"Forest of Shadows"... a magical place

One of the most beautiful and magical circuits of the "Lago Puelo National Park" is that called "Bosque de las Sombras" (Forest of the Shadows).

The trail goes into the green and deep forest... It is a path with no slope of 600 meters, of easy difficulty and its duration is about 30 minutes. We can go into the forest by a footbridge made of coihue´s wood  and built on the marshy and flooded ground. Here the water is transparent but it seems dark.

The "Forest of Shadows" is a very green place, where you can see several types of ferns and trees as pitras or pataguas, myrtles, avelinos, all of them with very twisted branches that give us the feeling of walking into a dim light...

The presence of fairies seems to float in the air, and that we are walking into a storybook of elves.

A fascinating and magical place...

Welcome to "LAGO PUELO NATIONAL PARK"

Near the village, about 3 kilometers, is the gateway to the "LAGO PUELO NATIONAL PARK", created in 1937 as an annex of the "Los Alerces National Park" and in 1971 it was declared independent National Park and Reserve; it includes also a Strict Nature Reserve. It can be reached by paved route Nº 16, either in your own car or by bus from El Bolsón.


Route Nº16 to the National Park



Signs in the entrance of the Park

 This park protects the Andean patagonian forest in the transition to the Valdivian rainforest, which enters to our country in this place between the hills "Aguja Norte" (North Needle) and "Aguja Sur" (South Needle). The treasured landscapes are really stunning: the mountains of the Andes, the important moun "Tres Picos" (Three Peaks), the blue water of the lake and the lush vegetation.

Mount "Tres Picos" (Three Peaks)



General view of the Puelo lake

In the lake you can do both kayaking or motor boats trips. There are tours to differente points like:

• "El Turbio", Turbio river mouth and where you can be off the boat and walk through the very small town,
• "Los Hitos", al the border with Chile

Sailing across the lake

Puelo Lake

In the summer and sunny days, people enjoy a sandy beach called "La Playita", where you can swim because the water is warm. In this National Park you can practice hiking, river rafting, rock climbing, fly-fishing, bird-watching till you enjoy nature.



Puelo Lake and Mount "Tres Picos"

 There are several circuits for those who love trekking, one of the most beautiful is that called "Bosque de las Sombras" (Forest of Shadows) and the strangest is the "Pitranto Grande" (Big Pitranto). Both trails go into the forest, where you can see different type of trees: pitra, myrtle, mountain cypress, lenga, coihue, radal and many types of ferns.

Forest of Shadows

Forest of Shadows



Forest of Shadows

Pitranto Grande



Pitranto Grande



Pitranto Grande

This park is a refuge for the huemul, a small deer that is natural monument and is in danger of extinction. Another endagered animal is the pudú, the world´s smallest deer that lives in the chilean forests. There are also pumas, foxes, and other not so well known species like the huillín (patagonian otter) and monkey forest.

Many species of birds fly in these skies: chimangos, mandolins, thrushes and several types of ducks.

During high season (summer time) there are some coffe shops and grill areas, also thre´re two camping sites. If you like trekking, you can climb the Currumahuida hill through a path of 800 meters to a viewpoint located 150 meters height, which allows the observation of the lake and its beautiful surrounding area.



Lake´s Viewpoint

Viewpoint from the Currumahuida



Lake´s Viewpoint

The Botanical Garden of Lago Puelo is located inside the National Park and there are many hiking trails as:

• The voice of the maple trail,
• the Population Rietman trail,
• the Cypress grove trail,
• and the Pitras trail.

Botanical Garden

Voice of the maple trail

 I´ll try to let you more of this beautiful and special park in other posts. But I think that you would like this place and this refuge of nature...

Welcome to LAGO PUELO

I´m beggining to let you know my place in the world: LAGO PUELO in the Parallel 42º Andean Shire, very near to the border with Chile. It´s located in a green valley al the foot of the Andean mountains but only at 170 meters above sea level. The "MAPUCHE" people, the first inhabitants gave the area the name of  PUELCO, that it means "eastern waters" (Puelo is a deformation word of Puelco). 



Welcome to Lago Puelo

 

Streets of Lago Puelo



Library



In this part of Patagonia there´s a microclimate, the village is surrounded by hills that keep it sheltered from the winds, so the winters are no so rude, snows a little but rains a lot. In the summer the warm and sunny days allow tourist to walk through the various circuits, practice rock climbing, fly-fishing or enjoy the beach of the lake.



Puelo Lake



Autumn in Lago Puelo



Autumn in Lago Puelo



The streets of the village are wide, the avenues have squares in the center and the sidewalks have also green areas. There is a trail that climbs the Currumahuida hill and that it shows the village from above. You can see that the buildings are low rise and the materials most used here are stones, bricks and wood from the area like the cypress wood. The roofs are of sheet metal and shops have their advertising signs made of wood too.

 

Lago Puelo from the Currumahuida Hill



Lago Puelo from the Currumahuida Hill

 

Restaurante near the main square



Streets of Lago Puelo



Typical building of Lago Puelo

 In the shield of the town, it can be observed the Cerro Tres Picos (Three Peaks hill), the Puelo Lake and a cypress, typical tree of this region. To the right is a branch of Rosehip and to the left a branch of hops, representing the agriculture. At the bottom it´s a hazel tree, only found in Puelo. At the top is a rising sun symbolizing the strenght and the future of the young town (Municipalidad de Lago Puelo).

(Municipalidad de Lago Puelo)


But the most beautiful place here is the Lago Puelo National Park, that we are going to know in another post... 

Parallel 42º Andean Shire - EL BOLSÓN

Note: First of all, excuse me: I have to say that I´m trying to write this blog in English so you can read it, but I recognize that my English is poor...

My place in the world, Lago Puelo, is one of the villages that form the PARALLEL 42º ANDINE SHIRE (Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42º). This parallel is the border between two provinces: Chubut and Río Negro. But it is only a border in the maps and of jurisdiction because this Andean region functions as a whole thing.



The Piltriquitrón


 The largest town of this region is EL BOLSÓN, and in this post I will try to show you a little of it. It is situated in a fertile valley at the foot of the Andes and the Piltriquitrón Hill, on the banks of the Quemquemtreu river. The village has a special microclimate that helps to plantations such as berries and hop, used in the beers.

Pagano Square and the mount Piltriquitrón



Typical Street of El Bolsón



The first white man who arrived to the place was Captain Juan Fernández, searching the mythical City of the Caesars but in the area the "tehuelches" and the "mapuches" later lived for hundred of years. In 1880 some farmers from Chile were established. People of differents places of Europe began to arrive and settled down in El Bolsón such as Polish, Russian, German, Ukranian, Italian, Spanish... On 28 January 1926, some residents signed up the act of the initial administrative and political organization of the city.



Church (Nuestra Señora de Luján) and sculpture in Pagano Square



In the seventies a lot of bohemian young people of the "hippie" movement arrived to El Bolsón, changing their lifestyle. They came from the big cities like Buenos Aires, settled in the farms and made handcrafts. Till now you can see them in the Pagano square where the Regional Fair is a tourist attraction.



Regional Fair in Pagano Square



Totem Patagonicum (Sculpture) at Pagano Square

El Bolsón is placed at the foot of the mount Piltriquitrón (The Piltri, is the nickname used by the inhabitants). The name Piltriquitrón in the "mapuche" tongue means "hanging from the clouds". It´s a very beautiful mountain of 2260 meters and some people say that it has a special energy... In the year of 1982 there was a large fire in the beech forest that covers the hill and later a group of artists organized "The Carved Forest", an exhibition of wood carving at 1500 meters of altitude.



Photo Courtesy of ANÍBAL ESTEBAN ORELLANO



Since 1984, El Bolsón was declared NON NUCLEAR ZONE and ECOLOGICAL MUNICIPALITY...



San Martín Avenue - Old building



In this beautiful place combines magnificent nature, art, the magic of its climate, adventure in the mountains and rivers, tranquility and peace of its inhabitants... truly, a paradise on earth with "The Piltri" as its guardian...

The "Piltri"

WELCOME TO "EL BOLSÓN"

Patagonia: my place in the world - Why?

Distant, wild, cold, windy, barren, remote, chaotic...

Beautiful, majestic, mystical, magnificent, mysterious, superb, unique, picturesque, magic...

There are so many words to describe this place of  the world, but I think that the best definition is that Patagonia is the place where nature, adventure and legends come together at the end of the world...

Note: First of all, excuse me: I have to say that I´m trying to write this blog in English so you can read it, but I recognize that my English is poor...

Here is my story:

I live in Buenos Aires, the most popular city of Argentina. But I love Patagonia since I know it...

When I was twelve years old, my parents took me to Bariloche during the summer holidays. It was love at first sight! The lake so blue, the clear sky, the silhouettes of the mountains... We returned in winter: the cold and white snow, the landscapes as B&W photos... I remember thinking to myself how nice it would be one day to live in a place like that.

I returned to Patagonia several times:

• 
  
  Puerto Madryn with the Valdez Peninsula and its orcas, sea lions, sea elephants, penguins in summer and the southern right whales in winter;
• 
  
  Calafate with the famous and pristine Perito Moreno Glacier,
• 
  
  Comodoro Rivadavia with its blue sea, the Petroleum Museum, and the Chenque Hill
• 
  
  Río Gallegos, Punta Loyola, with the flag trees and the cormorants.
• 
  
  Esquel and its ski resort "La Hoya" (The hole), where I skied for the first time in my life.
• 
  
  San Martín de los Andes and the wonderful ski resort called Chapelco, between the forest of "lengas" (beech).
• 
  
  Villa La Angostura, a beautiful place between lakes, forests, mountains
• 
  
  Copahue, close to the volcano of the same name and with its extraordinary thermal water, mud, vapors and algaes.
• 
  
  Caviahue, at the feet of the Copahue volcano, with a lake and the monkey-puzzle (araucarias or pehuenes) forests.
• 
  
  Villa Pehuenia, a little village by the lake Aluminé and near an old volcano called Batea Mahuida.
• 
  
  Bariloche with the mount Catedral, Nahuel Huapi lake, Challuaco valley, Campanario Hill, mount Tronador, and the chocolates!!!
• 
  
  Ushuaia, at the end of the world, on the Beagle Channel, the Tierra del Fuego National Park, Fagnano lake and the subantartic forests.

Tired of the life and the insecurity of the city, my husband and I decided to live in another place, preferably to our beloved south... He found a job in a very little village called Lago Puelo, surrounded by hills and near the Puelo lake, at the border Argentina-Chile. A place where Mother Nature is mistress of all, a little village where people live and work in peace...

Now we are in the process of change, happy and hopeful to have found our place in the world in PATAGONIA.

My dream is coming true!!!  And yours?...