The Cuero at Lake Mascardi

The Cuero at Lake Mascasrdi

This is a sighting reported in the local media on August 9, 2022. The image below shows the spot where this event took place (a normal, beach on a mountain lake, by a campground.

Subtitulo

Pebble breach on the northeastern tip of Lake Mascardi, looking south/b>. Copyright © 2025 by Austin Whittall

The translation of the article is the following:

"This story ... was compiled by the writer and investigator, Dora Fornaciari and published with other texts of myths and legends in the "Revista Patagónica".
This is the story in first person of an anonimous informant: 'My grandmother said that one time, up here, on the tip of the Mascardi, at the end of the Gutiérrez, there, on that shore, inwards, on the tip of the Mascardi, a very old man, who told that he had lost a dark colt, and was out looking for it, and one day, he said he was going along the coast, the shore of the lake, inwards, to see if he could find it, and he saw a colt, but dark, dark and it was tugging his colt... and it was like half-past eleven, and at that time the animals come out of the water to sunbathe, and he saw it there, but this dark colt didn't notice him. So he threw his lassoo at it, and caught it, and while it was on dry land it didn't pull with strength but as soon as it touched the water, he was dragging him in, into the deep water. And he had to cut the lassoo, he had no choice, because, who knows, the dark colt would have taken him. It was a real cuero.'

This is the source of this post.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Lake Mascardi "creature" (I don't think so)

Lake Mascafrdi is U-shaped and is fed by the meltwater from the glaciers of Mount Tronador which enter its NW tip. Its NE tip on the other hand is a wide valley, with a marshy area that marks the continental divide. Just north of the divide is Lake Gutierrez that drains into the Atlantic Ocean through Lake Nahuel Huapi and the Limay and Negro Rivers. Mascardi, on the other hand, drains west through the Lower Manso River on its SW shore, which eventually reaches the Pacific Ocean throught Puelo River.

It is set at an elevation of 750 m (2,460 ft.), and has a surface area of 39,2 km² (15 sq.mi.). It is deep (on average 218 m - 715 ft.), and in the past its waters had a greenish tint due to the glacial sediments from Mt. Tronador.

The map shows Mascardi (bottom-center), the city of Bariloche on Lake Nahuel Huapi (upper right), Mt. Tronador (upper left). The red arrow marks the spot of the sighting.

Lake Mascardi map

The "serpent"

The following video was published in the news on March 14, 2018 as "Two families assure having seen a 'long serpent' in Lake Mascadri? (source)

The video on youtube, is shown below:

Lake Creature?

This is the story published in the media:

Maricel Gómez, who lives in Bariloche, and her family stopped at a service station (ACA Mascardi - see a Google Street view at this spot, red arrow in the map below).

The lake was calm and they saw a "wake", Maricel described the incident as follows:

"The lake was completely calm and suddenly I saw like a large serpent coming in and out of the water. What protruded above the water was a black, large back, and when it went underwater it left a long wake like two meteres, although that is what it seemed like from a distance, the wake was very long, like those left by planes in ths sky... The hump of the back emerged and submerged in the water, it did so like six times. We all saw it. Even, Cinthia [her sister] thought it was the tail of a snake. We couldn't believe it, we imagined it was a fish or a diver, but no. It was crossing the whole lake, but very far from us."

In my opinion, probably a fish, a diving bird like a huala, a special type of wave known as a soliton, or even the wake of a distant boat. Not a "serpent".

I have fished on the lake in a boat, picnicked on its northern tip by Fresco Creek, trekked its shore to lake Llum, and from the Casalata Creek to the Upper Manso River. I have driven along its coast on Ruta 40 and on the Tronador highway (all these spots can be seen on the map). I never saw anything odd. Just a regular Patagonian Lake.

Lake Mascardi
Top: central part, Mt. Bonete. Middle: Heart Island. Bottom: Mt. Tronador seen from the lake.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall ©