Niebla

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One day while staying in Valdivia we headed to the town of Niebla to see the market and the old fort there. The scenery is beautiful, with lush greens, rocky grays, and blue water. To get here their are shared cars that bring locals around - taxis would be expensive. Locals take shared cars to docks along the rivers to hop onto water taxis home too, as there are not enough bridges to connect land across this web of waterways. I found it interesting that one of the islands in this river system had remained so isolated for so long that German has been the primary language spoken there since the 19th century when it was settled.

The Costumbrista (the market) was a little slow today, with none of the artisans open, but still plenty of food shops serving. I had a bowl of crab and cheese sauce. Pablo had steamed fish. We planned to pick up some crab and cheese empanadas to take back to Valdivia with us later in the day but ran out of time.

Castillo de la Pura y Limpia Concepción de Monfort de Lemus (the fort)
The Spanish system of forts in the Corral Bay around Valdivia was the largest built in the Americas, protecting Valdivia, a major supply city for the Spanish fleet. One of 12 in this network, this fort was originally built between 1667 and 1672 but due to major damage from battles and earthquakes has been rebuilt and expanded a few times over the years. Coming here it is obvious that there is a proud, patriotic group of Chileans happy to dress up in period clothing, a similar phenomenon to the colonial or civil war reenactors in the States. There is a museum of the the fort system and naval history of Chile with a three rooms of panels to read though and some artifacts. Pablo, (who loves history), and I read them all.

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