Puerto Varas and the Elusive Osorno Volcano

For the first evening of a four-day journey across the Andes mountains, Astrid had booked us a stay at the Hotel Bellavista in Puerto Varas. The large picture window of our room, which has a comfortable lodge feel about it, faces Lago Llanquihue and Volcán Osorno. What we saw when we looked out was a a ‘fine view’ of gray lake and dark overhead clouds.

The view from our window

Puerto Varas:

Known as the tourism capital of southern Chile, Puerto Varas connects with tours to several national parks, Chiloé Island, and across the Andes to Bariloche. According to one source, it is a popular place for young people escaping the mega-city-lifestyle of Santiago. As we made our way from the bus terminal to our hotel, we passed a modern mall, upscale shops and business stores, restaurants, clubs, and hotels — all shadowing the more historic structures built by the city’s Germanic settlers.

Lago Llanquihue:

According to Huilliche mythology, the lake formed as the result of the sacrifice of a beautiful Mapuche maiden to appease an ancient warlock who, in jealousy over her upcoming marriage, spewed fire and ash on her people from a nearby volcano. Regardless of its origins, Llanquihue (which means ‘submersion’ in the Mapuche language) is large — the third largest lake in South America — and spectacularly beautiful. Bordered by two volcanoes — Osorno and Calbuco — it became the heart of German settlements in southern Chile in the nineteenth century.

Volcán Osorno:

The Osorno volcano towers almost 9,000 feet above Todos los Santos and Llanquihue lakes. Covered in glacier, it resembles a symmetrical chocolate-mint ice cream scoop topped with vanilla sauce, and is considered one of the world’s most perfectly shaped volcanoes. It remains active, with the last eruption occurring in 1869. Though I had passed by Osorno twice on my visit to Chiloé Island, it always remained covered in clouds. Today was no exception.

Fine Dining:

Pastel de choclo

Armed with choices Astrid had culled online, we settled for lunch at La Marca Restaurant. Rustically upscale with wood floors, beams, and basket-shade lamps overhead, it specializes in meats and other hearty fare. We overindulged with pisco sours, pocket bread, blood sausage, trout, a corn stew known as pastel de choclo, and a side of mashed potato salad. Some time afterwards, Astrid took a jog along the city’s lovely lakeside costanera. With a still-leaden stomach, it wasn’t her best effort.

Iglesia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús:

Puerto Varas’s most famous church was built of native wood in the early 1900s as a replica of a church in Germany’s Black Forest region. Painted white with red roofs and spires, it sits on a steep hill set back from the lake. Inside, the sanctuary opens up to a series of barrel-vaulted arches leading to the altar, and the ceiling is painted a sky-blue. Unfortunately, in spite of its national monument status, the church looks rundown, and a recently-built mall eclipses the views: it no longer rises majestically above the city, and you have to work to find it.

The Morning Dawns:

From our hotel room that evening, we constantly peeked behind the curtains, watching for the clouds to part over the lake. They didn’t. But when we woke in the morning, in the dawn’s early light, there it was — shadowy and spectral, but Osorno nonetheless.