Thursday, December 28, 2017

Capillas de Mármol

The Capillas de Mármol, or Marble Chapels, is a group of mineral formations of calcium carbonate located on several small islands in Lago (Lake) General Carrera, near the town of Puerto Tranquilo in the Region of Aysén in central Patagonia, Chile.


Many tour operators in Tranquilo offer a 90-minute tour by boat of the Capillas. Note the color of the lake water, the milky hue indicating water from nearby glaciers. The lake is the second largest in south America (after Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia) and is shared with Argentina, where the name changes to Lago Buenos Aires. Its surface covers 714 square miles (1850 sq. km.) and has a maximum depth of 2789 feet (850m). I first saw this lake from the air in 1965 and was so impressed by its size and especially its color that I determined to return some day. This was my third visit to the lake.


Lago General Carrera / Buenos Aires Feb. 1965


Over millennia the wave action in the lake caused erosion of the escarpment into myriad formations.






Some of the caves are so large that our boat enters and we can touch the walls





The fellow tourists are not seasick, but are impressed with the view under the water.



The roof of the capilla


And now the tour takes us to the small island called the Marble Cathedral.












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