Viva Valdiva

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Hello Friends and Family! We ended our journey in the mountains temporarily, seeking peace and somewhere to rest. We have found the perfect place to do so in the beautiful town of Valdivia! During our time here we have had the great pleasure to meet up with Joe’s Uncle and his wonderful family. Eric Quinn his wife June and their two sons Lucas and Joseph have opened their arms to host us the past few days. It has been wonderful to gather local knowledge about the surrounding area and to experience Chilean culture and cuisine with them. Valdivia is a seaport town that offers a plethora of seafood. We opened our taste buds first to some delicious sushi, and continued throughout the next few days to try some of Chile’s finest seafood. Any hopes of losing weight on this trip were quickly forgotten when Joe and Lucas decided to help themselves to fourth and fifth servings. Eric drove us around Valdivia to help us restock some supplies and to get the inside scoop on the city. Lucas because of his forestry obsession wanted to see a sawmill that held one of the legendary Wood-Mizer saws who Eric contracts for in Chile. Eric filled Lucas’s appetite by not only letting him see one in action but also by RUNNING one! After that we started the task of preparing the van for the trip south. We ended up looking all around Valdivia for the supplies we needed, this brought us to some interesting areas that were filled with free treasures! The following day Eric showed us the ranch he owns outside Valdivia where he raises deer and trees. All of us helped Eric load up his truck with some firewood which we delivered to a church in Valdivia. He owns a beautiful piece of land just off of the Pacific Ocean. Seeing the ocean is wonderful. It is amazing that the Andes can come abruptly out of the ocean and stand so magnificent. We also managed to get a little cross training in while we were in here. We had perfect weather which allowed us to get creative and find our own climbing wall to practice on while we rest. After brainstorming what we wanted to do next, we decided to start heading south. First we’re heading to a climbing area outside of Lago Ranco for a few days where we might be able to put up some new routes, and then heading south to take a ferry to Pumalin national park. We would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to the Quinn family for hosting and showing us the Chilean hospitality. Thank you so much for the laughs, the stories, the food, the great basketball entertainment, the driving tips, and dealing with the three of us! You have touched our hearts and we hope that our paths will cross again.

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Photos

Wood-Mizer
Luke operating a Wood-Mizer sawmill in Valdivia

Free Stuff!!
Finding plastic crates to help us organize, we asked if it was okay.

Bouldering
Our makeshift climbing wall