Valdivia

A beautiful flower finding it's way through the sand and the rocks in Niebla, Chile 

After buying a new pair of pants (and a new iPhone charging cord, yet another story), I met up with a few other program members to explore, speak English, and hang out in Valdivia, a city in Los Ríos, about 2 and a half hours south and west of Temuco.

While not quite as old warm charm as related to me by various sources, Valdivia is a lovely city situated pleasantly in between several rivers, maintaining river front walking paths and large bunches of birds fluttering about (pelicans! Those beautiful big lugs).

The view from our river front coffee shop boat

While not too much different from temuco in terms of shops, and general look, Valdivia has a lovely waterfront market, lots of coffee shops with mediocre coffee (had espresso on a river front boat-which was pretttty sweet). And delicious beer, being the city with the largest German influence in chile.

The beach at Niebla, where a wave caught me off guard, salting my newly purchased pants (it wasn't my weekend). 

After wandering the city on Friday afternoon and finding some food, we woke up on Saturdayand made our way to the ocean and a town called Niebla, full of old German forts and small town vibe. After, exploring a bit, we made our way to the kuntsmann cervecería, where I had a lovely sampler.

This is one of the old forts, see the cannons in the bottom left? Defending the river entrance into Valdivia

Here I am with the sampler at the Cervecería! Had a really good double bock there that was delicious. Also, a great blueberry beer.

After a chill afternoon of wandering and walking the promenades with all the Chileans, we went out for a friend's birthday, only to end up at this "Mexican" restaurant, where the DJ used smoke and bubbles. It was too hilarious, so I of course had to take a picture. 

We did eventually find our way to a British style pub with a cover band playing Beatles songs, they were actually pretty good! 

The long weekend in Valdivia was a much needed break to get out of Temuco, explore somewhere new, speak a little English, and really just enjoy all that Chile has to offer. Walking the promenades in Valdivia, watching the sun set across the river, seeing actual other runners out and about. Ultimately, Valdivia, while not the most exciting city, would be a lovely place to live. The people are so friendly, so full of life, and just really taking advantage of all the natural beauty that surrounds their city of rivers. 

A sunset along the promenade