The Osorno Volcano is an immense, perfect cone shaped mountain rising up from the lake across from our cabanas. The top is snow-covered at this point (early fall), and is part ice field and part glacier. After looking at this behemoth towering over us for 3 days, we finally got a chance to climb up it.
Climb shouldn't be taken too literally, though. We took a van up to a ski resort and then started hiking. It was a short hike (only 3 hours), but we went up about 1500 feet or so, and were high enough to see the ranges of mountains stretching away into the distance. The lake the cabanas were on was covered in fog and clouds, and there were clouds over a lot of the valleys, but the peaks were clear and the sky was blue. Clouds were curling over the top of Osorno in quite a magical way. The last time Osorno erupted was in the 1820's, although it is definitely still active, as are the other 2 volcanoes in the area. The trail, such as it was, was over loose volcanic scree. It was a great chance to get a sense of how mountainous the area is.
After coming back down, we left our cabanas and drove back along the lake to Puerto Varas, about 15 km away. This is another heavily German influenced town. We wandered around the town for a few hours, then had our last dinner together. In the morning we return to Santiago. By chance, 3 of us are staying in the same area in Santiago after the trip. Sounds as if two of the other folks will join me in an expedition to Valparaiso on Thursday.
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