Between February 22 and 26, the community of tentelhue will celebrate its recreational week, with gastronomy, music and local crafts, in the multi-court of this coastal town of Hualaihué, 70 kilometers from Puerto Montt.
Tentelhué, which in the indigenous language means “Place of Fishermen”, is characterized by artisanal fishing, collection activities and the smoking process of seafood such as mussels and southern hake. Its cove is the main point of extraction and landing of shellfish in the commune, especially sea urchins.
According candelaria gonzalezrepresentative of the Association of Smokers and Artisanal Processes of Sea Productsthis organization was born in 2019 to professionalize the work around the sea. “Our goal is to build a plant to process our products, all the activities we are doing have this objective and we have already bought the land next to the multi-court.”
Regarding the recreational week, gonzalez invited the community and tourists to enjoy the activities prepared for the whole family, such as the presentation of queen candidates, children’s games, popular and ranchera music, along with more than ten venues that will feature the best of local cuisine and products such as seafood empanadas, lamb, curanto al hoyo, cholgas and smoked mussels, as well as artisan products.
The leader added that they already have experience holding this type of event, although it was not held three years ago due to the pandemic. This year, thanks to the support of Indespa, it will be carried out again, contributing to local development and coastal tourism.
Customary Festivals of Artisanal Fishing
The Executive Director of Indespa, Leonardo Llanos Huertahighlighted the impact that this type of activity represents for the coves: “This program is an engine that puts the coves in the center with their products, gastronomy and culture, which contributes to the reactivation of these communities through tourism, adding value and recognizing the cultural identity that exists in I return to the coves”.
This program contemplates resources of about 15 million pesos for each of the 15 beneficiary organizations throughout the country, which includes technical advice, dissemination, logistics, gastronomy, education and decoration of these festivities that will take place in the coves during the summer and until Easter 2023 in different locations such as Punta AstorgaBio bio region, The Tolten Bar in La Araucanía, Caleta El Piojo in Niebla, Los Ríos, in addition to tentelhue and cucaoin the Los Lagos region, and the cove puyuhuapi in Puerto Cisnes, Aysén region.-