feeding the sea lions

the sea lions waiting for their free lunch
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We arrived in Valdivia, a university town at the confluence of three rivers near the west coast.  I had a fun time negotiating the one way system - my first time in a proper town on the wrong side of the road!  not so much fun for alex in the passenger seat.  we put up the tent and went down to the fish market, as we had heard this was the place to see valdivia´s most famous wild life.  each stall has a man at the back gutting the fish and throwing the manky bits into the river.  The local population of sea birds and sea lions have learnt that there is such a thing as a free lunch.  They flop about by the quay grabbing anything that comes their way.  The sea lions were enormous and had the ugliest teeth i have ever seen and it is truly amazing how big a piece of fish a cormorant can fit down its skinny neck.  After we had seen our fill of wildlife we drove to Nibela and took a boat to a spanish fort on the other side of the river.  The fort wasn´t that exciting but the boat trips were nice and a bargain at 60p each way.  we watched the sunset over the pacific and collected some nice pebbles and shells.

The local population of sea birds and sealions have learnt that there is such a thing as a free lunch