Lago Lolog

Tuesday January 29, 2008


Lago Lolog
“Wow. This is beautiful, it can’t get any better than this,” I thought to myself as we drove around through Bariloche and around Lago Nahuel Huapi the first day that we arrived in Argentina. Then a few days later we were driving on Camino Siete Lagos and I thought, “This is very special, it can’t get any better than this.” Then a few more days and we drove north up Rio Aluminé and I thought, “This is amazing, the scenery definitely can’t get better than this.”

However, I find myself thinking the same thing, yet again. Mike and Maria Luisa arranged a boat ride for us on Lago Lolog.



It sits above San Martin, just a 20 minute car ride. We met their friend Daniel, our captain for the day, and off we went across this pristine lake. It is 34 kilometers, 26 miles long, and we went almost from one end to the other and didn’t see another boat the whole day. The water was deep, but still a vibrant blue.



Our destination on the bottom side of the lake was to visit an artist, Ivan, who lives in an old sheep herder’s homestead, by himself, for the whole year. We docked in the little cove, Boquete, literally jumped off the bow of the boat, and with a splash we had arrived.



I felt like we had landed ourselves on an island that had been left behind in a different century.



Ivan, the artist, met us with the most friendly greeting and we walked up the dirt path to meet the other people who were visiting there for a few days to fish – a group of influential men from various locations across Argentina. They were here at the isolated Boquete for some male camaraderie, drinking, armpit scratching, story telling and fishing. They all greeted us with gusto, offering drinks, cheese and crackers, and had a huge rack of beef ribs bbqing on the fire (they call this type of bbqing Asado, mmm mmm good!)


I should describe this group of old men a bit:
-Ivan, the artist, lives here year round, very primitively, entertaining his friends with food and drink all summer and then with the onset of winter and snow he hibernates in his house and paints. He paints very beautiful nature scenes and wildlife with precise detail.
-Mr. Graf, German and proud of it, is a high powered attorney with the German Consulate in Buenos Aires and has a home here in San Martin; he really liked Aunt Frannie!
-Marcelo, a plastic surgeon from Buenos Aires, who worked for a time at a big burn center in Texas, kind of like a Walter Matthou character
-Mario, real estate broker from San Martin and expert bbq-er
-Daniel, el capitan and restaurateur
-Alfred, Austrian, head of the big ski center here, Chapelco

I only wanted to describe these men because it was all so entertaining and amusing, I felt like we were on the set of Gilligan’s Island.

The asado was DELICIOUS! Meat and potatoes, the perfect meal!



Then Marcelo (the doctor) invited Mom, Marcia and me to follow him to his favorite fishing hole. The walk was beautiful – down a trail of overgrown lupine and and the biggest clovers I’ve ever seen, under a dense tree canopy. Then it opened up into a large bog at the end of the lake with very clear and serene waters just at its shore. Here Marcelo set up his rod and fly and fished, I went for a swim and Marcia set up her paints and painted away.



It was a very adventurous and memorable day. I hope the pictures do it justice. I have never seen another lake of such a vast size, with so few people around and no jet skis or speed boats or wind surfers or wake boarders. Only us.

Mom and me enjoying the day

Mike and Maria Luisa with Ivan the Artist behind them

PATAGONIA!