So long Puerto Varas - Hello Valdivia!

Foucault pendulum located along the river walk.

On Christmas eve we drove from the lakes region north to Valdivia, the capital of the rivers region. The city is located at the point where three different rivers join. The city was founded in 1552 by Pedro de Valdivia making it the southernmost Spanish settlement in the Americas at that time.


In the 1840's there was a large migration of German settlers to the city and the German characteristics are still present in the city today. The most notorious is the Kunstmann Brewery (which you will read about next.)

This pendulum was created to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. I still don't understand exactly how it works but you can ask Axel or Wikipedia. 

Valdivia has a beautiful fish and veggie market. Being so close to the Pacific they have great access to fresh seafood everyday.

Wonderful for us to see...

...and a delicious smell for the sea lions nostrils. They hang out by the market waiting for fisherman who are unloading their catch to drop a few morsels for them.

and in their down time.. they nap on the end of the old submarine docked along the river. 

In Spanish they call sea lions Lobos del Mar which translates to wolves of the sea. They call them this because of their famous position throwing their heads back as if to howl at the moon like a wolf.

Michelle loved the sea lions but there are strict rules against feeding them because they can become aggressive. So she tempted this guy. Too bad she only had all natural cashews - needless to say he was slightly disappointed. 

Next we headed over the bridge of one of the three rivers and hopped on a boat to visit the small town of Corral.  It was the headquarters of The Forts of Corral Bay. These were a series of forts built in 1645 to protect the city of Valdivia.

So we explored the forts and the town of Corral for the afternoon.

Here you can see the remains of the most intact fort on Corral. (Sorry for the hazy pictures -  there was a lot of ash in the air from a nearby volcano that was acting up)

We were happy to find warm and sunny weather here after windy and  rainy Puerto Varas. 

Valdivia is also home to one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded not only in Chile but in the entire world. It occurred in  1960 and was measured at 9.5. Turn's out Valdivia wasn't actually the closest city to the epicenter but it was the most greatly affected by the tsunami that followed. First a 26ft wave struck and ten minutes later a 33ft wave inundated Valdivia and  Corral and completely destroyed many of the old forts and the majority of the houses and buildings.

On a lighter note - So many cute little houses!

Happy Christmas Eve! Hooray for pinecone trees!!!

It was a cute and quaint little town but I must say my favorite moment was on the boat ride back. Michelle didn't realize exactly how small her life vest really was...  thankfully we didn't have to abandon ship! :)