Curiñanco

The weekend before last we had our first excursion, which was to a nature reserve on the coast, about 45 minutes north of Valdivia. It was really beautiful. Similar to the Oregon coast, there was a forest extending to the cliffs overlooking the ocean, where the waves crashed into rocky outcrops sending huge plumes of spray high into the air. When we first arrived it was clear, and there were some great views of the ocean and cliffs:

We then headed into the forest, and while we were in there, the fog rolled in THICK. When we returned to this same viewpoint, you couldn't see a thing. It was just a wall of white, you couldn't see the cliffs or anything. It was cool though, because the fog looked really amazing in the forest:

After this, we headed back into the village con gran dientes (literally large teeth, but an expression for having a large appetite) and had a delicious lunch at a little restaurant with what was supposed to be a lovely view of the ocean, but all we could see was a whiteout of fog. We sat down to mussels and some amazing seafood soup. I felt really bad for the various vegetarians who are on the trip, because this was some of the best food I've eaten on the trip.

Mussels!