Hostería Hualcupén - Copahue - Patagonia - Neuquen

Copahue and Caviahue are located at the Norwest of the Province of Neuquén, full in the Andes mountain range, near the international limit with Chile, at the bottom of the Copahue volcano (2953 m.o.s.l.) and at the shore of the Caviahue Lake (1600 m.o.s.l.), respectively.

CAVIAHUE

(1607 m.s.n.m.) that in mapuche language means "place of party or meeting", 352 away from Neuquén Capital with access by paved routs (Number 22, 21 and 26), and 1500 km. Away from the Capital Federal.
Located in the Provincial Park Copahue of 28.300 Hectares, with forest of Pehuenes (Araucan Araucaria), lakes and lagoons, basalt terraces, and waterfalls, it offers to the tourists a unique spectacle, remaining covered by snow still in spring.
This tourist centre provides seasons of 4 to 5 months of snow with extensive sky tracks, combined with summers where comforting thermal baths can be enjoyed. Caviahue is the settlement of the permanent inhabitants of the Provincial Park and offers services to visitors regarding to accommodation, feeding, excursions, recreational and sport activities. Besides it is an alpine and cross-country skiing centre, and integrated mountain station. It has numerous natural attractive such as the Copahue volcano, the old crater, the amphitheatre; the lakes Caviahue and Trolope ; Lagoons like Las Mellizas (the twins) , Escondida (hidden), El Rincon (the corner), the Hualcupén, Negra (black) and the Achacosa (frail); Waterfalls of Del Agrio (the bitter), Escondida (hidden), Del Basalto (the Basalt), Cabellera de la Virgen (Hair of the Virgin), Del Gigante (the Giant), Del Aº Blanco (the With stream), De la Usina (the power plant); places to observe the flora; paths and footpaths of high scenic value. Other activities in addition to alpine and cross-country skiing are: ice skating, excursions in snow-tracks, stroll in snowmobiles, trips in sledges, cavalcades, trekking and fishing.
In Caviahue has been created the CEARART (Centre of evaluation, concentration, training in medium altitude of high and medium yield associated to the thermal rehabilitation) whose objective is to improve the quality of life, prevention, treatment and treatment of physical state of the people. This centre is in the stage of executive project, constitutes a scientifically valid alternative for the tuning for the preseason of the precompetition of the elite sportsman for high and medium yield, in all sport specialities. Caviahue counts with a plan of Tourist Development and a General Plan of Management of the Provincial Park Copahue., instruments that allows the investors to define clearly the policies and to accede to the possibility of a tourist development of the area with definition of strategies, rolls, perspectives and guidelines of growth either as the identification of programs and public and public projects.

COPAHUE

Copahue is acceded from Caviahue by a debris path (until Caviahue it is totally paved) it is located 2000 meters over the sea level, 19kms away to the north of Caviahue, it is a unique thermal centre in America because of the variety and quality of its waters, mud and seaweed. It works during the summer season and has begun in an incipient way to develop tourist activities during the winter season, thank to the heated pave that was finished in 1999. Its Complex thermal of Balneoterapia (health spa therapy) is prepared to provide 2500 bath per day. It is zone privileged by nature, from which thermal and mineralised waters emerge from the Earth sine, that because of its biological and physic - chemistry characteristics acquires cosmetic and medicinal therapeutic properties. The springs of Copahue surprise by the great existing waters diversity: Laguna del Chancho (Pig lagoon), Verde (Green), Sulfurosas (sulphurous) and Volcan (Volcano), ferruginosas (ferruginous) and drinkable like the Vichy, de Limón (Lemon), de Hierro (Iron) and del Mate. Mud, steams and seaweed complete the techniques of a natural treatment with hydrotherapy, inhale therapy, fythotherapy, mud therapy or climatotherapy supervised by medical and paramedical professionals. The EPROTEN (Provincial entity of the springs of Neuquén), manages, controls and audits the thermal resources.

GEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS

The Complex Copahue Caviahue is located at the NW of the Province of Neuquén, full in the Andes mountain range, aproximately 37.50' of south latitud, over the argentinian-chilenian international limit. It constitutes a volcanic region that has gone under modifications because fo the action of the glacier. The shape of the land are moderately rough, with small hills that stands out from a waved and with elevations topography that vary between the 1.600 and 2300 m.o.s.l. In this enviroment you can distinguish to the West the volcanic bodies of the Copahue vulcano and to the East and North an abrupt steep of 400m that separates the area of an inclined plateau. This steep is crossed specially by the rivers Agrio and the Hualcupén stream, that drain the region. Numerouse lakes of dimmensions that can reach the 8 hectares can be found in this zone. The thermal waters that characterize the region are of superficial, current, or infiltrated, coming from the defrosting of the mantels that cover the zone. The place named Termas del Copahue (springs of the Copahue) is located in a hollow of 600 m of length, being buried under snow during a great part of the year. Caviahue is located to the homonimous lakeside, 17 km. From Copahue. With a latitude of 1.600 m.o.s.l. It has a better landscaping quality and enviromental conditions less severe than Copahue.

CLIMATE

Copahue like all places of high mountain (we are at 2000 mts altitude over sea level) has warm days and really cold days, the nights are normally very cold, it is probably even to have snow days either in full summer. It is advisable to bring clothes for summer and warm clothing like also a pair of boots. It is essential to bring a really good solar protector because of the great altitude and the sky without contamination causes us to have a very hard solar radiation. We have lack of weather data to climatic characterization of the park. Over the existing databases the annual average temperature would oscillate between 3ºC (37.4F) and 4ºC (39.2F), with average temperatures below zero during winter and great thermal amplitude during the summer period. The rainfalls would surpass 2000 annual millimetres, concentrated during winter when it is predominantly snowy. The greatest frequency and intensity of the winds would correspond to the west quadrant, with maximum velocities over the km/h.

GROUND

(extracted from the report elaborated by Irisarri, J. Y Muguerza, D. 1988) In the zones corresponding to the semi deserts of altitude. Predominate widely the rocky outcrops of vulcanite, mainly basic. The grounds have been developed from Holocene volcanic ashes. They are characterized as Cryandepts tipyc when they are slight. All this subgroups present an important state of allophanisation demonstrated by its high PH in FNA, high values of retention of phosphates and hydric retention.
The grounds of the forested zones are those that presents more development demonstrated by the appearance of a horizon of accumulated organic matter more marked that the previous case. The thickness of the horizontal surface oscillates between 30 and 50 cms. And the tenors of organic matter reach values between 20 and 30%. The allophanisation degree results similar or even smaller that the inferior limit of the forest. This would indicate that the superior limit of the forest wouldn't be given by the characteristic of the grounds, being possible about an answer to the climatic conditions.
They are grounds developed from volcanic ashes. In some places, these ashes contaminate coluvial deposits, but they continue governing the pedogenetic process, characterized by the andosolization.
The inferior limit of the forest generally occupied by the ñire, the allophanisation degree is smaller, which demonstrates because of the blackest surface of the horizon and the domain of the humic acids in the division of the organic matter. These characteristics put on relief a drier summer and a greater contrast of seasons (cold and wet winter/warm and dry summer). This grounds were characterized as Dystrandepts typic those of the portion.

VEGETATION

Phytogeographically are represented the Districts of the Pehuen (Subantarctica Province), Subandino (Patagonic Province) and Altoandino Austral (Altoandina Province). The park constitutes the northern limit distribution of the Araucaria araucana. In addition in the park there are ecotypes and endemism, like Rodophiala araucana and Senecio polyphillus.
The stepped (District Subandian of the Patagonic Province) constitute the type of predominating vegetation, extending to slopes, plateaus and bottoms of valleys under the 2.000mts. They dominate diverse species of coirones (throng and stocky shrubs of slowest growth), sufutrices and low and dwarf shrubs, semi deserts with relatively high percentage of naked ground (20 to 60%) extend over the 2.000mts. In the high slopes of the western sector and in the edges of the mountain range of Trolope and of the Palos Parados. The cover of the vegetation is low, in the order of the 30% in the lowest zones, diminishing as increases the altitude until it disappears over the 2400m.
A considerable amount of mallines (wet prairies) of height is associated to the hydric born over the 2000m.
Divers cushions, mosses, couch grass, from reeds, from cypresses, and other herbaceous ones shape these complex shrubs-shrubs.
Below the 1.700mts. and in zones of plain topography or weak slope, with grounds submitted to different degrees of hydromorfism, it is common the extensive mallines development, characterized by a closed herbaceous status, generally dominated by the reeds and cypresses ones.
The Ñire (a typical specie of the region), one of the typical fagaceae of the Subantartic Province, forms mosaic and monospecific thickets with steppe vegetation, occupying plateaus, hillside and slopes in diverse sectors of the park. The other present nothofagus, the lenga, forms thickets and low forests of a very restrictive distribution.
The forests of araucaria constitute a distinguishing feature of the park, although they occupy a relatively reduced in the surrounding areas of the lake Caviahue and in the valley of the river Blanco.
The araucaria is an endemism of the andin-patagonic region of restricted distribution as much in Argentina as in, representing the forests of the Park the northern limit of the distribution of this spices in Argentina. They occupy hillsides and rocky outcrops below the 1.800m. and it is of pure forest of Araucaria araucana between which four subtypes were detected, taking into account the differences in the structure and in the composition of the floristic composition of the underbrush.

FAUNA

The park has a particular faunistic interest because it is a zone of transition and interdigitation between three big ecological regions: the Altoandina (High-Andin), the Subantarica (Subantartic), and the Patagónica (patagonic) with the addition of some elements are typically owned by the contiguous regions of Chile. The park seems to be the southern limit of the altoandinos elements like the Phymatarus palluma, Euneomys cf. Mordaz and the andin gulls Larus serranus, the last two documented for the first time for the Province of Neuquén.
The Park is also located at the north limit of the andin-patagonic forests, which has already, began to lose elements. Including the north limit known for the distribution of species like Bufo variegatus Pleurodema thaul, Liolaemus pictus, Choloephaga poliocephala, Anas specularis, Colaptes pitius and Xolmis pyrope just to mention some.
As well, it seems to be at the north limit of elements of the patagonic steep like Liolaemus rothi and Euneomys cf. Chinchilloides.
We should emphasize the presence of some endemism of the neuquinean west, like Liolaemus coeruleus, and especially of a frog of the Atelognathus sort, still not identified that might turn out to be a strict endemism of the Provincial Park.
At last it is characterized by the incoming of a group of typical species from centre south of Chile, like the Liolaemus altissimus, Liolaemus lemniscatus and Ctenomys maulinus, all restricted in Argentina to a narrow strip of the mountain range at the west side of Neuquén.

COPAHUE LEGEND

Copahue is the name of a volcano that has in its peak a lagoon that contains heavy water, meaning, and rich in hydrogen at the rising state. In a gap of its eastern slope exists gushes of thermal water that enjoys high medical virtues.

The legend tells that a chief called Copahue that fell in love with an Indian to whom he get married and take her to his lands. The tribe did not accept her and decided to wage a war to him. In this action Copahue died. His companions took him to bury him to the same place where the lovers first meet. When they where digging his grave, brought forth a hot water spurt that was the origin of the famous springs.