A Chilean Adventure

After showering and putting on clean clothes and make-up for the first time in two weeks, we were ready for our grand debut in Valdivia. Luckily, we were able to get back in time for La Noche Valdiviana (Valdivian Night) and be part of a big town celebration. The anniversary of Valdivia’s independence is actually earlier in February (Feb. 9?), but they extend the festivities all the way through the month and it ends with La Noche Valdiviana on the last Saturday of the month. Valdivia is located at the crossing of three rivers and the festivities are located along the banks of and on the Calle Calle River.

On our way there, we asked Marcelo if they have food stands to buy some supper from a vendor. He wasn’t sure, so instead we went to get our first completos. Completos are a famous Chilean dish, but I really don’t know their origin. It’s basically a hotdog in a really big bun, filled with a bunch of other stuff. The ones we had included saurkraut, tomatoes, avacado, and a bunch of mayonnaise. The hotdog had orange casing (I don’t know why) and it was basically lost amidst all the other ‘condiments.’ I really enjoyed the completo, but it would’ve been even better if the saurkraut was fried onions instead. Not a gourmet meal by any standards, but a local favorite.

We headed down to the riverside then and I was amazed at how crowded it was getting even though the activities really didn’t start until 9:30. It turned out that they did have vendors selling food, but I was much too full from the completo to think any of it looked appetizing.

We got to go to the other side of the river, the side with the university campus, because Marcelo is part of the faculty. We staked out some good spots and then waited to be amazed. The main event of La Noche Valdiviana is a boat parade of about 25 lit and decorated boats. Several had some very big displays and were really amazing. My favorite was the boat that took around the Queen of Valdivia. It’s tough to explain and the pictures really didn’t turn out in the dark, but it reminded me of The Little Mermaid with a lot of big sea creatures on it. There was actually a huge clamshell that was like a lean-to over the queen. The finale of the night was a firework show over the river.

The whole thing was really cool and it was impossible to fathom how many people were watching. The entire other side of the river was packed with people. The only thing I would’ve changed was how long it took. The boats just kept going back and forth and the whole thing lasted for three hours when it could’ve been done in one hour.

Afterward was the real fun though. When we were heading home Marcelo detoured us to a bar that was less than a block from our cabana. It was pretty low-key, so we just sat and talked for about 1.5 hours and had just one drink each. We got back to Marcelo’s house to turn in for the night at about 2 a.m., and this is pretty early for such a big celebration night. When we were walking to the car there were a lot of 10-year-olds still up and running around. The Chilean nightlife is going to take some getting used to.