Dec 24^th Saturday

 

Road; Puerto Varas to Ensenada.

The journey was 45 km on two-lane paved road. Again, the road is in very good condition with only light traffic. There is a gas station and many eateries in Ensenada.

Along the way are several paved Miradors with lake views; the closest to Ensenada has a great view of two volcanoes.

 

Morning.

The two massive volcanoes across the lake have vanished. Mt Osorno and Mt Calbuco both a goner under low cloud. It’s about 30 miles as a loon flies to the far shore near Mt Osorno; last night it was a crisp green shore now it’s a soggy smudge. The wind has picked up, there are whitecaps on the lake and a drizzle.

The town is quiet. It has that vibe of the off-season resort that feels the same from Margate to Rimini to Maicolpue. Disused. Stalls and barrows battened down with a patchwork of plywood’s, benches along the waterfront are damp and empty, locals absent too, or distracted.

Obviously a ride is in order.

 

The plan for today and Christmas Day was to circumnavigate this huge lake, in whole or in parts. Tomorrows forecast is for solid rain all day, that’s been the forecast all week and it’s not changing. Today is the day. We packed up our rain gear and headed towards Ensenada at the foot of Mt Osorno. The rain held off the whole afternoon then the heavens opened as we were riding back into Puerto Varas. Made it to the Cabana del Loco just in time.

Mt Osorno the perfect volcano, you could draw it yourself. Isosceles shape, snow covered  top third. Any Japanese print of Fuji tells the story. The cloud cover did’t help our attempts at photography…

After Fuji this must be the only volcano I’ve seen like this, they are never that perfect shape. We learned that the volcano has up to 40 craters around the lower base where the eruptions occur, so it has never blown it’s top.

Here is a picture from Wikipedia to illustrate the classic shape of this volcano.

It’s Christmas Eve and the town seems to have finally realized it’s Christmas and closed down. There are not many options so it’s dinner in the bar until karaoke starts, then we run for cover.

 

 

 

Image credit: By © Silvio Rossi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22737053