On this series I will show you the gorgeous Miscanti Lagoon, located in the meeting of the Andes Mountains with the Atacama Desert, a mixed region called “Altiplano”. At a height of more than 4.000 meters, its waters are derived from the melting of tops of volcanoes and surrounding mountains.

Miscanti is the name of this lagoon but also of the volcano that formed it.

To reach this lagoon you better rent a car. Can be a regular one, if you are a quite good driver, otherwise, prefer a 4×4 car. Just leave the town of San Pedro de Atacama, on North Chile,  and goes towards the border of Argentina.  On this road, you will see lots of mountains and volcanoes and great landscapes. Drive about 120 km and you will reach the entrance of Miscanti, leave the road and enter a dirt road. Just go slow and you won’t have problems. No need to be afraid or suspicious. The ascent is pretty amazing and the road is a spectacle apart.

In this reserve, belonged to indians, you can see flamingos and some wild and free camelideos, as guanucos and alpacas.

To complete this trip and make it more surprising, you have a second lagoon hidden to the right of Miscanti. It’s called Miniques and it’s super gorgeous. 

Buddy, I can tell you for sure, Atacama is the best part of South America.

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Antillanca is a ski and snowboard winter resort located on the slopes of the volcano Casablanca, about 62 miles from the Puyehue Spa, within the Puyehue National Park. It is located 100 km from the city of Osorno, in the Region of the Lakes (X Region), Chile.

It is practically on the border between Chile and Argentina. On the other side of the Andes, in Argentina, you could easily find Villa Angostura, where the neighboring station of Cerro Bayo is located.

The landscape in Antillanca is exuberant, since the volcanoes Puntiagudo and Osorno are always present, in the background. From the top you can also easily see Puyehue Lake.

Through the cable car that climbs to the highest point, you have a view of the volcano’s crater dome.

NEARBY STATIONS
To the north: Pucon
To the east: Cerro Bayo

Official ski resort link:
http://www.skiantillanca.cl

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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El Tatio Geysers are one of the majors attractions at Atacama Desert, if not the most famous.

Must be one of the most visited places in all Chile.

Indeed, it´s a very special place. It´s a kind of surreal manifestation of the planet, cause you have the impression you are in a cloud factory.

All this spontaneous phenomena is caused by the meeting of groundwater table with the heat of the volcanic field which, when release to the surface by the diverse wholes and cracks, in contact with the andean cold air, produces these rare white smoke that looks like clouds.

Tags: north chile atacama desert tatio geysers volcanic field.

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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I was luck to catch a ride with the owner of the ski station and this video shows few scenes of the ascent at the national park road, which leads to the base, where there are entrances and a coffee shop. You can also see scenes recorded from the only 2 chairlifts and a big descent from top till base, passing through the middle of a secondary crater. Recorded at 2006 and 2008 ski seasons.

Osorno is a beautiful pyramid shape and quite simmetrical volcano located at the chilean part of Patagonia. It is active and last eruption occurred at 1869.

There is a good but small and not crowded ski station running on its slopes. Also, people go to Osorno to hike the area or climb its summit on summer.

Osorno belongs to Vicente Perez Rosales National Park and is protected. Enter the park and go by car until you reach the ski resort to see great landscapes.

From Osorno, you can see the big Llanquihue Lake that bounds Puerto Varas and another neighbour volcano called Cabulco, which is also active (last eruption in 2015 and before that in 1972).

Osorno imposes its king presence all around at the nearby cities and can be seen from many points from miles aside.

This name, Osorno, is also adopted by a city nearby. Don´t confound yourself, it´s just a grey city with no attractions, boring. If you plan to go to Osorno Volcano, you have to reach the city of Puerto Varas and not the city of Osorno.

At Osorno Volcano, you can stay at Teski Refuge, very simple but appropriate for such a wild place. As always, at big mountains, weather is so unpredictable. Last time I have been there, I arrived in a beautiful blue sky open day. Next morning, after a great day of snowboard, I woke up with a strong  wind and snow storm that caught me by surprise. I was stucked at the refuge for hours. I was able to get down the volcano because I was luck to have a ride from the park rangers who permitted me to get down with my backpack and snowboard gears at the back of their truck.

This frozen anda arctic scenery which suddenly caught me even raise up my admiration for this unique place for its such enormous force.

Osorno is a unforgettable personage who remains vivid in the mind for everybody who has the opportunity of meeting this giant of Nature.

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Have an idea of the area covered by the ski resort.

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Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

Tags:

#osorno #skiresorts #snowboard #ski #wintersport #chile #southamerica #patagonia #volcanosorno #osornovolcano #vulcanosorno #osornovolcanoe #vulcaoosorno #vulcões #volcanes #travelphotography #landscapephotography

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