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Published: January 25th 2007
Fort of Isla Mancera
The scottish lord didn't leave much.My original plan was to stay just for a week in Pucón and then cross the Andes to visit our neighbour. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case because of a credit card issue. On my arrival in Pucón on the 10th, I found out that my Visa card was blocked and had to wait for a new one, which would take an extra week to arrive.
These are things that usually happen. I dried my eyes and decided to take advantage of that extra time to meander around the region. The day after ascending the volcano, I went off towards the coast and the town of Valdivia known to be one of the most attractive cities in the Lake District. It’s a relaxed and pleasant university town surrounded by three rivers that then join into a bay. Many parts of the city have German influences and the most well known of all is its brewery.
I stayed just two days there. On my 1st day, went to visit the bay of Corral just outside of Valdivia. The road down towards the bay hugs the river side and as you head further down, the river gives way to a spectacular landscape with
the Pacific Ocean entering the bay. The entrance of the cove is guarded by three Spanish colonial forts, which during the fight for independence were captured by a Scottish Lord who was named admiral of the Chilean navy and took the responsibility of kicking out the Spanish. One of the forts I visited was isolated on the island of Mancera inhabited by only 30 families.
On the following day I stayed in Valdivia sight seeing. Getting up fairly late, first thing I decided to do, was visit the local brewery and try some local samples for lunch. It ended up being a disappointment as they had no open visits of the brewery to the public and no free sampling. Instead they only had a museum smaller than a shoe box with a massive souvenir shop and an overpriced restaurant. To console myself I had a Guiness but tasteless look-alike beer and the cheapest food I could afford, some raw mince on two slices of toast. It created an unpleasant and explosive cocktail mix during the rest of my stay.
I then continued my stroll in town and visited the heaving fish market that was situated right on the riverbank. The
place was full of life and very entertaining to watch. You really felt like being in the circus. With all the different seafood and fish on display, there was a constant battle between the fishmongers and the seagulls who kept on trying to snatch what they could. At the back of the market, you could see sea lions who also wanted part of it by floating a long the shore mooching for scraps.
My stay in Valdivia was short and had to get back on Thursday 18th to Pucón for that Visa card. Six days later and the freaking thing still hadn’t arrived! I have been in a daily rut, finding out where the card is and killing time on the beach because it’s too expensive to do any other activities. Last Tuesday, I found out that it still hadn’t arrived in the country and that when it gets to Santiago it would take another week to be in Pucón. I was determined not to stay any longer and kindly asked my cousin to take care of the issue as she’s staying until the end of the month. Hopefully in March I will then pick it up in Santiago
on my way up north. For the time being, my life will just depend on very generous parents and Western Union branches.
I have now picked my rucksack after staying in that town for so long and crossed the boarder to visit our beloved Argentinean brothers in the town of San Martin de los Andes.
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diego
non-member comment
shuuuuushe!!
bonito valdivia eh??? ..........pasalo bien amigo cuaqluier cosa escribe ....yo me voy pasado mañana a rio de janeiro .......... estaremos en contacto....................viva southamerica and chile!!