One
of Argentina's
most popular
holiday
destinations,
the
lake
district of
central and
northwestern
Patagonia is
famous for the
great network of
easily
accessible
national parks
that spreads
itself along the
cordillera. This
is a land of
immense glacial
lakes, thick
forests, jagged
peaks and
extinct
volcanoes, which
was controlled,
until a little
over a century
ago, by the
Mapuche. The
lake district
comprises the
southwest of
Neuquén, western
Río Negro, and
the northwestern
corner of Chubut.
Shaped like a
fish's tail and
bigger than
Portugal,
Neuquén Province
is Patagonia's
most
northwesterly
region: its
eastern half is
a level plain,
while the west
is dominated by
the Andes and
parallel
mountain ranges;
and whereas the
mountains in the
north of the
province are
harsh and dry,
in the south
they are covered
in dense Andean
forest. The
eastern and
central region
look much like
any chunk of
inland
Patagonia, but
here the huge
expanses of
parched steppe
and meseta
hide deposits of
fossils and
fossil fuels.
The area is very
important in
paleontological
terms - every
few years, it
seems, the bones
of ever more
gigantic
dinosaurs
are discovered.
You can check
out this legacy
in the museum at
El Chocón
or in the
museums of
Neuquén ,
the province's
namesake
capital. Centred
on Chos Malal
, the
little-visited
north of the
province is a
zone of
transition, much
more akin in
scenery to
Mendoza and the
Cuyo than to the
rest of
Patagonia. At
this latitude,
the mountains
are harsh and
barren, typified
by the spiky
Cordillera del
Viento around
the mining
region of
Andacollo
and the
hump-backed
Volcán Domuyo
. The great
Patagonian
Andean forests
that are so
magnificently
represented in
Parque
Nacional Lanín
in the south of
the province are
little in
evidence,
although the
most northerly
vestiges of the
Patagonian
Nothofagus
forests can be
found here at
the beautiful
Lagunas de
Epulafquen .
South of
Andacollo, at
the mountain
resort village
of Caviahue
, you find the
first
significant
groves of
araucaria ,
or monkey puzzle
tree, growing on
the harsh basalt
soils of Volcán
Copahue.
Flanking
sparklingly
clear
waterfalls,
these groves are
much more
impressive than
the over-hyped
thermal springs
of Caviahue's
sister resort,
Copahue .
Further south,
against the
cordillera, are
the most
majestic of the
araucaria
forests. From
Paso Pino
Hachado down
into the north
of Parque
Nacional Lanín
you have some
phenomenal
opportunities to
trek, ride
horses or
mountain-bike
past the trees
that the
indigenous
Pehuenches
considered to be
sacred beings,
daughters of the
moon. Check out
the Pehuenia
circuit
around Lagos
Aluminé,
Moquehue, and
Ñorquinco, or
access Quillén
or the Aigo
Mapuche
community of
Rucachoroi ,
in the northern
sector of Parque
Nacional Lanín
is a wild area,
popular with
fishermen but
otherwise much
less disturbed
than the rest of
the vast park
system in the
Patagonian Lake
District. Access
this zone via
Junín de los
Andes or the
uninteresting
steppe town of
Zapala.
Both Junín
de los Andes
and the scenic
resort of San
Martín de los
Andes
provide good
bases for
exploring the
better-known
central and
southern sectors
of Parque Lanín.
Junín is more
convenient of
the two for
investigating
the area around
the park's
remarkable
centrepiece,
extinct
Volcán Lanín
, a fairytale
snowcapped cone
of 3776m. A
mecca for
aspiring
climbers as well
as their more
experienced
counterparts,
the easiest
route -
physically
challenging but
technically
fairly
straightforward
- is from the
northeast: head
with your gear
for one of the
Andes' most
scenic passes,
Paso Mamuil
Malal near
Lago Tromen
. The classic
views of the
volcano are to
be had from the
Lago
Huechulafquen
and Lago
Paimún area
to the south,
however. The
region's
volcanic
activity can be
witnessed at the
hot springs not
too far south:
the Termas de
Epulafquen ;
and the ones
near Lago
Queñi , at
the western end
of San Martín's
wonderful
Lago Lácar .
San Martín is at
the northern end
of the scenic
Seven Lakes
Route , a
gorgeous drive
past forested
mountain lakes
to Villa La
Angostura, from
where you visit
the Parque
Nacional Los
Arrayanes ,
formed to
protect a
captivating wood
of myrtle trees
at the end of
the Peninsula
Quetrihué. This
tiny park is
surrounded by a
goliath:
Parque Nacional
Nahuel Huapi
, which is
perhaps the most
famous, and one
of the most
visited, of all
Argentina's
national parks.
It is very
popular with
Argentine
holidaymakers,
who pack out
towns such as
the archetypal
Patagonian
holiday resort,
Río Negro's
Bariloche ,
every year both
in summer and
for skiing in
winter. They
come to
experience the
Alpine flavour
of this
"Switzerland of
Argentina" - a
comparison that
does, in a few
places at least,
bear out,
although neither
the scale of the
park nor the
urban planning
nearby is
remotely Swiss.
The park has a
well-developed
infrastructure
of trails and
refuges for
trekkers ,
who will love
the Cerro
Catedral
region just to
the south of
Bariloche.
Another base for
trekking is
El Bolsón ,
an alternative
hangout to
Bariloche in
more than one
sense of the
word, with a
hippy tradition
that sets it
completely apart
from its brasher
big-town
neighbour.
Further
south, in the
province of
Chubut, the
major holiday
destination is
the Esquel
region. From
here, you can
visit another
classic
Patagonian park,
Parque
Nacional Los
Alerces ,
which has some
exceptional
lakes and is the
best place to
see threatened,
majestic
alerce
trees, some of
which are
thousands of
years old. To
the north of the
park is Cholila,
where you'll
find the famous
cabin built by
Butch Cassidy
, while to the
south is the
engaging
Trevelin ,
which still
preserves
something of its
Welsh roots. The
last highlight
of the area is
one of
Argentina's two
timeless trains:
La Trochita
, which rattles
and hoots its
way through the
steppe between
Esquel and El
Maitén on a
precarious
narrow-gauge
track.
