Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a good night´s sleep I´m off to see the perfect volcano. Osorno is 2625 metres high and is in proportion, unlike the lop-sided Lanin. It overlooks another volcano (Calbuco) and Lake Llanquihue which means ´deep place´ in the indigenous language.
It´s cheating a bit but we drive up to the 1300m mark where there is a ski-lift to take you other 300m to the snowline. I´m looking forward to not walking up a volcano for a change but unfortunately it´s blowing a gale and no one wants to brave the ski-lift as they are swinging fairly precariously!
Again the 300m ascent is tough as my feet sink into the volcanic sand and I´m blown backwards by the ferocious wind (my lungs hurt - not sure if it´s the wind or the swallowing of volcanic dust), but it´s worth it to see beautiful Osorno and it´s artistic valleys of ice.
Osorno has an interesting legend. When it erupted a long time ago (the last time was 100 years ago) and killed lots of people, the locals assumed their god was angry with them and to appease him decided to sacrifice a Persian princess. She was betrothed to someone so taking her away from her lover broke her heart. The locals killed her anyway and extracted her heart. A condor picked it up and dropped it over the volcano, forming a glacier.
Not content with one amazing sight today we´re off to Vicente Perez Rosales National Park to see the Petrohue rapids and waterfalls. Rio Petrohue means 'insect (well a type of insect) place' and it´s stunning - aquamarine-coloured rapids and a lovely waterfall (Saltos de Petrohue) with a view of Osorno in the background. Not sure I can take much more beauty.
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