Valdivia: Kuntsman Cerveceria

Valdivia is home to a large German immigrant population. They have left a lasting mark on Valdivia with the Kuntsman Cerveceria (brewery).

This photo is of me and Mickey.

Valdivia

This picture was taken from a Spanish fort just outside the town of Valdivia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

We had another three day weekend here at UBB so I decided to travel to Valdivia with the two other U of I students Mickey and Kora. Valdivia is a city about 7 hours south of Concepcion, it is located between two rivers about 10 miles from the Pacific. It is a beautiful, tranquil, rainy town of about 130,000 people. It is famous for its rain, and it was also the epicenter for the most powerful earthquake in modern history a 9.5 magnitude earthquake (in the 1960´s).

We spent our one full day there visiting the Spanish fort, the Kuntsman Cerveceria, and taking a boat ride on the river.

It was a beautiful and quiet city. A great place to spend a relaxing weekend.

Vida Estudiantil Retreat

This past weekend I went on the Vida Estudiantil (Campus Crusade Chile) retreat to Dichato. Dichato is a beech town about an hour away from Concepcion. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, and fun.

One more Santiago picture

In this picture is (from left to right) Me, Luis (A friend of Pato´s), Pato, and Felipe (Pato´s brother).

Cruz de Mayo.... I think

I think this was the Cruz de Mayo celebration. But whatever it was a large group of people came down our street Wednesday night singing songs, dancing, and collecting money and food for the poor.

In this picture you can see my host mom Olga dancing the Cueca in front of our house.
The Cueca is the Chilean national dance.

Sandwich in Santiago

May 1st was the international worker´s day and so we had a holiday here in Chile. Since the holiday fell on a Tuesday, Monday became sandwiched between the holiday and the weekend, so we did not have school on Monday either. (and yes they call it a sandwich).

So I decided to head to Santiago and visit some of my friends from the Campus Crusade retreat and Jesus Film Project that I went on in January.

I took the midnight bus from Concepcion arriving in Santiago at 6 am Saturday morning. I stayed at my friend Patos house for the weekend (Pato is pictured in this photo, he is the Chilean, I think you can guess which of the three he is). Pato is a student at Universidad de Santiago de Chile. His parents were out of town, so it was just him, me, and his brother in his house. I had a great time going to his church, seeing his neighborhood and meeting his neighbors. One of the things I love about Chile and especially Pato´s neighborhood is that their are always so many people out in the street. Their are usually 10 times as many people walking down the quiet neighborhood streets than their are cars.

During my time in Santiago I also met up with Diego, Betsabe, and Paty. Three other Chileans that I knew from the retreat and Jesus Film Project.

On Tuesday (my last day in Santiago) I went with George (an American on staff with campus Crusade), Pato, Diego, and Israel (a chilean staff member of Campus Crusade) to Embalse El Yeso which is about an hour and a half from Santiago. We hiked around their and had a fun time. This picture was taken there.

That night I was able to meet up with a friend from Wheaton (Brian Goetz) that I hadn´t seen for more than two years. (kind of funny that we would meet up on the other side of the world). I hung out at Brian´s apartment for about 2 hours before catching the midnight bus back to Concepcion. I made it back to Concepcion in time to catch an hour of sleep and make it to my 8am Surveying class.