summer in patagonia

This summer we received 2019 in one of our favorite places on earth, Patagonia.  It´s a fantastic place to visit during any time of the year, each season has its own charm.  Summer is so pretty for me since there are flowers blooming everywhere! Pink and violet Lupinos give life to enchanted forests that end in turquoise blue lake beaches. It´s the kind of beauty that makes your eyes hurt! I guess the thing I like the most about Patagonia is its majesty, the lakes are never-ending, the mountains (the Andes) are steep and infused with a sense of  immensity.  I mean the view is just breathtaking. Well, too many words! Let´s just get into it!

I wanted to share with you some of the places we visited; we were travelling with a 1 year old baby and 2 teenagers so we managed to mix all sorts of plans!

We first started in Villa La Angostura:

1- SEVEN LAKES ROUTE  – RUTA DE LOS 7 LAGOS

This route goes from La Angostura to San Martin de Los Andes. Definitively a must seen in Patagonia!

There was actually one particular place that got my heart, a small branch of the RUCA MALEN River. Our Air BNB host told us that the water looked particularly “Caribbean” due to the ash deposits that still remain in the soil after the Chilean volcano Puyehue erupted in 2011.

Although the river is in fact cold, we just had to swim in that magical water. It was like Aurora, Bambi and the birdies where about to appear in the picture. Actually it is said that Walt Disney got inspiration from the ARRAYANES FOREST nearby (which we also visited) for the movie Bambi.

2- WATERFALLS: ÑIVINCO y CATARATA

In the surroundings of 7 lakes route, after a relatively easy and beautiful hike, we arrived to these waterfalls. You can actually swim here! (But of course we didn´t, it wasn´t that hot and the water is freeeezing).

3- PASO HUA HUM – CROSSING TO CHILE

After visiting the 7 lakes area, we drove until the border with Chile called PASO HUA HUAM, from where we took a ferry. The whole trip is so worth doing it! On our way to the border we passed by PLAYAS DE YUCO. Small turquoise beaches hidden in the Lacar Lake.

The whole ferry trip to Chile is outstanding, a scenic ride with breathtaking views across de Pirehueico Lake. That afternoon was cloudy and humid, you could see the clouds rising from the trees in the mountains. It really gave the whole scene a mysterious atmosphere and kind of spooky! We loved it.

4- SALTOS DEL HUILO HUILO & PANGUIPULLI

In Chile we stayed in the Panguipulli area for a couple of days visiting family. It´s much humid on that side of the Andes so we got to hike in a Patagonic rain forest!

And we also visited HUILO HUILO biological reserve: We thought Blindbox could have been filmed there!

5- BARILOCHE – REFUGIO FREY & CIRCUITO CHICO

For the last 3 days of our holydays we headed back to Argentina. We stayed in Bariloche and we got to do a beautiful and rather challenging hike up to REFUGIO FREY (FREY SHELTER). It took us 8 hours (back and forth), and it was so worthwhile! We would have liked to do more SHELTERS, there are plenty of cool shelters up in the Andes, but that requires a whole lot more organization with baby and kids! Another time!

Awanay is proudly based in Argentina and a big part of what we do is internationalize our culture and country so we are happy to share recommendations and tips to all those wanting to visit us!

Thanks for reading!