The other week in my history class we had a fiel trip to Isla Mancera. From Niebla it is a quick boat ride to get to this small island at the mouth of the Rio Valdivia.
There are two of three small passenger ferries which make their way between Niebla, Isla Mancera, and Corral several times a day. I would love to have the job of running that route. The bay is fulled with lots of little coves, points, and some islands here and there.
It is a small little island. It probably takes less than 15min if you were to walk around it. We were told that during the winter about 300 people live on the island and during the summer it could get up to nearly 3000 vacationers. There isn't that much on the island. There is a church a very small store store selling just the bare necessities. All of the houses are very small and everything is rusting.
My history class took the quick walk around the island to see a little bit of how people live in the island. Then we made out way to the old Spanish forts. The history professor had given us the history of the forts of Valdivia and Isla Mancera in class the week before. This field trip was to see the Castillo Mancera first hand.
This system of forts was build around the enterance to Valdivia in the Mid 1600s after Valdivia was attacked and occupied by the Dutch. It was the Marquis of Mancera, the viceroy of Peru who proposed the fortification of the harbor. The fort system of Valdivia was one of the largest and best fortified in the new world. It was the first line of protection protecting the silver industry of Peru from European attacks.
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| Someone else was trying to get a picture from a hole in the wall. From Chile W8 Mancera |
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| The wall around one side of the fort. The other side is protected by a steep bluff above some big rocks. From Chile W8 Mancera |
The stone forts which can be seen today were constructed in in the mid 1700s and have been renovated after a century of neglect and the 1960 earthquake.
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| A cannon looking out protecting the bay and other forts from English attacks. From Chile W8 Mancera |
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What still remains of this fort is a church, walls, holding cell, and the governors house. They are all crumbling stone brick buildings on a bluff overlooking the bay and out towards the ocean.
| From Chile W8 Mancera |
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