Everywhere you look and every corner you turn, there's a beautiful view to be seen and amazed at.  Decision making has become hard because of this.  We needed somewhere with Internet and some down-time to make a rough plan for the next two weeks, as we'd been winging it the past week, which worked, but our minds craved some direction.  We drove just 30 minutes north of Puerto Montt and ended up in Puerto Varas, a small picturesque town on the edge of Lago Llanquihue.  German influenced architecture reminiscent of Swiss chalets scatter the landscape in front of towering snow capped mountains and volcanoes, while vast, blue waters stretch out in front of you.  

And with the spectacular views, come the spectacular prices for accommodation and food akin to Edinburgh prices.  It's a destination hotspot for both Latin Americans, as well as Europeans not dissimilar as Switzerland would be to Europe.  Skiing and snowboarding in the winter, sailing and hiking in the summer.  We're surrounded by tourists, with coach tours swamping the areas we are trying to view.  Summer in the lakes has started. 

We found a hotel with a swimming pool and flume so that the kids could have some fun, while we spent our time, planning and getting up to date with the blog.  Rain started to fall which made our decision to plan all the more easier, and while Axel and Edith practiced their letters on their iPads, we got down to work.

We did manage a walk up Parque Philippi, which is situated on a hill.  We had hoped to do a "canopy" ride (think really long flying fox), but the office wasn't open, so we just enjoyed the trees and surrounding landscape instead.  

Volcan Osorno was the main volcano rising out of the ground in our view.  It wasn't active and certainly wasn't the most impressive volcano we were going to see that week, but to sit in the hotel bar and gaze across the lake at it, was spellbinding.