(photo:
Vicente García)
To the South of Mendoza province, Argentina, on an lonely
spot of the Andes' chain that marks the Chilean boundary, a beheaded cone
stands, only partly covered with snow: the Maipo
volcano (5,323 mts/17,464 ft). It is believed that its name derives from
Mapu, that means "country or state" in the Mapuche
indians' language (Mapuche meaning "people from the Mapu").
In the XIX and XX centuries volcanic activity has been reported four times
about the Maipo, the last one in 1912, but they've been enduring fumes
emissions and nothing more. The volcano was first climbed by the mountaineers
Konrads, Brandt, Pelzold, Kramer y Bergner.
Maipo is isolated in the middle of a basaltic
plateau some 3,300 mts/10,800 ft over sea level, an enormous crater of
about 18 km/11 miles of diameter that some suppose to be a volcanic cauldron,
while others believe it to have been originated from a glacier. Its age
is esteemed to be a figure close to the 450,000 years. This basin is crossed
away in many directions by remnants of solidified lava, silent witnesses
of elderly eruptions of the Maipo. During subsequent glacial eras, gigantic
ice hunks displaced these sediments to form isolated mounds around
Laguna del Diamante ("Lagoon of the Diamond"), a
mirror of bluish-green waters of about 1,4 hectares/ 3,5 acres and a maximum
depth of some 70 mts/230 ft. On this surface, the magnificent reflection
of the volcano casts the perfect image that gives the place its name.
Glaciers and precipitations replenish the lagoon's basin to keep it full
all year long, even when it constantly nourishes the substantial Diamante
River.
The mystic charm of the landscape, barren and wind-swept, is deeply perceived
due to the spot's vastness and desolation, the water's translucency, the
smoothness of the beaches' round pebbles, and the aridity's stark contrast
with the waters' tempestuous green.
In the summer, the place hosts a sizable amount of indigenous wildlife:
guanacos (a kind of llama), red foxes, pumas,
cauquenes (a species of duck), condors, águilas
moras ("Moorish" eagles), pink swans. The trout fishing
is very rewarding, particularly the fontinalis species, although a small
number of the "arco iris" ("rainbow" trout)
type can be found, too.
The high altitude flora is mainly reduced to cushion-forming bushes locally
known as "yaretas", however, in many moistened hollows
of the volcanic ground, crowded patches of green verbenas can be found.