Puerto Varas - climbing a volcano!

Volcan Osorno
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We caught the bus at 6pm, which was going to take 15 hours to get to Puerto Varas.  We had heard that the buses in South America were really good (excluding Bolivia and Peru) and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the seats reclined a lot (much more than planes).  We had our own foot rest, cup holder and we could plug our headphones in to listen to the movie on the TV (although it was in Spanish).  A few hours passed and people were starting to sleep, when the co-driver came around giving us blankets and pillows and was reclining peoples seats for them as they were sleeping!  I was almost expecting him to tuck them in!  At 6am i awoke to find a little snack had been placed on my chest!  We were thinking this was way better than any buses we took in Oz!

The tarts we devoured!
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We arrived in the town of Puerto Montt but as there´s nothing to do there, we stayed in nearby Puerto Varas, a colonial german town.  A lot of Nazis moved to Chile and Argentina after the 2nd world war so there is a german influence in the architecture of the buildings and churches, particulary in Puerto Varas.

a little snack had been placed on my chest!

The town itself is very quaint.  It´s situated on Lake Llanquihue, one of the biggest lakes in South America.  In the backdrop of the lake you can see 2 volcanoes, of which Osorno is the most famous.

The German cakeshop!
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That night we met a French guy, Richard, an Italian guy, Christian and a German girl Sabrina, with whom we arranged to hire a car for the following day, to drive around Lake Llanquihue and climb Mount Osorno.

So we were up bright and early the next morning, met the guys who had hired the car and we set off around the lake.  A memorable stop was at a town called Fruitilar, which according to the Lonely Planet was home to the best tarts and cakes this side of the Atlantic.  So of course we had to stop and buy 5 massive slices of cakes which we inhaled - beautiful"

Christian finishing them off!
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With all the sugar inside us we headed for Mount Osorno, in the hope of burning our extra calories by ascending the volcano.  The drive there took us further around the lake, where the view of the valcano was really impressive and up the steep windy roads to the skifield.  The ski resort is on the volvano itself but it was very small.  There were only 3 chairlifts and one of them took 30 minutes to get to the top!

We started our hike to as close to the top as we could go.  It was fairly physical and having done no exercise for a very long time, it was tough.  We made it as high as we could after 50 minutes of walking uphill, where the view that met us was really spectacular.  It had been worth the pain!  The view stretched out over the lake on oneside and over the Andes on the other.  It was really beautiful.  Needless to say the hike down was a little faster, althoguht not easy on the snow!

On route to climbing the volcano
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After dropping off Sabrina, who had to catch a bus, we stopped at a horizontal cascade ´waterfall´ where the water was so clear, it was impressive!

Richard and Christian had eaten at a fish/seafood restaurant the day before, which they raved about and which we had read about.  Rob and I really wanted to eat there and the 2 lads were happy enough to go back again so we made it to ´la Olla´, 10 minutes before it shut!  The problem was, the boys had a bus to catch at 8.30pm so we only had an hour to eat.  The boys ordered for us, which was great as they´re fluent in spanish and what they ordered us was AMAZING!  The best fish and seafodd i think i´ve ever tasted!  Heaven!  The only thing was it was a little rushed and Rob and I could have spent hours there drinking wine and nibbling at our seafood!  Nevertheless it was bloody nice!  We left the boys, who were really nice guys and retired to our hostel (that sounds posh!)