Hunt for deer and Disney

In Argentinian Spanish there is the term "cuento Chino", a Chinese whisper. While travelling south along the vacant yellow grasslands of Patagonia to the Andean lakes district, I am told a cuento Chino that gets my attention immediately. It is said by many locals that Hitler didn't die in a bunker in Berlin - that he actually escaped in a submarine to Argentina and lived out his days in an idyllic lakeside cabin.

It is well documented that many Nazi war criminals, such as Erich Priebke, did in fact live out their days in Bariloche, so the theory is not completely outlandish.

We travel to the edge of the mountains and drive around the cobalt surface of Lago Nahuel Huapi to the small town of Villa La Angostura, called "The Narrowing" in English. The town is all wooden houses and mountain vistas on the shores of the freezing 529-square-kilometre lake. La Angostura is famous for its home-made chocolate and artisan beer, though I'm on the trail of something a little more sinister.

We quicken our pace across the hard crust of ash.

As I arrive at Luma, my boutique accommodation hanging over the edge of a cliff like a Bhutanese monastery, I'm told of another rumour. Apparently, Walt Disney used to holiday here on a peninsula called Bosque Arrayanes that was full of native deer. He is said to have come up with the premise for Bambi from his cabin. Rather than taking a pleasant walk in the hills, I want to discover what is behind these whispers.

Villa La Angostura is buzzing despite the frosty temperature. The people are celebrating the first anniversary of the Puyehue volcano eruption only 45 kilometres from town.

The volcano left an enormous ash cloud that delayed flights for months and eventually settled on the ground with a 40-centimetre film of grit. Appropriately, the citizens of La Angostura are celebrating it with a two-metre chocolate volcano that spews melted chocolate lava from the cone.

La Angostura seems like a fairytale town. Chocolate makers stand at their windows pouring moulds of bunny rabbits and ducklings with liquid chocolate, the streets are lined with pine trees, and smoke puffs from the open fires where restaurants are cooking Patagonian lamb.

After a Bauhaus beer and a plate of locally smoked boar, I'm ready to see what happened to Hitler and Bambi and I enlist the help of Diego Meier, a local guide who grew up in the hills around town.

We drive out towards Bajia Istana, keeping the lake on our left. The road is icy, though we still spy glimpses of the snowy peak of Cerro Bayo that sits like a lighthouse above the sea of trees around us. We cross the bridge over the bubbling flow of the shortest river in Argentina; Rio Correntoso is only a few hundred metres long and connects Nahuel Huapi with Lago Correntoso like an umbilical cord. We enter the grounds of Inalco, the Hitler mansion built by architect Alejandro Bustillo. Through a screen of thick pine trees, we drive down to the quiet shore of the lake.

The house is huge and abandoned; chipped paint and boarded windows suggest it has seen better days. I look out to the view - clear water, distant trees and the frontier with Chile covered in craggy mountains. Diego is sceptical, though lots of people in town are convinced and his grandfather used to know of the Nazis who did live here. As if to heighten the intrigue, the lady next door arrives with a growling German shepherd and suggests we move along, quickly.

We take the hint and head back into town. The streets are full of domestic tourists taking tea and facturas (pastries) at the local tea houses as they explore the Seven Lakes route that traces a circuit of the many mountains, lakes and hidden towns around southern Patagonia.

After an evening sampling the best of Patagonia's "End of the World" red wines, I arrange to trek with Diego the next day from Luma to Walt Disney's cottage in Bosque Arrayanes. Our 12-kilometre trail takes us through icy torrents and sunken bridges that we cross with bare feet. We hear chickens in the brush and continue meandering through the forest as snow begins to fall. I look up when we cross a ridge and he points to the shining white mountains of the frontier of Chile, only 40 kilometres away.

We are surrounded by the grasping limbs of the Coihue trees 100 metres above us. It begins to snow more heavily and we quicken our pace across the hard crust of ash. There is an acrid smell in the bushes and Diego says there are foxes around us marking their territory. We push on to the edge of the lake and take a break. Ash still sits on the edge of the water; Diego tells me there was a coating for months after the eruption. As we walk towards Bosque Arrayanes through thickets of Patagonian bamboo, I assume that the mounds of soft dirt around us are from a flood, but he tells me these are the remnants of the eruption. In one section more than two metres high, we see the layers of ash that date back more than a hundred years from various volcanic activities here; it is like observing the rings on a tree to get a sense of the natural history of the area.

We continue on to the Quetrihue peninsula and I walk through the arrayanes forest to the cabin. The twisted yellow limbs of the 300-year-old arrayanes look remarkably similar to eucalypts, and Diego tells me they are known as the "temu" in Australia. The forest here is immense. I'm surrounded by 50-metre Patagonian cypress, sequoia trees, picea de Serbia and a canopy full of Patagonian birds. I find Walt's cabin - it's now a coffee shop. The owners say it's certainly possible that he found Bambi here. I take a moment to soak in the surroundings. The end of the world, as this region is known, is remarkably peaceful.

After a week in Villa La Angostura, I'm no closer to discovering whether Hitler or Bambi did in fact coexist here, though with the blue lakes, chocolate volcanoes, snowy mountains and boutique beer, I wouldn't be surprised if these cuento Chinos were true after all.

The writer travelled with assistance from Aerolineas Argentinas and Destination Argentina.

Three other things to do

1 Isla Victoria is a picturesque island in the centre of Lago Nahuel Huapi. Take a boat trip and spend the day trekking or having a picnic.

2 Llao Llao, pictured above, is one of the most famous hotels in Patagonia. With views of the mountains around Bariloche and an old-school charm, it is worth checking out.

3 Catedral is the biggest ski resort near Bariloche and offers 120 kilometres of runs in the 1200-hectare resort.

Trip notes

Getting there

Aerolineas Argentinas has direct flights from Sydney to Buenos Aires from $1714. www.aerolineas.com.ar.

From Buenos Aires, there are direct flights to Bariloche with Aerolineas. From Bariloche, there are buses and hire cars at the airport to travel the 80 kilometres to Villa La Angostura.

Staying there

Luma Casa de Montana in Villa La Angostura has eight suites with views across the lake. Facilities include a reading room with fireplace, restaurant and wine bar with resident sommelier, wi-fi, a patisserie and spa. lumapatagonia.com.ar.

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