The ground trembled, again, but not as badly as yesterday. It wasn't like this back in Prussia, but then again there wasn't any free land there either. The volcano's been smoking for months now and sometimes at night the peak glows like a thousand campfires and spits orange stars high into the sky.
It's hard to see the snow now too; it's all covered in ash, and maybe even gone, melted. Perhaps we should have left the farm and gone to Puerto Montt like the neighbors, but we can't leave the farm, there's too much work to do. Besides, the Indians say the volcano does this every few years and nothing ever happens, but they've all gone away too!
Volc¢n Osorno did indeed erupt in 1861 and covered much of the surrounding area with ash and fresh flows of lava. The forest was destroyed, either buried or just burned. Then a new forest grew, fast and tall, stronger than ever on the ash-covered soil, or a bit more slowly and stunted on new, hard rock. All of this is but a single dramatic performance in the ongoing tectonic play in this very excitable region.
We had a morning tour as far as the freshwater "port" of Petrohoe with several scenic stops along the way, coming and going. For the entire tour, along the lakes, through the forest, past the picturesque town and chalets, we were "under the shadow" of the magnificent Osorno Volcano for which the picture does only little justice.
