Our first stop in Patagonia was an area known as Argentina’s Lake District. This beautiful area is full of lakes filled with crystal clear water running out of the Andes. The heart of the Lake District was further south, in Bariloche, but we were in no rush and wanted to take our time exploring this area.
With our swiss friends, Michael and Simone, we formulated a plan to do a leisurely circuit in this area that would include visits to Lago Alumine, Lago Moquehue, Lago Norquinco, and Lago Pulmari. This loop was probably only 100 to 150 kilometers total (about 75 miles), but it took us nearly a week to complete.
We visited this area in early december, which is late spring in Patagonia. It was really nice because there were hardly any other tourists — we basically had the lakes to ourselves.
Erica hangs out at Lago Alumine, our first stop in the lake district.
This lake was surrounded by beautiful flowers.
It was late spring and the mountains still had some snow on them. I imagine that this all melts by summer.
We basically had the beach to ourselves.
Our first night we watched a beautiful sunset over the lake.
The next day, we headed out for a walk through a little ski village nearby and ran into this mirador.
At the end of our walk, we made our way out to these beaitiful green pools.
Erica, Simone, and Michael enjoying the view at Lago Alumine.
The main reason I jumped in was because Simone said she’d by me a drink in Buenos Ares if I did. The water was pretty cool at this time of year but I’m sure it gets pleasant in the summer.
On our way back to our campsite, we stopped at this restaurant. We had the place to ourselves, and were able to enjoy this amazing view over lunch.
One of the things that struck me in this area of northern Patagonia was the complete lack of mosquitos. I’m not sure why there aren’t mosquitos here, but we weren’t going to complain! Instead of mosquitos, we had to contend with giant horse flies. Well, I’ll take horse flies any day over mosquitos. They are slower, easier to swat, and due to their loud buzzing, you immediately know when they are around. While insect repellent didn’t keep them away, it hardly seemed necessary. They would only come out during certain hours of the day when it was calm and warm.
Our next camping spot was at Lago Noquinco. Our days were mostly spent taking long walks along the lake and reading our books in the sun.
Michael builds a fire for us at Lago Norquinco.
Any time we are with Michael and Simone we end up eating giant feasts.
My panama hat was really coming in handy here, keeping the sun off my face.
Erica eats breakfast at Lago Norquinco. In the mornings, the wind often calmed down and turned the lakes into perfect mirrors.
As we made our way around this loop, we saw these horses along Rio Pulmari. The horses in Patagonia all seemed to be well fed and happy.
Our next camping spot was right on the banks of Rio Pulmari.
We scrambled up the mountain behind the river to get this spectacular view.
Erica enjoys the view of Rio Pulmari.
Our campsite was a pull out used by fisherman. In the evenings, the river seemed to boil with all the fish that were rising.
Overall, we had a great time in this area decompressing and relaxing. We were so excited to finally be in Patagonia and we wanted to soak up every ounce of it. It had also been a while since we’d been out in nature and away from cities and people.
Up next: we continue to make our way south towards Bariloche, stopping at every lake on the way..