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 Estimated reading time: 2 min. |
  Karina Jozami |
We had arrived too late in town so as to go on one of the many trekking circuits that made this area of Los Glaciares National Park so famous. Therefore, we resolved to contact Raúl in order to reach Lago del Desierto (Lake of the Desert), a good choice to have a little rest from the intense hikes but not from the fascinating scenery.
After midday, Raúl picked us up on his van. We had been waiting for him at the inn. After fetching some other tourists, he drove along Route 23 leaving town towards the West. No sooner were the houses left behind as the road skirted the course of the Río de las Vueltas (The River of Bends), than our guide and driver began to talk about the natural features and the historical significance of the destination we were about to visit. |
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Argentinian Sovereignty
By 1965, a routine recognition group of Argentinian border guards found a settlement of Chilean carabiniers a few kilometers away from the lake. The finding led to an armed struggle that detonated the border conflict over this sector of the mountain range which had began one century before. In the middle of negotiation between both countries, Argentina resolved to found the town of El Chaltén (1985) as a geopolitical strategy in the valley drawn by the confluence of the De las Vueltas and Fitz Royz Rivers, 37 kilometers away from Lago del Desierto. |
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It was not until 1994 that an international court failed in favor of Argentina granting total sovereignty over the entire area which years ago had been welcoming new settlers, most of them European immigrants fascinated by the mountains.
At this point in the story and watching the thick drizzle all around, we had already crossed the bridge over the Blanco River and were just starting to border El Cóndor Lagoon up to the southern end of Lago del Desierto. As expected, when we got off the truck, we could barely contemplate this water body. But disillusion did not win. We soon set out on a trekking tour to the Huemul Glacier, a hanging snowdrift located 20 minutes away from the lake. |
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We crossed the lenga forest and went up some soft slopes up to the Huemul Lagoon. There we observed the glacier on the mountain slope. The rain would not abandon us but it did not mar the landscape. There we stayed for a while beholding. At the time we had arranged, we went down to meet Raúl again.
Before starting our way back, we went close to the lakeshore, where the source of Río de las Vueltas is located. It was a pity that we could not sail there. Like many other times, we thought that bad weather is always a good excuse to return to El Chaltén and its surroundings. |
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