Laguna Blanca & Arroyo Turquesa: High-Andes Tour from Barreal, San Juan, Argentina

At first light the road peels away from Barreal’s low scrub and climbs into a thinner air where the Andes begin to assert themselves. A 4x4 grinds out of the valley, dust devils spinning off the axle as the peaks of the Ramada range step into view. By the time you reach Laguna Blanca, the lake sits quiet and silver at roughly 3,100 meters, a natural mirror for a sky that feels larger at altitude. Push higher toward Arroyo Turquesa and the color of the water changes—mineral-rich currents bend the light into a startling turquoise at close to 4,000 meters—and there’s a glacier at the creek’s head that gives the place a hard, geological edge.