A Chilean Adventure

History was made today in Valdivia and we were there to witness everything! Today was the formal signing into law of the new Rivers Region and Valdivia is the capital.

I was really amazed and confused that they are going through so much to split the region. I couldn’t imagine trying to create a new state in the U.S. now. Marcelo said that the reason is to strengthen the area’s economy and create more jobs. Valdivia was previously the capital of the region, but when the earthquake hit in 1960 they decided to move it to Puerto Montt.

The law was passed by congress a while ago, so today President Michelle Bachelet came to address the city and sign the law. We went downtown and got right in the middle of everything…which meant we couldn’t see a thing because there were tons of people in front of us. It was still really exciting and a random old guy next to me gave me his Valdivia flag.

Later that night, there was some live music by a Chilean band. Danielle and I went to check it out, but didn’t stay long because it seemed kind of strange and the crowd didn’t seem to be into it. We found out later that the second band was the better one. Oh well.

A really funny side note about the creation of the new region is that a few years ago there was a big hit song with the main long being “Valdivia…the beautiful Valdivia. Valdivia…for the capital.” (in Spanish of course!) The lyrics were meant that Valdivia should be the capital instead of Santiago, but now it’s like it came true…just with a twist.