Rain day in Pucon and showers in Valdivi

We had a third day in Pucon yesterday but when we awoke it was raining hard and the weather report was calling for another 3 cm of rain during the day. There would be no hiking and no seeing the volcano as it was even more engulfed by clouds. Instead we circumnavigated the volcano for 1.5 hours to these geothermal hot springs. It was fun to drive through the countryside. Things are quiet now but come Christmas and the summer holidays, this area around Pucon must explode with tourists but everything remains quiet. We had our lunch on a very wavy lake with whitecaps before hitting the Termos Vegara which was a hot spring resort which was also quite quiet other than a group of Chilean senior women who I think played pickle ball together. They didn't speak any English and everyone knows how I am with languages. They seemed quite happy. We didn't spend too long in the hot springs as I have fallen into that trap before and regretted it. We then drove the 1.5 hour drive back to Pucon. The only events that occurred along the way was there was a hail and rain outbreak and we witnessed an electrical cable strung on poles snap releasing abundant sparks. It was about 50 metres away. It stopped the traffic until a Coca Cola truck chose to drive over it after about 5 minutes and everything was okay.

Today we got going early and drove 2 hours south along Hwy 5 to Valdiva which is closer to the coast. Valdiva was pretty well destroyed in 1960 by a 9.9 Richter earthquake followed by a Tsunami. When we reached town we did a small walk through an old part of town probably late 19 century that had survived the earthquake. The houses were a little run down. They had been converted into apartments or university buildings but one could still appreciate their past grandeur and architectural style. We had a decaf latte and visited the tourist office. We walked across the river to visit the art gallery and museum but they were closing for siesta. People were picking up their children from a school across the street and it was crazy busy with parents. I thought it was only North Americans who drove their kids to and from school.

We hit the local fish market on the way back to the car. The fish are filleted at the back of the market and their heads and entrails are thrown into the river. The sky above the market looked something like a horror movie as the sky was filled with cormorants and vultures. When we got closer to the market the railing separating the market from the river was covered with these birds and they were joined by these massive sea lions. One sea lion had even joined the fishmongers on the lower level where they fillet the fish. I asked the fishmonger beside the sea lion if the sea lion had a name but unfortunately he didn't. The sea lion was huge weighing at least 1000 pounds. It was such a unique situation to watch. Maybe we will go back tomorrow.

We headed out to Niable to check out an old Spanish fort originally built in 1537 but extensively rebuilt over the years. It protected the mouth of the Rio Maldeva which one had to travel up to get to Valdivia of you happened to be attacking or maurading. Great views of the Pacific and a Llam called Mino who cut the grass. We stopped at the Kuntsmann brewery coming into town. There is a tradition of brewing beer in Valdivia started by the German immigrants in the 19 century. I thought Kuntsmann was a historic brewery but when I Wikipedia it I realized it was started in 1997 by a Chilean German family but had been very successful. Cheryl had a beer and in my tiredness I managed to order Crudo Alaman, a steak tartar dish favored by German Chileans. I wasn't sure what it was. It tasted okay but Cheryl had a taste and remarked that it tasted like raw hamburger. I have always had a fear of contracting Enterohemorrhagic E. coli from raw hamburger so this totally put a stop to our snack. Cheryl said that I Iooked a little pale. I will carefully monitor myself for any adverse symptoms.Read more