Almost exactly a week ago today, I finally embarked on my great journey south! I left Santiago early Wednesday morning, feelings of nostalgia for thee familiarity I was about to loose already setting in. Luckily, I had had the chance to see my friends Jesus and Omar the night before leaving to share a meal. I am confident I will see them again as I intend to make a quick stop in Santiago after my time in Patagonia, but I know that the very brief 2-month chapter in which our lives overlapped on a daily basis had come to an end. I have to admit I am a little sad as nearly all of my favorite moments in Santiago were moments we shared, but I am certain more memories will be made together in the future.
I flew from Santiago to Valdivia, capital of the Los Rios (the Rivers) region. Valdivia is a city of just over 150,000 people and sits at the confluence of three rivers, the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau rivers. Valdivia has an extremely rich history. At one point, like way back when, it was the southern-most city of the Spanish empire, then, later on it became a port of entry for German immigrants who were encouraged by the nascent Chilean government to settle the area in the 19th century. Because of this history, Valdivia likes to promote itself as having a great deal of German influence., I’ve never been to Germany, but I’ll you that, other than a plethora of breweries, it doesn’t look anything like what I imagine Germany to be like. I could be wrong about the German influence, but it seems quite similar to the very few other Chilean cities I have seen. However, because of this reputation, Valdivia has earned itself the title of “Beer Capital of Chile” attracting a remarkable 20+ microbreweries to its waterways, including the allegedly famous Kunstmann beer, which I had never heard of before.
After learning of Valdivia’s moniker, I knew I had to taste a beer from at least one brewery. Instead of going with the Kunstmann, I stopped in at a smaller, but equally popular spot called El Growler. Now, I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about beers. In fact the only thing I do know is that I don’t like IPAs (its like drinking a bottle of expired perfume). So when I plunked myself down and took a long look at a beer menu in Spanish, which I would equally not understand in English, I realized it would be best for me just to ask for a recommendation. What I was brought tasted very similar to nearly every other urine-colored drink I’ve ever tasted, and in that moment I realized, maybe beer just isn’t for me. This wasn’t the most intellectual or profound epiphany I had hoped to have during this fellowship, but I guess I’ll just be sticking with my juvenile palate of sweet fruity drinks from here on out.
With its microbreweries, scattered cafes, open-air fish markets, sun-bathing sea lions, old Spanish forts and the beautiful wooded campus of Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia feels like fun, relaxing town. However, Valdivia has also had its own fair share of struggles. In 1960, Valdivia was one of, if not the most affected city to be affected by the Great Chilean Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded (a tooth-grinding 9.5). In fact, the woman who’s Airbnb I have been staying in told me that scientists in the area think it was likely even higher, as the instruments used to measure the earthquake were destroyed when it happened. The earthquake destroyed many of the historic forts and turned pastures into permanent wetlands that still persist today. Since the earthquake, the city has faced economic decline, evidenced in rusted out boats and trains, empty and gutted buildings, and crumbling infrastructure. In many ways Valdivia reminds me of the shrinking industrial towns of the midwest, towns like Richmond, Indiana or Defiance, Ohio, places that are always hit hard by difficult times, but frequently miss the benefits felt by larger cities in better times.
When I asked the owner of the Airbnb I’m staying at about this she told me something that I had read about and noticed in my few trips outside of Santiago. She told me, “Chile is Santiago”. That is to say, Chile is an extremely centralized country. Obviously there are cities and people outside of Santiago, but the efforts of the government do seem to falter the farther away you move from the metropolitan area. This idea, abandonment by the government or distrust of the government, is something I am frequently encountering in the areas I visit, and I am excited to share some really fascinating examples and conversations in next week’s blog on this matter. However, I do want to emphasize that although the distrust of politicians is a universal phenomenon, this distrust is a far throw from things like PizzaGate and the many other US political conspiracies. It does make me question whether our version of distrusting politicians is something more superficial or simply more radical and absurd…
Anyways, I rounded out the week with a nice day trip to the nearby coastal towns of Niebla and Curinanco. With sandy beaches, colorful umbrellas, and an abundance of little vacation homes, these quiet hamlets felt like what northern California would feel like if you didn’t have to be rich to live there. In fact, I even messaged a someone exclaiming, “wow! This feels like the Pacific coast” only to follow up 15 minutes later with “Oh crap. This is the pacific coast.” Despite my obliviousness, I still made some friends, did some hitchhiking and captured some great shots of the coast! I finished up the week with the last minute decision to rent a car and investigate some rumors of community discontent I had heard involving an award-winning luxury eco-resort called Huilo Huilo about 2 and a half hours away from Valdivia. What I learned was shocking… but more on that next week!