Today we skied on a Volcano.  Writing that sounds a bit nuts. Really?!?

In reality, it almost feels the closest experience to home so far in our trip.  For those that know us well, we love spending time outside and any Kassels is at their happiest challenging our body in the outdoors! 

Volcano Osorno (Volcan Osorno) is directly across the lake from the village we are living in.  It stands at 8,5000 feet beautifully at the southeast shore of Lake Llanquihue. It is inactive and last erupted in the 1800s.  It has perfect conical symmetry and for the first week of our adventure it has become a grounding and centering point. 

Each morning mom (Steph) provides the weather forecast for the day based on the volcano.  “ooo today the clouds are half way up, she (the volacano) is poking through the clouds, it is going to be sunny and brisk!”  Or “hmmm, looks like we can’t see anything…”

After days of viewing this beautiful iconic gem, we were happy to learn there is a ski area on the mountain. 

Sunday morning we woke like we were headed to a ski race, dad (Seth) giggled around the kitchen as we got ready.  We arrived after an hour drive.  The lodge is quaint.  We bought our tickets $17/person and rented the only available 30-year-old gear.

At first, we kept looking out at the miles of open terrain not a tree in site, just lots of snow and beautiful rock formations and kept asking “I wonder if we are allowed to ski that?”  There were only a handful of skiers at the entire area.  By the middle of day there was no longer a question.  That 1980s gear did not stop this posse of skiers.  It was like we owned the volcano. Seth called the boys over to jump off a cornice into a fresh bowl of powder …as they reached the bottom of the valley you could see the joy streaming out of their entire body.   It was all too surreal. 

As we concluded the day, Noah proclaimed: “That is just what the doctor ordered!” This week was very full for all of us and involved a great deal of translation of Spanish to English, finding something that felt familiar (sort of?) was what we all needed.  The familiarity of skiing allowed us to play, to let our guard down and be present, without having to work to translate the moment.  Now we are recharged, after a Sunday of family fun, ready to dive back into the Chilean culture through school and everyday interactions.