Valdivia, Niebla, and Corral

Before heading back to Santiago from Pucón, we spent two nights in Valdivia.  Close readers will recall that on our way to Pucón, we spent about 3 hours exploring Valdivia while waiting for our next bus.  Valdivia has a small downtown, and in those 3 hours we felt like we had seen almost all of it... leaving us without much of a plan for our stay this time around.

We arrived at our AirBnb around 1pm, at which point two separate people (our AirBnb host, and a tourism agent at the bus terminal) had both recommended Niebla.  Niebla is a 15-minute bus ride away from Valdivia and lies on the Pacific Coast.  Our first stop in Niebla was the Feria Costumbrista- a food court filled with local specialties.

1) Pullmay
Pullmay is a clear-broth stew of shellfish and meats, including an assortment of mussels and clams, chorizo sausage, smoked ham, and a chicken drumstick.  We cannot get enough of the broth.  There's a restaurant that makes Pullmay in Santiago that we love as well!  Note that Pullmay is the same dish as Curanto en Hoyo, only Curanto is made in a hole in the ground, where the broth seeps out, so you don't get to drink it.  In modern times, Chileans have adapted the dish to Pullmay, which is made in a pot, hence retaining the delicious broth!  

If you're lucky, your Pullmay will come with Chapalele and Milcao.  Milcao is a potato pancake made with just grated potatoes.  Chapalele includes flour.  They go great with Pullmay.  Unfortunately, the stalls at the Feria Costumbrista didn't offer Chapalele and Milcao when we were there. 

Matt preparing to wolf down some Pullmay

2) Paila Marina
Cousin to Pullmay, the Paila Marina is clear-broth stew of just seafood.  We splurged on the "Paila Marina Especial", which included crab claw and shrimp in addition to mussels, clams, and of course Piure.  

Piure (see below) is a weird bright orange goopy blob that lives in clumps that look like rocks.  It tastes strongly of iodine and is a Chilean delicacy.  The iodine flavor of piure was unmistakeable in this Paila Marina.  Matt and I tried piure once before at the fish market of Coquimbo.  It was raw, and we did not like it.  We figured we'd give it another shot in its cooked form, prepared alongside many other ingredients.  The verdict- not great, but not necessarily bad.  We wouldn't seek it out in the future, but we wouldn't avoid it in future pailas marinas.

Paila Marina alongside Chicha de Manzana, or Apple Cider

Pure Piure by the Pound

3) Papa Rellena
Moving away from seafood, we got a Papa Rellena.  Neither of us has seen these before and we imagined they'd taste pretty much how they look.  We were wrong!  The Papa Rellena is a delicious concoction that exceeds the sum of its parts.  The outer dough is a combination of potato and flour (kind of like chapalele) that is deep-fried and coated in what seems to be french-fry seasoning.  There are about 20 options for the filling.  We opted for the classic "pino", a ground beef mixture that is also common in Chilean empanadas. 

4) Empanadas de Cochayuyo
No photo here unfortunately.  Cochayuyo is a seaweed that's widely available in Chile.  Karen likes to eat it dehydrated.  It was tasty in the empanada too!


5) Dessert: Pie de Nuez
This bakery was cranking out pastries at an alarming rate.  It also had a long line.  Matt asked about 20 questions about the types of desserts they offer before settling on a pie with a whipped-cream topping and walnut-based filling.  Yum!

In case you didn't catch it in the photo above, here's another one zoomed in.  Look at that Manjar (Chilean dulce de leche) being spread on the cake!

6) Snack/Souvenir: Smoked Salmon

The region around Valdivia is known for smoked fish.  We bought a couple pieces of smoked salmon from a woman setup outside the Feria Costumbrista.  We enjoyed one for ourselves and gifted another to our friends in Santiago.

If you think we ate a lot at the Feria Costumbrista, let it be known that we actually ate the aforementioned items in two separate sittings: Saturday and Sunday lunch since we liked it so much. But yes, we did eat a lot.

After the Feria Costumbrista, we wandered down to the Pacific Coast.  It was drizzling but we were still able to explore some rocks that showed tide-pool promise.  Unfortunately, we didn't come across any tide-pool critters.

Next we walked along the coast and passed the Fuerte de Niebla.  Normally, this now-defunct military fort is open to visitors.  However, it was closed due to a national strike.  So, we continued on to the Terminal de Pasajeros-  a ferry terminal that takes locals and tourists alike to the close-by island of Mancera and town of Corral, both of which boast their own military forts.  It was a bit late in the day for a ferry, so we hopped on the bus back towards Valdivia, with one last stop at the Kuntsmann brewery. 

Tours here cost a whopping $20-$40 USD, depending on whether or not you want to see both the factory and the museum of beer or just the museum.  That's a lot of money for southern Chile.  We settled for the $12 beer flight, which included 16 drafts.  Overall, Kuntsmann is solid, but not our favorite beer brand.  It's one of the three classic craft-breweries featured in restaurants throughout Chile and it was fun to see their expanded menu.

Kuntsmann Brewery - we were worried it would be hard to find along the bus route. When we saw this giant barrel, we knew we'd be ok. 

Several people at the Feria Costumbrista recommended taking the ferry to Corral, so we took a Sunday-morning ferry over.  On the ferry, we asked the ticket-lady for recommendations about what to do on Corral other than visit the fort.  She said we should catch a 45-minute bus to the coastal town of Chaihuín.  There, we could hang out at the beach or explore the neighboring Alerce National Park.   The bus only runs once a day and is timed with the ferry, so we made a split decision not to go.  From Valdivia to Niebla to Corral, we felt Chaihuín was one hop too far out of scope for this vacation.  Until next time!

In the meantime, we enjoyed exploring the Corral fort as planned.  The ferry ride and landscape reminded us a lot of the Puget Sound region.

On the ferry

The Corral Fort

A friendly dog accompanied us like an exuberant but not-very-helpful tour guide during our visit to the fort.

Boats anchored in Corral

After Corral, we headed to the Parque Salva.  It's about 75 cents for admission per person, but the plentiful sculptures and lily-pad lakes are well worth it.

One of about 30 sculptures in the park.  We enjoyed them a lot!  To the back-left of the photo, you can catch a glimpse of our dog-friend who accompanied us throughout our visit to the park.

Before catching our flight back to Santiago, we stopped by the Mercado of Valdivia.  We saw two new items, although we weren't bold enough to try them:

Navajuelas:
A long and skinny sort of clam.  We've probably unknowingly eaten them in various Chilean seafood dishes.  

Nori:
I've never seen seaweed packed into a dehydrated block before.  We thought this was some sort of bread, but upon inquiring we were told it was seaweed.  I still looked confused, so the stall owner asked me if I was familiar with Japanese nori in seaweed- apparently it's the same.

Nalcas

The name "Nalca" sounds funny, and the vegetable that follows does not disappoint!  We first noticed Nalcas when we were getting on a 3-hour bus ride from Valdivia to Pucón.  Another guy got on the bus with a few slung over his shoulder.  At the time, we had no idea what they were but took note.

A few days later, when walking around downtown Villarrica, we saw a vendor selling Nalcas outside of the supermarket.  We asked him what they were, and he told us they grow by the side of rivers in this region of Chile.  He was also quick to volunteer that his selection was super fresh- picked this morning!  We had planned on a beach day at the lake and didn't want to carry around the Nalca for hours, so we passed the opportunity to buy one then.  Lucky for us, however, we found the same vendor as we were headed home, so we picked one up.  Here are our impressions:

Our Chilean house-mates showed us that you open the Nalca by simply breaking it in half over your knee.  Then, you have to strip away the outer fibrous part, leaving the whiter inner part to eat.  We cubed it and sprinkled it with salt as recommended.  Matt was not a fan, but Karen enjoyed it.  The Nalca we got was particularly fibrous, so we ended up spitting out wads of leftover material after chewing on each piece for a few minutes.  The flavor is surprisingly acidic or lemony and the texture reminds us of celery.  Chileans recommend putting it cubed into salads, which I would definitely try in the future.

The head of the Nalca looks particularly funky.

Spoiler alert: I just googled Nalcas and they're apparently called Chilean Rhubarb in English.  I guess they do kind of look like rhubarb after all.

Activities Around Pucon

Cuevas Volcanicas

  At the foot of the Villarrica volcano you'll find the entrance to a series of volcanic caves. These caves form from large lava flows- the outermost layer of lava cools to form the cave walls and ceiling, while the inner lava continues flowing. When, the lava levels fall, they leave an extensive series of empty caves. The tour begins with an introduction to volcanoes- how they form and develop. This talk is given in a room with all kinds of helpful volcano-related posters and infographics. For example, a series of posters illustrated the types of volcanic disasters that can happen, the dangers they present, and how to avoid them, all with little egg-shaped people demonstrating the proper evacuation techniques. In the tsunami image, the egg people were smiling on high ground. For toxic gases, they wore gas masks. And in the pyroclastic flow image, they simply frowned, and the poster explained that, moving at hundreds of meters per second, a pyroclastic flow will kill you before you even know it's coming.

One of these rocks weighs *WAY* more than the other.  They're both different types of volcanic rock but formed in different processes.

  The talk also featured a few kinds of volcanic rock, including 3 spheres fused together. Apparently when ash is thrown into the air, it generates static electricity, which causes the ash to clump together into dense spherical rocks.

  We followed the natural pathways of cooled lava. Lava can either cool into smooth, lumpy stone (Pahoehoe) or sharp, pointy stone (Aa). This was the pahoehoe variety, making very pleasant smooth walkways. The stony ground deprives many trees of nutrients, causing them to grow into natural bonsais. In the place where a section of the cave roof has collapsed, we descended and entered the caves. They're large- at least 20 feet high in some places. Our guide pointed out where new lava flows broke through the wall and created small side tunnels. Large chunks of rock that were carried by the tide of lava now lie wherever they became wedged and stopped moving.

  Moisture dripped constantly from the ceiling and after walking for around 10 minutes we saw thin, wispy tree roots dangling from the ceiling.

If you squint at the arch, you can see the roots of a tree above-ground peeking through the lava cave ceiling.

  A special part of the cave is called the "chocolate cave," and sure enough the walls look exactly like they are covered in melted chocolate. Most of the cave is reddish rock, and spiky. But the chocolate area is a deep brown, and smooth like someone smeared it on with a spatula. At the end of the caves (they go on but the rest hasn't been tested for safety) we turned out all of our lights and stood quietly. "A moment of silence for the revolution," our guide added just before the lights went out. In complete darkness, we really could not even tell the difference between when our eyes were open or closed. Which is obvious when you say it, but it was still pretty crazy to experience.

Chocolate Lava!

  When we got back to the entrance, we were struck by the way the dark stone cave gave way to sunny greenery. Photos don't really do it justice but it looked like a portal to a bright, beautiful other world. Which in a way, it was.

Just outside the volcanic cave

And of course- another volcano photo

Lagunas Andinas

  Driving east from Pucon, into the Andes, you'll come to a region of Araucaria forests, lakes, and a horizon dominated by the Lanín volcano. Just 40km from the border with Argentina, we paused next to a lake (Lago Quilleihue) for lunch alongside a group of schoolchildren out for a field trip. From there, we hiked through a forest of not only araucarias but also coihues and lengas. The trail was relatively flat and easy, which was a nice change of pace compared to Huerquehue and Matt's volcano ascent in the preceding days.  When we reached Laguna Huenfuica, we found it was flooded and we couldn't get very close- though we could glimpse it through the trees. Karen got her one and only mosquito bite on the trip here, while trying to navigate the trail around the over-filled lake.  At our next stop, Lago Escondido, we had more luck, and we were able to sit for a while watching fish make splashes in the water and talking to some Chileans and New Zealanders who got there after us.

The woods around Lagunas Andinas

This waspy-looking insect was no less than 2 inches long :0

Parque Nacional Conguillío

Parque Nacional Conguillío is not a classic Pucón destination, but we've heard so many good things about the reserve that we splurged and rented a car to make the road-trip work.  Conguillío is about a 2.5 hour drive northeast from Pucón.  Much like Huerquehue and Villarrica National Parks, it boasts volcanoes, lakes, araucarias, and hiking trails.  We kept our fingers crossed and hoped it would be worth the trip.

One funny side note about renting a car.  Neither of us knows how to drive manual and it's significantly more difficult to find and expensive to rent an automatic car.  When we arrived in Pucón, we called a few agencies about renting an automatic car but none were available.  Karen vaguely remembered that some car rental companies offer a chofer for an additional fee.  She called one small car rental company that's run out of someone's home asking about a chofer.  The women who runs the rental company said that they didn't offer that service, but on second thought she'd call some people in town she knew to see if anyone might be willing to drive us around.  She called us back half an hour later with good news- she had found us a chofer!  At $30 USD/day, the chofer was surprisingly within budget and worked out great.  Although he's currently a real estate agent, it turns out he spent 15 years working at Villarrica National Park.  He ended up doing all the hikes with us and was able to share lots of interesting information about our surroundings.  He's got 6 kids at home, so we got the feeling he was just happy to be out of the house and exploring nature with us.

Many of Conguillío's trails were closed due to snow, but that really wasn't an issue.  The park boasts over a dozen trails and turn-offs, each of which delights.  Rather than opting for a popular all-day trail called the Sierra Nevada, we cruised around to many different spots in our car and did a couple 1-2 hour easy hikes.

1) Lago Verde & Volcán LLaima
The view from Lago Verde is quite beautiful.  This photo really does not do it justice.  The road leading up to Lago Verde is covered in black volcanic rock from Volcán Llaima, which can also be seen in the distance.  This black rock contrasts sharply with the greenery that starts at the lake's edge and continues up the surrounding mountains.  According to our guide, the green line marks the limit from previous volcanic erruptions.  We ran into a couple groups camping here, and would love to do the same at some point in the future.

2) Lago Arcoiris

Lago Arcoiris (Rainbow Lake) is really mostly turquoise- but what a turquoise!  It looks artificial, and is apparently a result of the basic minerals dissolved in the water from all the volcanic rock.  There is a 20-minute loop you can hike around Lago Arcoiris and it's neat to see how the water changes different shades of blue depending on the angle you look at it.  From some angles it mostly reflects the landscape and hardly looks blue at all.  From others, you can see dozens of trees fallen in the bottom.

There is a wide stream that actively fills Lago Arcoiris.  However, the lake does not look super full.  Some park rangers told us there's an underground volcanic cave that leads the water out.  They also told us the water is so cold (it's snow melt-off), that people can get hypothermia *very quickly* if they fall in.

3) Madre Araucaría

The Madre Araucaría is actually male- you can tell from the bark, among other things.  When a male and female Araucaría tree are within about 10m of each other they are able to produce the piñon nut.   This particular tree is estimated to be 1,800 years old, some say double that!  It is large, but not compared to the Giant Sequoias of northern California, a testament to the fact that Araucarias grow very very slowly.

The bark of a female Araucaría tree has a turtle-shell pattern.

Aside from the Madre Araucaría, we walked through a forest of thousands of other Araucaría trees, which made for a pretty view up.

Matt sitting on another large tree (not an Araucaría)

4) Lago Conguillio

We ate our picnic lunch at Lago Conguillio.  During the middle of Winter it freezes over, but by now it had warmed to a comfortable temperature.  Even Matt waded in- which means a lot!

Matt's artsy take on the landscape.  Inspired by our Iguazu photographer friend.

5) Salto Truful Truful

Truly BLUE.  A 10-minute walk through volcanic rocks to reach this river and waterfall.