Isla Corazón (Heart Island) or Isla Piuqué Huapi at 910 m (2,985 ft) MSL, Mascardi Lake, Nahuel Huapi National Park, the Patagonian Andes, Argentina.

            Isla Corazón is part of Lake Mascardi, where I saw Cerro Tronador, which is the highest peak in the Park: 3,491 meters above sea level and has seven glaciers. However, I was there to find out how and why an island in the middle of that arm is called Heart.

This small piece of land in the middle of crystal clear and turquoise water is wrapped in a legend that involves two feuding indigenous communities and two young men, sons of caciques, in love: one of each. They fall in love and decide to escape, understanding that this decision would not be well received: a kind of Romeo and Juliet of our lands, one could say, with a different but equally tragic ending.

Once they flee, their communities begin their search and subsequent capture: they wanted to be free and enjoy their mutual love; when they realized there was no escape, they began to swim across Lake Mascardi, trying to reach the other shore. The arrows began to sink into the water but nevertheless they reached them and the young men, embraced, died in the lake. In this way, the legend tells, the heart-shaped island, Piuké Huapi, arose.

But, despite this version, there are those who disagree with it, with more or less arguments. There are those who cannot find a “coherent” answer to the name because the shape cannot be seen: it should be noted that the island can be seen from different points, one of them is from the route that leads to Cerro Tronador; another, which already implies more physical effort, is from the Isla Corazón viewpoint, which can be reached after a walk of -minimum- three hours one way and another three hours back.

Another renames the island Chalía, in homage to a girl named Rosalía who was born there many years ago. Clarisa Montenegro, huerquen of the Lof Wiritray, clarifies it. National Parks gives it that name, although she clarifies that it "also has to do with love" because it is through a beautiful memory and declaration of love, such as births.

“We are very respectful of the history that our ancestors who lived in this place told us,” adds Clarisa. Julio Gallardo, Clarisa and Ester Treuque, Lucia and Ester Rauque, Victoriano, Juan Inalef and Cipriano Inalef were the relatives of that woman who was born on the island.”

The love, the disagreements, the name: everything reveals to tourists and neighbors the magic and the profound history of the place for the enjoyment of the family, with friends or as a couple, and in any season of the year: a lake that at times it is turquoise, for others with green tones and others bluish. A mental photograph in each step that is taken. Isla Corazón is there, waiting for us to honor those who were born there or to understand that love does not understand enmities between families or tribes, it is simply love.

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Taken in: Argentina / Rio Negro / Villa Mascardi (show map)

Taken on: February 3, 2023

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Camera: Sony ILCE-6300, f/8.0, 1/125 sec, 16mm (=24mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-6300
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	16mm (35mm equivalent: 24mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Landscape
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Color Space:	sRGB
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