Villa Del Rio - Hotel Marina And Convention Centre Valdivia

... can be bought here for about 20% of the price we pay back at home, also all the sea loins congregate right next to the stall loading up on free handouts. The sealion (lobos in Spanish) are welcomed in the town and hang about day and night along the river, they're on the left and a huge casino is on the right... rather an odd mix. Later we pinicked in a big park and picked up some beers (this is a University town so bars are plentiful) before heading to the cinema.

... Completely fluent. After dining, and filled with confidence of our ability to communicate with the natives, we walked around town looking for a supermarket. We blended in completely - as though we'd been here for years! We even stopped a few times to ask people "¿Donde esta el supermercado?" - everytime getting an answer that we had know idea what it meant!! But we were communicating at least! We eventually found a 'supermercado' and purchased our multiple ...

... So is Valdivia really Chile's nicest city? After exploring it further we can certainly appreciate the appeal especially along the river and out around the coast, it's an ideal summer vacation spot whether you're camping or in cabins and we met some of the nicest people here. The center of town though lacks the old colonial charm the guide books all dribble on about, it's just another university city, just head over the bridge for the coast and there you'll find it's beauty.

... humming Nirvana's 'Rape Me', singing the chorus in three-part harmony and waiting for the rain to stop. It doesn't. Valdivia is the sweet spot, the pearl of coastal southern Chile, sitting on three rivers and a bay on the ocean also. Not only do you get salmon, but sea lions too. Strawberriews and cherries line the streets for sale. Sound familiar? Portland would DIE for this view in its backyard, the better to compete with Seattle ...

Arrive Valdivia after scenic lakeland drive. Very late lunch near fishmarket which has just closed by the time we reach town then shopping in indoor market. Dodgy garments purchased. May regret later. Late dinner with Jesus at Kunstmann Brewery.

... joint which is pretty cool. Reminds me of some of my evenings in Brazil. The place is packed and Chileans are knocking out cut after cut and Andy and I just chill at the bar drinking Havana Rum n Cokes. At some point in our drunken haze we decide it would be a good idea to sing a song as well and we choose "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. Not a bad choice since most of the people in the bar knew the song (every other song was usually an ...

... lots of hand gestures and dodgy spanish many things, the biggest really for us is that they have shrimp over here that live at 360m altitude on dry ground, in the forest. Something we won´t forget. We kept seeing these little holes on the track like for snakes or something, but no, these are the local shrimp. The guide even grabed an english speaking person at the end of the trip to make sure we had it right. We got to see a woody wood pecker pecking ...

... era sobre nuestro camino asi que nos apuntamos a ver con ellos los saltos. Tras una caminata pasando troncos de árboles y río, llegamos a los saltos: impresionante ! Tiene una cantidad de agua al segundo enorme ! Pasamos detrás para ver como se veía, y no conseguimos (o no nos atrevemos) a ir hasta el final, detrás parecía a una tormienta !! Después de secarnos, nos dejaron un poco más allá de dónde conseguimos entrar en un coche que nos dejó en Osorno. El ...

... bus was amazing! He could have been a waiter in a very posh, upscale restaurant. He gave us pillows...put them behind our head, then proceeded to drape the blanket over us before making sure all the curtains were shut and the lights were out, leaving us in almost pitch black so we could fall asleep. I half expected him to read us a bedtime story and sing us a lullaby!! It was a perfect ending to a very relaxing and comfortable Christmas week.

... A girl bought us a round of tequila's (as if we were virgin tequila drinkers...Ha)and the shot glass was huge and you actually had to say when to make the bar staff stop filling it up. We went back to some locals place when the disco was closing and had a bit more to drink. I managed to avoid a lot of it but Linz kept getting pumped with shot after shot and needless to say the locals couldn't stop laughing when he ...