The Marble Caves
The Marble Caves and Cathedral started forming about 15,000 years ago when retreating glaciers carved out General Carrera lake, which in turn started slowly eroding the marble in the area. Tori and I stumbled across them watching Noraly Shoenmaker’s “Itchy Boots” YouTube channel when she featured them on her own trip through Patagonia in 2021 and seeing them was the inspiration for this part of the journey for us.
We booked a 9am tour with an English-speaking guide that was supposed to last about 1.5 hours so we’d have plenty of time to make it to the border with Argentina before it closed in the evening. We woke up to clear skies but temperatures in the mid-30s as we made our way to the docks and prepared for our tour. Despite our best efforts, we ended up on a boat with Spanish-speaking guides and were lucky we’d at least re-watched the Itchy episode the previous night to get some of the details.
There were at least a half-dozen other tour boats out with us, and the pilots and guides clearly had it down to a science as we poked into and through the caves. The contrast of the almost bright blue glacial lake water against the marble was striking, especially with the snow-capped peaks of the Andes in the backdrop. We even got to see a condor take off from its cliff side nest as we approached. The tour ended up lasting about 2.5 hours — while we were grateful we got our money’s worth on the trip, it did add some pressure to the drive later.
Into Argentina
After a quick lunch, we hopped in the car and started the four hour, mostly unpaved route to the border and into Argentina. The surface was generally better than the previous day; there was no major construction but a lot of corrugation, pot holes, and dust. Almost the entire 173 km route to the border followed the perimeter of Gen. Carrera Lake, so we got to continue seeing the same gorgeous lake, rivers, and mountains for most of the drive.
The border between Chile and Argentina splits the Andes themselves, so approaching the border meant climbing onto rougher roads with steep ascents and switch backs. The terrain got more rugged and desolate as we climbed, eventually starting to resemble Wyoming and Nevada as we got into more arid areas. The crossing itself was relatively easy, even with the extra stamps needed for the rental car. The border guards and customs agents were friendly in both countries, and it only took about 30 minutes to leave Chile, cross the few kilometers of no man’s land, and enter Argentina.
After the tight mountain roads of the Carretera Austral, it was kind of shocking just to drive the last 65 km in almost a straight line. The town of Perito Moreno is a bit rough around the edges but still friendly; he had a bar-food dinner before getting back to our fairly rustic cabin to rest up for a long drive on Rt. 40 in the morning.
