valdivia

valdivia de chile - home to some serious fog, three rivers, spanish fortifications, university-town charm, german architecture, seafood market sea lions, the pacific ocean, and the overexposed photo - easily the most enchanting of the three cities i visited and probably the only one that made me wish i had someone to throw back beers with. valdivia is probably one of the finest imitations of western europe in all of south america and that isn't an insult. it seems to work. back when chile won independence, the powers that were invited a gaggle of germans over to develop agriculture and build shit. i guess it worked, though once again the indigenous folk kinda lost out. who won? beer drinkers. the kuntzmann family came over and wasted no time building a brewery. thank science, because for that, chile probably has the best beer between mexico and antarctica. though the original brewery was destroyed in an earthquake and version 2.0 burnt to the ground, one still exists and you can visit it and you can taste beers and eat food and buy shit and check out a mini-beer-museum and you can taste beers and i did. my official trip splurge - i spent more money in my 2 hours at the kuntzmann cerveceria than i did in pucón. no regrets.


not for vegetarians, they serve themselves up some meat at the kuntzmann brewery and they serve it serious. the sandwichy looking thing is called "crudo" - raw meat and some onion and cilantro for flavor. the tub of meat is a "parillo" - a bucket of meat with some french fries for your vegetable quotient. the food pyramid is lopsided like woah in valdivia.

valdivia is also famous for its fish market. adjacent to the river which leads straight into the pacific, the market vendors throw their scraps back towards the river and some time ago, the local sea lion populations figured this out. so everyday, while the hustle and bustle of ocean-animal sales occurs, hungry sea lions and their avian friends kick it behind the market and moan for brunch. it's a tourist draw, but it was actually a little sad too. some of them got themselves stuck between trash cans while trying to procure a closer begging post. in the end, they all seemed well fed and i guess that's all that matters.


lastly, valdivia is also well known because it's the launching point for boat tours to corral, niebla, and isla mancera - three spots where one can find 17th century remnants of spanish forts, prisons, cannons, and churches. i only made it to isla mancera becuase of shady tour operators and, ostensibly, ocean currents, but i suppose beauty is best in small doses. that’s our old friend the pacific hanging on the horizon.



yours truly on isla mancera.