In 2003, along with my wife, stopped three days at the Inn Puerto Blest, an arm of Lake Nahuel Huapi, which flows into the mountains almost to the border with Chile. The idea was to make a number of walks that lead to gaps in height between the Valdivian forest there remains pristine. The boat passed us along to an island which is buried a beloved character for Argentina: Perito Moreno. Even today it is the custom of the boats to sound the horn three times in salute. I still was not going to write my book "The limit of lies" but when, Several years later, I wrote the end of the book I had in mind that sunny morning.
The Perito figure may seem, perhaps, "Too" Argentine since he was involved in the demarcation of the border and, using various ruses (very Argentine, certainly), able to accept the offer Argentina. But, beyond the myth and legend, the truth is always Moreno pointed to the border was fair to both parties, only way that there is a lasting peace between these two brotherly countries.
The other reason to remember and honor the Perito is that, lands that the Argentine Government granted, He donated them to the pimer to become national park. Thus was born and therefore preserves the wonder that is the National Park Nahuel Huapicuya head is the famous city of San Carlos de Bariloche.
The venue for his final resting place, Brazo Blest the Lake, in whose heart his remains, witnessed several of his adventures and to remember your last trip, twenty-four years after his death, nothing better to copy the last lines of my book:
San Carlos de Bariloche - January 1944
It coffin of Francisco Moreno Pascasio, Argentina flag-draped, had traveled from Buenos Aires through the Pampas and Patagonia, as he had done so many times. It was a symbol that was a train that will take, as the Perito was the visionary who dreamed of one plying the vast plains of the country.
San Carlos de Bariloche was a small town but the 22 January was huge crowd that gathered to see him off. The coffin was placed in the middle of the Civic Center plaza, to the foot of the monument to Julio Argentino Roca. It seemed that the former president did not want to miss the opportunity to greet, in his last great journey, who was the best defender in the country boundaries.
Aboriginal community members put ponchos Shaihueque chiefs, Catriel and Pincén on his coffin before it was uploaded to Modesta Victoria in the nearby pier
The band started playing the anthem, saluted the military and the rest of the audience singing hard put his hand over his heart. Then several characters said words referring Government, but very few had known. Sixty-eight years after his arrival at the place and very close to where he peaked, first, Argentina flag on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the Perito Moreno eventually received the homage he had always deserved. Aboriginal community members put ponchos Shaihueque chiefs, Catriel and Pincén on his coffin before it was uploaded to Modesta Victoria in the nearby pier.
He left the ship with an entourage and the town of Perito dismissed with twenty-one guns. The Modesta Victoria continued sailing south and near that old cypress, where he had been taken prisoner, turned to the West for a long and narrow fjord leading into the Cordillera. The Perito knew well that place.
His remains were landed on an island which had built a mausoleum sober. They lowered the coffin, I put in place and a slab covered it. While two men sealed the joints a priest read the Gospel. When completed, made the sign of the cross and all present followed suit, then six riflemen fired into the air and hundreds of birds took flight. Sadly, everyone jumped on the Modesta Victoria. When I started the engine to take back to San Carlos de Bariloche Captain sounded the horn three times, one last salute to the Expert. So fue Francisco that remains in soil that island, thereafter it was called Sentinel Island.
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Gerardo Bartolomé traveler and writer is. To learn more about him and his work go to www.GerardoBartolome.com
