Our first real stop in Chile was the town of Valdivia.  It´s unfortunate distinction in recent years was an industrial accident that killed 5000 black-necked swans, but these days it seems to have cleaned up that act, and it turned out to be a great place to spend a few days.

Valdivia is an old city, founded in 1552! It´s surrounded by rivers, flowing out to the Pacific Ocean.   For this reason, it was imprtant to fortify the surrounding areas with a number of old forts.  The one in nearby Niebla was the biggest one we visited.  The grounds of Niebla Castle (oficially Castillo de la Pura y Limpia Concepción de Monfort de Lemus de Niebla) took a couple of hours to explore (and included a geocache hidden in one of the walls in an off the beaten path area.  There was also a museum on the grounds with a VAST amount of historical information on the fort, the area, and its original inhabitants.  This area of Chile has a strong Mapuche presence.  They were the only indigenous tribe to resist and not be overtaken by the Inca.  Descriptions of their culture and history reminded us somewhat of the Maori in New Zealand.   They still make up about 4% of Chile´s population.

Before leaving Niebla, we stopped in at Don Carlitos´ for some crab and seafood empanadas.  Delicious.  This was a tiny ramshackle place on the side of the road, just the kind we like.  We were greeted and served by Don Carlitos himself, and we took the opportunity to ask him about a few of the things on the menu (actually, there was no real menu, he just told us what he had.) We kept seeing signs for pullmay. for eample, which didn´t even seem like a Spanish word.  It turns out to me a masive seafood and meat stew involving lots of mollusks, sausage and chicken.  We´ve come across lots on various menus that are called something else in other Spanish speaking countries.  Some things are local specialties, but some are as simple as avocado (palta here in chile, aguacate elsewhere).

Our day continued with a trip across the bay to the town of Corral, where we saw the remains of another big fort.  By the time we got back to Valdivia, it was time for dinner.  We´ve been more than happy to replace all the meat we were eating in Argentina with more seafood in Chile, but the other memorable meal we had in Valdivia was at the Parrilla de Thor, where we had THE BEST meat we´ve had anywhere, hands down.  We also enjoyed a bottle of Carménère and a Chilean salad (onion, tomato, cilantro).

More Valdivia photos