River is wide, carrying...

The "Marble Chapels", in General Carrera Lake, Chile, are mineral formations made of calcium carbonate located on that lake, just a few miles from the small village of Puerto Tranquilo. The formations have three main islets, a few meters away form the shore, called the Cathedral, the Chapel and the Cave. To find the origin of the marble rocks that make up the place we have to go back 370 million years, when and geologic event deposited calcareous sediments. The passing of time and the erosion produced by the wind and the swell of the lake have cleaned all the impurities of the marble rock creating...

Los Alerces National Park, considered one of the most beautiful in Argentina, is located in Patagonia, on the Andean region of the Chubut province with the Chilean border by its west side. The park has a total surface of 236,000 has., comprising several different ecosystems: the Valdivian Temperate Rain Forest, the Andean-Patagonia Forest, the High-Andean Steppe and the Patagonian Steppe. The AlerceThe park was created in 1937 with a main goal: protecting the pure forests of one of the most emblematic species of the Andean-Patagonian forests: the Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), or lahuán,...

Perito Moreno National Park (do not confuse with Perito Moreno Glacier, which is 450 Km south, in Los Glaciares National Park) is a protected area on the center west of the Santa Cruz province, in the southernmost part of the Argentine Patagonia. Limiting with Chile on its west side it has a surface of 115,000 has., covering a representative mix of the Patagonian Steppe and the humid Subantarctic Forest. The area was declared national park in 1937, and due to its isolation and harsh weather it is one of the most unknown national park in Patagonia. It also the less visited, with less than 2,000...

Recently we took again the 4x4 tour from San Martín de los Andes to the Lahuen Có Thermal Springs, going by some of the big lakes within the Lanín National Park, such as Lolog, Curruhue and Epulafquen, and some other minor ones like the Curruhue Chico (small Curruhue), the Green Lagoon, the Toro Lagoon and the Carilafquen Lake. The tour starts in San Martín de los Andes, taking the provincial route 62 towards the Lolog Lake. The distance to this Lake is 8 miles, by a dirt road which is quite frequented (at least by the Patagonian standards), as there is a significant real state development...

A few days ago, together with our mates on Marta Caorsi´s Photography Workshop we went to explore the Malleo River banks and take some nice pictures. The Malleo River has its source on the Tromen Lake, at the foot of Lanín Volcano, and runs for more than 35 miles direction southeast to reach one of the most important rivers of the area, the Aluminé River. We had covered before the first part of the Malleo River, the one nearer its source, which is inside the Lanín National Park. The main attraction of this part of the river its being surrounded by Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle Tree) forests, some...

Lanín National Park is a 413,000 hectare protected area located in the southwest of Neuquén province, in the Argentine Patagonia, bordering Chile to the West and Nahuel Huapí National Park to the South. It was created in 1937 to protect and preserve an important area of Andean-Patagonian Forests, especially the Monkey-puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), the Raulí (Nothofagus nervosa) and the Roble beech (Nothofagus obliqua), which in Argentina are exclusive of this National Park.   It is the third-largest National Park in Argentina after Nahuel Huapí and Los Glaciares. Full of glacial...