valdivia! que lindo valdivia!

December 10, 2009

After spending the day in Santiago, I felt relieved to leave the city and take a 13-hour bus ride south. The next morning, my colleague met me at the Bus Terminal in Valdivia. The Calle Calle River runs through this city of 140,000 inhabitants. Most streets contain names of German heritage. The German influence also appears through the architecture, including wooden shingles reminiscent of gingerbread houses. Gigantic sea lions sit atop buoys and entertain onlookers at the fish market along the river.

The climate might be most comparable to Seattle, Washington. Now, it mists off and on, a cold wind blows, and clouds cover the sky. Hence, the verdant green of the Valdivian temperate rainforest characterizes this region.

That afternoon, we took a bus to the city of Osorno, 110 km south of Valdvia. We met with the research project’s principal investigator and discussed strategies while looking at a map of Chile’s Lakes Region. The main impetus of the project is to plan coastal resource distribution while taking into account the knowledge of various stakeholders, especially that of artisanal fishing communities.