Valdivia to Chaihuín

 Valdivia downtown waterfront (costanera)

After two weeks enjoying different areas of Chiloé Island, I traveled north to Valdivia, a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and 521 miles south of Santiago. It was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1554 and later sacked by the indigenous Mapuche people. Even Dutch pirates tried to occupy the area. The town eventually recovered but remained insignificant until German farming families began arriving in 1852. I lived here for two years in the mid 1960s as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching music at the newly founded Austral University. The university now has a major presence in the south of Chile, and Valdivia is a major center of agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

But I long for the countryside and an escape from city noise and activity, so I decided to rent a little cabin on the Pacific coast in the sleepy town of Chaihuín, about 25 miles from Valdivia. It took the good part of a day to make the trip with public transportation. A taxi takes me to Niebla, 11 miles to the coast. But I had to wait 45 minutes for three other people to make up the four required for the taxi to leave town.

Niebla, a village in the Bay of Corral, known as a summer retreat from the city of Valdivia. Boats leave every 15 minutes to cross the bay.

Mancera Island where I have fond memories of summer picnics and soccer games.

Corral, a small village that was completely destroyed in May 1960 by a tsunami, result of a 9.5 earthquake. I had never visited the town in the 1960s as it was still recovering. More photos on my previous blog. Click here to view.

Narrow winding streets in Corral.

Wood chips waiting to be loaded on to ships and delivered to foreign ports. More on wood chips in a later post.

A one-hour bus ride (16 miles) on a gravel road delivers me to Chaihuín, a small village on the Chaihuín River that empties in the Pacific Ocean.

Only a partial view of the beautiful Chaihuín Beach.

Home sweet home is a little cabaña facing the Chaihuín River.

Chaihuín River. The beach is a favorite destination for day trippers and campers alike. The river contains an area where mussels are extracted. The fishermen all belong to a cooperative that protects the source from being over exploited.

Fishermen extracting mussels. They can work here only one day per month to preserve the stock.

No need to argue over right of way here. Everyone gets through eventually.