Crossing the Patagonian Andes by land

We began at 10am yesterday from Hotel Altuen at km 7.5 west of Bariloche, a beautiful day with a few clouds towards the Andes.  After a few tens of minutes our bus arrived at Puerto Panuelo, near the Llao Llao hotel complex where we boarded a crowded catamaran to head up the Blest arm of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the largest lake in Chile, very deep (1500 feet) and cold (50F) and extremely clear.  The catamaran cruised for an hour up the steep-walled glacial valley, draped with waterfalls, trees and signs of ancient landslides to the hamlet of Puerto Blest, which insofar as I could tell consisted of a single building.  Most folks were on a day cruise and after several hours of examining that building or perhaps hiking they would proceed to see a cataract and return to Puerto Paneulo at nightfall.  About a dozen intrepid adventurers would board a bus for the short unpaved hop along the glacial Rio Frias to Lago Frias, to board another boat for the 20 minute journey to Puerto Allegre, our port of departure from Argentina.  There were several aboard from our previous lake journey who had decided to enjoy another cruise.  Lago Frias was another glacial valley, carved by the glaciers from looming Cerro Tronador, at nearly 13000 feet the highest mountain in these parts of the Andes.  The cliffs along the lake were very sheer, the water a glacial greenish color.  High on Tronador, one could see the glaciers, one of which fed our lake, another of which fed the river we would descend after crossing the Andes. 

Again a single building, the customs office and immigration.  We checked out of Argentina and boarded our second bus bound for Chilean customs somewhat over an hour away in Puella, Chile, crossing into Vincente Perez Rosales National Park.  The road was unpaved and sinuous through a southern forest with abundant tall slender trees.  Noteworthy among the trees were ones I believe the guide identified as coihue--a grand tall tree, and arayan, a red-trunked tree much like the Texas madrone or crepe myrtle back home.  After a while there were abundant ferns lining the road and dense stands of Chilean bamboo.  There were also giant-leaved shrubs which I believe were called nalca. The guide said that the stems could be eaten like celery.  We hoped we would not be driven to such despair.

Shortly we reached the pass, the site of the border into Chile, where we posed for photos under the signs at an elevation of perhaps 1000 meters.  On the other side, we plunged into the Puella River Valley.  Fed by another of Tronador's glaciers, clearly visible along the road, the river ran along canyons clearly dug by the glacier itself in its younger more spectacular days.  The walls of the valley reminded my of Yosemite, some sheer cliffs laced with waterfalls from the snow cover visible on the peaks above.  After a while, we reached Puella itself, a hamlet of 120 souls, the border station where we entered Chile, a post office, the derelict hotel Puella, and the Hotel Natura where we would be the second guests for the night.  Next day we would board another bus to the ship which would take us across Lago Todos los Santos south beneath the Osorno volcano to our final bus, which would transport us around Lago Llanquihue to Puerto Varas, our destination at the southwest side of the lake.