Valdivia Arrival

Two friends from Utah, James and Rebecca Ledyard, accepted our invitation to visit us in Chile. As the Temuco airport is closed for a few months for maintainence and upgrades, the Ledyards arrived at Valdivia airport instead.

Henry was particularly happy to see his childhood nanny once again, and Rebecca was surprised to see how much Henry had grown during the year.

We headed west to the coast to see El Castillo de Niebla, a Spanish fort built in the middle of the 17th century by the force sent by Antonio de Toledo, the Viceroy of Peru, to reclaim the area from the Dutch. The fort is located on the cliff above the Valdivia River estuary that leads inland to the port.

A battery of cannons guards the north side of the estuary. We could look across the water and see another fort on the cliffs at Corral that guarded the south side. On an island in the middle there is a third fort, Castillo de San Pedro de Alcantara, that blocked the center of the channel. Valdivia became an important place for the Spanish fleet to resupply during their voyages around Cape Horn and through the Straits of Magellan.

We also visited the Kunstmann brewery for a beer tasting and lunch.

We stopped at the Valdivia fish market so our guests could see the famous sea lions.

Winter is almost over in Pucón and the flowers are starting to bloom at our little house. But the weather is still cold, overcast and rainy, so the view of the volcano will have to wait for another day.