breakfast in our little room with tiny kitchen in valdivia, in chile's lakes district.
lots of seafood, including the biggest mussles we'd ever seen.
monkey puzzle tree
bar la bomba (for firefighers - “bombaderos”) - where we made many friends.
Good times in La Bomba - right to left: Hardy, Jaime, drunk Erik and Jose.
They all had a thing for Talor - especially Jose.
beautiful day. beautiful riverfront.
For our friend Thor in NYC...
This sea lion was enormous! and wait...we're not at the sea. They swim upriver for the handouts at the mercado.
big and lazy.
Valdivia had an odd mixture of quaint old town and up-and-coming prosperous city.
The mercado
Mmmm...cheese and seaweed anyone?
The fish was fresh and such a good deal.
More of the big guys looking for a free lunch.
We took a short river-cruise city tour.
very cool old boat.
enjoying the day and the cruise.
we were happy to see so much greenery everywhere.
cool old german immigrant houses.
Downtown Valdivia.
Another very cool boat.
The first mate on board.
lazy! (we were jealous.)
I like any town with a Moe's Tavern.
On the way to nearby Niebla, where we took more boat rides.
Talor noshing on super-fresh, sweet cherries while we waited for a boat to leave.
Sun, sea, boat...the good life.
As we said, a tiny town.
Just off the boat and already making friends.
Corral had an old spanish fortress...
and fancy phone booths.
what a relaxing day.
The pirate asked for money after letting us take his picture.
and more friends.
a very simple, cool old church.
corral's bustling port.
funny duplex.
traditional dance show for the tourists.
Not our boat, but very much like our boat.
boat ride #3 - to the small island of Mancera.
with more pelicans than people.
just off another boat and already making friends.
Mancera is where talor found her favorite kuchen - german cake/pie.
Mancera had an old spanish fortress as well.
nice view.
busy downtown mancera.
boat ride #4, and already making friends. This is Cesar, who gave us tips on other places to visit in southern chile.
gotta love a beer-keg christmas tree. this is at the Kunstman brewery, where they make great german-style beers.
Beer wench.
talor pretending she's me...
and the most important thing at the brewery - the beer. cheers!
I wanted this beer, but talor stopped me.
beyond the bar...the actual brewery.
with a beer museum.
then we walked the last few miles back to valdivia...what amazing country.
taking time to...
and back in valdivia...more seals and sea lions.
good view of power lines and downtown valdivia.
Chile's annual telethon was going on, and every town was hosting live music.
we had a little kitchenette and talor made some delicious pasta with smoked salmon.
more spanish fort stuff going on in valdivia as well...
The local supermarket - Bigger.
town square.
and dusk at the riverfront.
Maria and her son Jose, who made us feel very welcome at our hospedaje.
