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Published: January 28th 2007
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Beautiful Valdivia
The waterfront fishmarket was fabulous We left Chiloé in drizzle and arrived a few hours later in Valdivia in torrential rain! Fortunately the landlady of our hostel picked us up from the bus terminal but that didn’t stop us from looking like drowned rats as we trudged down the driveway. It was amazing to think that we got THAT wet walking a matter of yards! Luckily we had decent weather for the rest of our stay.
Valdivia is a lovely place at the confluence of three rivers. It was great to see the fish market in action as the fish mongers filleted and cleaned their catch. There were so many varieties of fish, some familiar to us and some not, and mountains of shellfish like mussels and clams. The highlight is not the market though, but the thousands of seagulls and cormorants who flock there for easy pickings, and their battles with the sealions for the richest cast-offs.
We managed to do a river trip one day. The boat navigated along seven different rivers during the course of the afternoon. We were served Chilean Pisco Sour (slightly different from those in Peru - no egg white!) Lunch was exquisite salmon for me and pullmay
(a casserole-type mix of shellfish and meat called curanto on Chiloé where it is cooked in the ground) for Trish. The whole trip was tremendous value and we also got coffee and cake on the way back. All along the rivers we were able to see the damage caused by the 1960 earthquake and tsunami; indeed at times it seemed to be the only thing the guide talked about!! One of the new bridges was constructed at the site of a local legend - if you kiss someone as your boat passes under the middle of it, or your bus passes over it, you will be together for eternity!
At the mouth of the river it meets the Pacific Ocean. Spanish conquistadors built forts in the area and we went to two of them. At the second one, Corral, we were treated to a re-enactment of the battle where the Chilean army seized control from the grasp of the Spanish. It was quite interesting and produced some amusing moments, especially afterwards when you could have photos taken with the soldiers. One boy, about 6 years old, had his photo taken prodding the bayonet of a huge rifle into the
Eye, eye
Looks like the seagulls are vicious when they are hungry! face of a Spaniard!!
On another day we went out to Niebla (meaning fog in Spanish). The weather wasn’t too bad though and we had a good wander around. The reason for going there is to see the Fiesta Costumbria where you can eat all the local fare. We had anticuchos (kebabs) and humita (ground corn steamed in leaves) which were delicious.
One other thing dominates the region - Kunstmann beer! We had a wonderful afternoon out at the brewery eating picadas and drinking the beer. It’s all done in a very typical German style bierhaus befitting the cultural heritage of much of the local ancestry.
Luckily for us, we also caught the start of the Kunstmann Bierfest. Although not quite Munich, it was a fabulous evening. We sat on long tables drinking beer, eating sausages and watching German style Oompah bands and traditional dancing. Russ even got to meet Señor Kunstmann himself - big friends now!! Sadly he didn’t get to meet the newly crowned Beer Festival Queen!!! It was quite bizarre to watch the competitions going on: sawing logs and hammering nails into a piece of wood. Maybe it was the beer but we found
A healthy sealion
That's more like it. it strangely entertaining!!!
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juan
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piscola
great trip. i just wanted to say that it's common to have egg whites in chilean pisco sours. it's not necessary, but i've always preferred them with it. the preparation of the pisco sour is pretty much the same in both countries, but the pisco itself differs. i think chilean pisco is smoother and doesn't have such a strong taste. cheers@