Condé Nast Condescends? Slumming in Argentine Patagonia

In the mid-1970s, when I first traveled to South America, I was a budget backpacker, seeking out bargains for beds and meals along the so-called “Gringo Trail” that started in Mexico and ended at the tip of Tierra del Fuego. My main companion was my trusty South American Handbook, the classic guide to the region since 1921, with its pithy telegraphic descriptions – I recall its referring to one possible accommodations in Colombia as “unsavoury but cheap.”

As it happened, I eventually did a bit of work for the SAH, updating their Falkland Islands coverage at a time when they were considering dropping it entirely, and later updating some parts of their Argentina coverage. By the early 1990s, though, I had a full-time freelancing gig in the Southern Cone countries with a publisher whose name is best left unmentioned and, gradually, my standards evolved to encompass more formal and (occasionally) luxurious options. That said, even though I now travel in my own car instead of hitchhiking or taking chicken buses, ideologically speaking I’m still a backpacker.

Thus, when I saw the cover of the latest issue of Condé Nast Traveler, proclaiming an article on “Argentina, The Real Patagonia,” I was skeptical that I’d read yet another article on a five-star Bariloche hotel, yet I was pleasantly surprised. Rather, it was an article about refugios, rustic shelters on backcountry trails in the mountains surrounding the counter-culture town of El Bolsón (pictured at top), about 120 km south of Bariloche. Instead of all-inclusive resorts for US$1,500 per night, author Christopher Bagley stayed in casual places like the Refugio Cajón del Azul (pictured above), where it costs just US$5 to camp or US$15 to spread your sleeping bag on a mattress on the floor (unfortunately, the piece is not up on CNT’s website yet).

While I’ve never spent the night at Cajón del Azul or any other refugio in the vicinity, I’ve done quite a few day hikes, such as Cerro Piltriquitrón (pictured above), with its exceptional panoramas of El Bolsón and Lago Puelo (pictured below) toward the snow-capped Chilean border. Certainly they’re worth a feature article, but I still find it remarkable that the author would even pitch the piece to Condé Nast, let alone get a positive response – a magazine like Outside would have seemed a likelier choice.

All that said, I applaud Condé Nast for the fact that, despite their moneyed demographic, they chose to commission and publish a piece suitable for a broader audience. I also look forward to returning to the area this summer, in the course of updating the current edition of Moon Patagonia.

The Huella Andina: Northern Patagonia's New Trekking Trail

Begun over a decade ago, the Sendero de Chile is an ambitious project to create a foot, bicycle and horseback trail that runs the length of one of the world’s longest countries. Argentina hasn’t yet attempted anything quite so ambitious but, soon enough, a 560-km Huella Andina (Andean Trail) through five northern Patagonian national parks should unite Lago Aluminé, in Neuquén province, with the Baguilt area near Trevelin, in Chubut province.

Like the Sendero de Chile, the Huella Andina will integrate a series of existing forest footpaths to provide a long-distance hiking alternative that could become a major trekking attraction – perhaps comparable to California’s 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail through the Sierra Nevada. From north to south, it will pass through Parque Nacional Lanín, Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes, Parque Nacional Lago Puelo and Parque Nacional Los Alerces. It will also pass through equally scenic areas such as El Bolsón, which are not (yet, at least) part of any national park.

Another way of considering the trail may be “From the Araucarias to the Alerces.” On the Argentine side of the Andes, as in Chile, the monkey puzzle tree and the false larch (also known as Patagonian cypress) are both endemic species with a small geographical range. Araucaria araucana (pictured above, it bears the name pewen in the indigenous Mapudungun language) starts just north of Lago Aluminé and ends around the latitude of San Martín de los Andes, though some may have been introduced into Nahuel Huapi. The alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) has an even smaller range, nearly limited to its namesake national park (the photograph below displays one of the finest specimens).

About midway, the Huella Andina will visit another arboreal attraction – just south of Villa La Angostura, hikers will pass through the myrtle forests of Los Arrayanes (pictured below). While it has a far greater range than either the Araucaria or the alerce, the finest specimens of this red-barked, glossy-leave species are found on this narrow peninsula that juts into Lago Nahuel Huapi).


Moon Handbooks Buenos Aires in Atherton (San Mateo County)
Next Saturday, August 20, will mark the second of several digital slide presentations on the fourth edition of Moon Handbooks Buenos Aires, at various branches of the San Mateo County Library. The event starts at 2 p.m. at the Atherton Library (2 Dinkelspiel Station Lane, Atherton, CA 94027, tel. 650/328-2422). There will be ample time for questions and answers, and books will be on sale.

Atherton, one of the Bay Area’s wealthiest communities, has strong South American connections – Massachusetts-born Faxon Atherton, for whom the city is named, spent 27 years as a merchant in the Chile's World Heritage port of Valparaíso, married a Chilean woman who gave him seven children, and lived in California from 1860 until his death in 1877. He also owned large tracts of present-day Hayward and Watsonville.

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