North to Valdivia

No rest for the wicked. The local beer (of German origin from some of the early settlers in this region) did not seem like such a good idea this morning as I was collected from the hotel by Daniel Suarez, the MD of Homing, a company that provides vaccination services to the salmon industry of the region at 7.30am for the 2 hour drive north to Valdivia.

Valdivia is the site of the main campus of the Universidad Austral and a much more academic feeling town with around 10,000 students and some other interesting habitants that laze around the town quay and fish markets (see below!).

A tour around the various departments at Austral (my thanks to Professors Alejandro Yanez and Enriques Herbach in particular for insights into the biochemistry and pathology departments respectively) was followed by yet another excellent lunch at a great seafood restaurant overlooking the Pacific just outside of Valdivia. Corvina was on the menu along with some excellent Chilean white from the central valley near Santiago. I surprised myself with my ability to consume some of this following my predicament of earlier in the morning and raised a glass to the powers of liver regeneration!!

We arrived back at the hotel by 10pm with a promise by Daniel to show me some of the sites of the area before my flight to Santiago at lunchtime tomorrow. He suggested a pick up time of 7am to ensure we see all we have to. So…to bed!