Photos

San Carlos de Barriloche (or Furilofche in Mapuche?s idiom) marks the entrance to the Lake District. This region is very similar to the European Alps or the Californian Sierra Nevada and extends itself from the north of the Neuquén province to the south of the Rio Negro province and sits over the Argentino-Chilean?s border.

San Carlos de Barriloche was founded officially in 1905 but Carlos Wiederhold build the first general store in the area in 1895 during the desert campaign (conquista del desierto). The city was named Carlos, honoring Wiederhold, and Barrilloche, which is a derived from Furilofche. Today, Barriloche is a reputed skiing resort in Argentina, the South American equivalent of Chamonix in France or Aspen in the United State of America. It is a holiday resort mostly for privileged. The rich Argentine that usually spend their summer vacation in Mar del Plata in the south of Buenos Aires or in Punta del Este in Uruguay, spend their winter holiday in Barriloche.

On the picture, one can see the Civic Center (Centro Civico) building and the statue of the very controversed General Roca, a most important figure of the ?conquista del desierto? and president of Argentina in the beginning of the 20th century. For the Argentines, the statue is not only a tribute to the ?Libertador? but a patriotic duty. For the Mapuches, in the contrary, look at the monument as a terrible offense to their people who has suffered abuses and killing perpetrated by the Argentine military in the Puelmapu zone.