A view of Llao Llao hotel looking from Lake Perito Moreno to Lake Nauel Huapi in northern Patagonia
Photographs PHILIP LEE HARVEY @philip_lee_harvey_photographer
DURING THE 1930S, THE bourgeoisie of Buenos Aires faced a conundrum. Rich on the proits of their young nation, they had become used to extravagant holidays in dawdling by the banks of Lake Como, St Moritz to scoff chocolate and breathe crisp Alpine air. But with Europe in the grip of extremism and the build-up to World War II, they had to look elsewhere.
Around this time, architect Alejandro Bustillo hit on a novel solution. Rather than taking Argentinians to Europe, he decided to have a slice of European-style sophistication constructed in one of the wildest quarters of Argentina. Some 850 miles southwest of Buenos Aires lies the Lake District – the point at which gravel desert rockets up into the snowy summits of the Andes. A territory of lakes of uncharted depths and unconquered peaks, on a good day it might just pass for St Moritz, or maybe Zermatt.