Valdivia, Chile

The title of this blog is “Michelle’s South American Adventures.” When I came up with this title more than a year ago, I certainly did not think that every other blog would be about traveling. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone wondered if I was actually working.

As some of you know, Chile is an extremely diverse country. It is a 2666 mile strip starting at the tip of Peru and stretching all the way to territory in Antarctica, with coast on one side and almost all mountain on the other. The north holds the world’s driest desert, geysers, and Inca geoglyphs as well as clear night skies for some of the world’s most important astrological observatories. The central region is filled with wine vineyards and beaches as well as the country’s largest city, Santiago. In stark contrast to the north, the south is diverse with volcanoes, rainforests, coastal life, and glaciers. All in all, one would be crazy not to see all they could while they are here, especially when traveling is so cheap.

Two weekends ago, my fellow Associates and I bought a $28 round trip bus ticket to the coastal city of Valdivia, Chile, located just 10 hours south of Santiago. This trip was especially significant for us because it was our last as a group – Ryan, Caitlin, and Roy will be ending their two years of service this month and leave on October 27th to return home to the United States.

Before leaving Santiago, every person told us that Valdivia is beautiful. In fact, many claim that it is Chile’s most beautiful city. I found this odd considering that my guide book says it rains 184 days of the year...that almost exactly every other day if distributed equally. We were also told to experience the things Valdivia is famous for: fresh seafood, Kunstmann beer (German beer brought to Chile by early German settlers in late 19th century, the sea lions, and of course, the beautiful scenery.

Everything met our expectations as we ate an awesome dinner of fish fresh from the ocean, visited the Kuntsmann factory/restaurant (picture below), had an afternoon picnic on the beach, and took a 3 hour boat tour of the city and surrounding area. (During the boat tour we actually docked on a small island and took a tour, where we saw a church build in the 1600’s and the biggest tree I have ever seen, pictured right). We even spent part of an afternoon visiting a Spanish fort built in 1645 that stuck out of the coast on a beautiful cliff, looking out onto the ocean in order to catch potential invaders in crossfire.

And yet, I could have spent my entire day at the fish market with the fishermen and the sea lions. It is hard to describe, but hopefully these videos will help:

Fish Market Video 1

Fish Market Video 2

So yes, the videos are not of me but of random people I found on the internet...but they do the trick. The fish market was simply incredible. All kinds of sea creatures for sell that I had only seen on the Discovery Channel. Live crabs in crates, sea urchins, eels, lots and lots of fish as well as many I have no clue what they were. I laughed at myself while walking through the market: I knew that if I could preserve them without the retched side effects, I would have bought one of everything to bring back to the United States. I stood along the side of the market and just watched, it was a truly fascinating sight. Fishermen and women cleaned fish from huge crates brought in directly from the ocean, while others sold what was just cleaned or bought what they had to offer. For me it was a cultural market, for them it is just another day.

Enhancing this experience was the presence of the sea lions – the citizens of Validiva see these animals as we see squirrels in the trees, they are just there. The occasional and huge 800 pound sea lion that, 5 times the size of one person, would hobble up to the fisherman and receive a bit of scraps of the cleaning. Other sea lions would play on the local docks while others would swim in and out of the water. All of this while pelicans and other exotic birds (well, exotic to me) hung out until the occasional fish thrown into the water caused them to dive into the water in search for the piece before the sea lions got to it first (think of the scene in Finding Nemo with the birds screaming “Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine” haha). As I said, I could just watch this all day. Later that evening, we were walking along the water and came across two huge groups of sea lions, resting from the day’s activities, one on a dock in the water and the other on a side walk. (Fun fact: A group of sea lions in the water is called a raft.) Not bothered by people, I got close for a picture to show both the size of these massive animals and just how nonchalant they really are:

Needless to say, we spent another 2 hours watching them, with the occasional walking to and from the other group. A few even taunted us by walking close, causing us to run away quickly – it is amazing how fast these tranquil beasts could appear dangerous in just a few seconds time.

I had a wonderful time in Valdivia. As far as Chile’s most beautiful city, I would have to say that it is in the running but I have yet to experience everything Chile has to offer in order to validate such a statement. Looks like I will just have to travel a bit more…and don’t be surprise if I blog about that next adventure too.

Fiestas Patrias

It was said on the news that Chile has more feriados, or federal holidays, than any other country in South America. It is not uncommon to have at least one or two days a month where there is no work or school and everyone just takes the day off. No one second guesses this, just part of the culture. But then again, who would?

Knowing this, it wasn’t surprising when President Michelle Bachelet signed a law making the celebration for Fiestas Patrias, Chile’s Independence Day, a five day celebration this year instead of the usual two. Let me explain: Fiestas Patrias consists of two days, September 18 and September 19. September 18 commemorates the proclamation of the First Governing Body of Chile in 1810 and the beginning of the Chilean independence process. September 19 is known as “Army Day” or “Day of the Glories of the Chilean Army.” This year, September 18 was a Tuesday and September 19 was a Wednesday, leaving Monday in the middle of four days that can be used for celebrating (let’s not waste the weekends!). Thus, President Bachelet signed a law making Monday an official feriado this year, providing the Chilean people 5 days to celebrate the nation’s independence.

Not all Chileans celebrate Fiestas Patrias exactly the same and in Santiago, with 6 million people, there are plenty of options available. There are fondas, or carnivals/fairs complete with craft tents, live music, and lots of food. There are rodeos, kite flying competitions, and parades. There are concerts around the city and lessons to learn the national dance, the cueca. And regardless of where it is or what is going on, each day is filled with lots of food, beer, wine, and chicha (a very sweet Chilean version of sangria, made from fermented grapes and lots of sugar and fruit). For my first Fiestas Patrias, I was determined to take advantage of as many things as possible and celebrate each day to the fullest, having the ultimate Chilean experience.

For me, Fiestas Patrias ended up a 6 day celebration, starting with a carnival and barbecue with the kids at the orphanage I visit each week on Friday. Meeting up with other kids who live in orphanages around Santiago, the barbecue was complete with carnival games, kite flying, and a talent show. Many of the kids even dressed in traditional outfits and danced the cueca (shown in picture on right.) It was a great start to a long weekend that included: a picnic day and flying kites; a Chilean rodeo and horse show (picture on left); a walk around the city to view La Moneda (Chile’s White House) and other national monuments/buildings; a climb to the second largest hill in Santiago in order to get a view of the city’s skyline (me and Santiago below); and a military parade, complete with a spectacular fireworks finale.

As if everything listed above wasn’t enough, my friends and I decided to spend a day making empanadas. In the United States, we eat hamburgers and hotdogs for our Independence Day. In Chile, they eat anticuchos (steak kabobs) and empanadas (baked turnovers with a meat filling). The most traditional of all empanadas in Chile is the pino empanada, with a filling of thick sloppy-joe-like meat, a few raisins, a slice of boiled egg, and a pitted olive. We decided to focus primarily on the pino empanada, but also make a few with chicken and cheese, and a few with apple pie filling for dessert (we are from the U.S. after all). It was a lot of fun, but an awfully exhausting process that made me wonder why we are only charged $1.15-$1.50 when buying them at a restaurant. The work alone should raise the price. Either way, you can check out for yourself – Ryan made a fun video of the process and of us making the empanadas:

Click here to view the video!

In the end, Fiestas Patrias was celebrated just as any national holiday should: with good friends, good food, and good times. The city is back to work now and so am I...at least until the next feriado. :-) ¡Vive Chile!

As, as always, photos and videos courtesy of Ryan Greenberg and Natalie Nathan. Thank you so much!