Puerto Varas, Chile: In the shadow of the volcano

Making reservations in a place you don’t know, especially when you make them based on information you found on the internet, it can be a hit or miss proposition. We lucked out this time.

Our hotel in Puerto Varas is beautiful. It’s right across the street from Lake Llanquihea and stares happily at Mount Osorno, of the most beautiful snow-covered volcanic peaks this side of Mount Fuji.

The lake is huge. For a little perspective, Lake Tahoe covers 191 square miles but Lake Llanquihue, at 330 square miles, almost doubles that.

Mount Osorno, which stands guard over the northern end of the lake, is one of the most active volcanoes in the Andes. It’s erupted eleven times between 1575 and 1869. Despite its relatively modest altitude and latitude, the upper slopes of the volcano are almost entirely covered in glaciers sustained by gobs of snowfall and a very moist maritime climate. (“Gobs” is a highly scientific meteorological term that I feel no need to define at this time.)

One interesting historical fact: Charles Darwin saw Osorno erupting from a distance in January 1835.

We took the photo atop this post, then turned around and saw this reflection in the front window of our hotel. Any physics or photographic wizards out there who can explain why the volcano looks so massive in this reflection compared to the other photo?