Mystery of Lake Nahuel Huapi
With clouds lingering over the forest, the weather in south-central Chile is always wet and rainy, a bit like Linzhi and Lulang. The architecture of the villages is very similar to that of German and Swiss villages, with most of the structures being made of wood. For one thing, there is no shortage of wood here, and for another, such houses are solid to live in.
In the past, they used to move their wooden houses in their entirety. Many people may have only seen such scenes in cartoons, but they did. Friends and family from all over came to help, and they drove strong oxen to pull a whole wooden house running towards the beach, and when the tide came up, the house would float and be pulled down to the moving island by a tugboat. It had been raining and the weather was turning cooler, with night temperatures in the low single digits and very cold.
Harry and I picked up our pace and headed further south before it got dark but the rain was getting heavier. We had to set up camp under a tree, ate bread and sausages and lay down in the tent, and listened to the rain.
Last night it rained all night long. The sheep and cattle were grazing in the clear blue sky, the long-beaked birds were scavenging in the mud and the sleeping snakes seemed to be about to hibernate. Further east, over the snow-capped Andes, we reached Argentina. We got our electronic visas early on and after a few trips around the town, we finally found a print shop to get them printed.
In the evening we rested on a hillside, opened our tent, and started cooking, finally getting some rice tonight after days of eating bread. The grass was shifting across the road as we were cooking, and when we looked up we saw two wolf cubs pop up, seemingly hungry too, and after a few seconds of staring at us, they waddled off…
It’s never easy to get over the slopes in the rain, the wind brings moisture from the Pacific Ocean as it crosses the Andes, depositing it in the mountainous areas that stretch eastwards for about 30 to 40 kilometers, so that much of this area is covered in snow and rain.
The route we navigated today was blocked by a barbed wire fence, so we had to turn back, which, together with the wrong road we took yesterday, made for quite a detour. Many thanks to our friends from Puerto Montt who gave us a lift on the way, otherwise we might have been fighting the ice and rain in the mountains tonight.
The area bordering Chile and Argentina is full of valleys and fjords, and with the dense forests, it was like being in Switzerland all over again. Similar landscapes can be found in Canada, Norway, and New Zealand.
San Carlos de Bariloche is the most populous city in the Patagonian Andes and its beauty attracts thousands of visitors every year. Bariloche” is derived from the Mapuche word Vuriloche, meaning “those who come from behind the mountains”, as the Mapuche people to the west of the mountain range call those who live on the east side. Bariloche is surrounded by the beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi, with its magical and beautiful blue glacial lake.
The story of a water monster is also told here, and ancient indigenous legends claim that Lake Nahuel Huapi is inhabited by a giant creature. It was called ‘leather’ because it resembled a cow’s hide laid on the surface of the water, forming a light dome.
This myth became popular in the 1920s when the Buenos Aires Zoo decided to organize a search with international repercussions, based on supposed sightings. Later sightings suggested the possible presence of some kind of sea serpent, or even a snake-necked dragon, similar to Nessie, thought to have similar features in Scotland, and since the 1980s the mythical creature has been known under the name Nahuelito.
The sky, which had been drizzling in the morning, finally started to clear in the afternoon. The rain and wind in the mountains are always so fickle, but we found a good campsite: the fire station. Riding around, we found the town full of backpackers and travelers. Wanted to etch the beauty of this place into my mind and stay forever like a mysterious spirit in such a beautiful place.
