Bariloche: Patagonian Lakes in the Andean Light

San Carlos de Bariloche sits at 770 meters on the south shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi, the largest lake in the Argentine Lake District, with the Tronador volcano (3,491 m) rising to the south-southwest. The lake, 100 kilometers long, faces north from the city shore; at sunrise Nahuel Huapi glows from the east and the Andean peaks behind catch first light on their snowy summits. Cerro Otto (1,405 m), 4 kilometers west, gives the panoramic city-and-lake view. Cerro Campanario (1,049 m), 18 kilometers east, is a 30-minute hike to one of the most celebrated lake panoramics in the world: the Lake District from above. At -41.1°S, golden hour extends to about 43 minutes in the austral summer (December through February), with solstice sunsets past 9:30pm. Patagonian air is clean and the extreme latitude produces long shadows and saturated colour unlike anywhere else in the Americas.