Valdivia

Greetings from Valdivia! This city is on the coast of Chile; actually, it's at the confluence of a couple of rivers very close to the actual coast. Pedro Valdivia was the first great European explorer of Chile in the 16th century. The Europeans came to the east coast of South America and then started working their way down the west coast: Colombia, Ecudador, Peru, and ultimately Chile. As was so frequently the case, their motivation was to find gold. Accompanying Pedro was his mistress Ines Suarez. Her story is every bit as interesting, if not moreso, than Pedro's. It can be found in Isabel Allende's work of historical fiction, Ines of my Soul, which is fascinating.
Pedro and Ines literally fought their way across the Atacama Desert of northern Chile before settling in the valley that is now the metropolis of Santiago. The city of Valdivia was pretty much the southern-most defensive point against the Mapuche Indians. The Mapuches, unlike the majority of other native American groups, fought unrelentingly for over 300 years against the colonizing Europeans.
Today there are only a couple of remnants of the Spanish occupation, notably the "Spanish Towers." Valdivia never turned into much of a port, like Valparaiso. It's a university town and it's refreshing to see newsstands everywhere, lots of bookstores, etc. The fishermen still bring their products to the fish and vegetable market at the foot of the embardacero. The sea lions hang out close nearby, in the hopes that the fish preparers will throw them something edible.
Speaking of which, it's time for lunch! Hasta luego!