| Subject: RE: Patagonia |
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Hi,
I´m María Clara, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I´d like to add to
Patricia´s recomendation the following places to visit:
For a general approach to Patagonia Argentina, please visit
http://www.patagonia-argentina.com/i/index.htm
In Neuquen:there are a lot of places to visit. Look at the site:
http://www.7lagos.com ; it´s very informative. Place I´d like to recomend: the Lake
(a village of) Aluminé, with a volcanic mountain 'Batea Mahuida' bearing a
lake within its crater; the 7 lakes way (el camino de los siete lagos); San
Martín de los Andes with its village of Quila-Quila (a place where the
people of San Martin spend their weekends); the Cañadón de la mosca' (not
advisable for people suffering from vertigo) between El Bolsón and Esquel.
El Bolsón, see http://elbolson.org/home.html (in Spanish).
You could visit the Atlantic coasts (to see the whales, penguins, birds,
etc, visit the welsh vilages) and then travel across the land in go to
Esquel (visit Trevelyn, another welsh little town). In your way to Esquel,
from Puerto Madryn, ask for the place of Los Altares (The Altars) a
beautiful rock macize resembling an altar.
Tours around Bariloche and the lakes will show you the most remarkable
places (falls of Los Alerces, the Frias lake with its particular milky-green
color, Villa La Angostura, mounts Tronador, Otto and Catedral, etc. An
interesting place to visit is the Cerámica Bariloche manufacturing plant,
where you can see people (mostly women) working in shaping, drawing and
painting pots the way the Italian ancestors of the owner did at Deruta.
Do not miss chocolates from La Herrería (some 8 km from Bariloche on the
way to the Llao-Llao Hotel) and from Benroth in downtown Bariloche
Going to the South the glaciers have sculpted mountains wonderfully .and
of course there´s the Lago Argentino and its glacier Perito Moreno, the
mountains of the Southern Andes, etc.
Don´t miss the forests of lengas, araucarias and arrayanes (autoctonous
trees) distributed all along the Andes
(from Neuquén to Tierra del Fuego).
As regards to the Chilean Patagonia, before visiting the Island of Chiloé
(http://home.worldcom.ch/~osorio/english.htm) as you will certainly do, you
have to see Torres del Paine
(http://www.gorp.com/gorp/location/latamer/chile/paine.htm) and then the
southern coast of the Continent where glaciers have produced fiords similar
to those found in the Norwegian coasts. For info visit:
http://www.chilesat.net/sernatur/pagina1.htm; http://www.chileaustral.com.
Don´t miss: Puerto Varas, Saltos de Petrohué (falls), Lake Llanquihue. If
you´re going to Santiago, on your way north you could see people´s houses
made of wood tiles, made by the first european colonizers. The beaches near
Santiago are very beautiful although Viña del Mar is always full of people,
as well as Reñaca. While staying in Santiago you could visit Neruda´s houses
(La Chacona and the Isla Negra, at the beach are the most interesting ones)
As regards to meals, besides oysters and lobsters try locos (nice seafood, aboriginal of the Pacific coast of Chile); also both Argentine and Chilean traditional meals made of fresh corn are a must: locro, humita en chala, tamales, pastel de choclo. You have to assay them (but not at the same time!). Hope this will help you. Enjoy your trip. In the case you come to Buenos Aires, it´ll be a pleasure to meet with you. María Clara |