go, the longer the days get and the better the weather seems to be. By the time we got to the island of Chiloe, it wasn't getting dark until nearly 10pm, which really threw off our internal clocks. We were eating dinner as it got dark, which seemed normal until we finished dinner and realized that it was time for bed! The bus ride to the small fishing town of Ancud on the northwestern coast of Chiloe Island took about 4 hours – 45 minutes of which was on a ferry – bus and all – over the island.
We found a cabana (stand alone cabin with kitchen, etc.) in Ancud, which was very nice and one of the more affordable housing options. The town was very small, with little to do except wander the waterfront and surrounding coast, and eat local seafood. We did take a tour over to the penguineras – penguin colonies about an hour away. They were very cute –
the first time i'd seen penguins outside of a zoo. Two penguin species shared the small islands on the protected bay – Humboldt and Magelan, though they're quite difficult to differentiate one from the other.
After a few days in Ancud, we grew a little restless and caught a bus even further south to the tiny port town of Chonchi, where there was even less to do! We spoke with the local tourism officer, Nicolas, who was very friendly and recommended that we go out to the natio
nal park, about an hour's bus ride away.
The next day we caught the bus out to the park. We took one trail which took us through a dense, subtropical marsh forest – interesting and a bit spooky. After a picnic lunch, we took another short trail out to the beach on the pacific shore. A little ways into that hike we were joined by a very friendly dog who accompanied us the rest of the way out to the beach. It was very hot out, and he would run ahead to the next shady spot along the trail and wait for us there – then run along to the next bit of shade. He reminded us of our “cicerone” dog guides in valparaiso. He accompanied us all the way to the flat beach with roaring surf, w
here we found a herd of cows lingering. I'm not quite sure why they were there – there was no grazing for them. They were in the middle of a makeshift football pitch on the beach, so it seemed that perhaps they were playing an incredibly slow match of cow soccer.
I couldn't resist the pacific and went for a quick, chilly swim in the water – it was so nice to be back in the ocean again!
As we started to head back, our dog guide came with us a short ways, but then decided he was happy at the beach and plunked himself down in the middle of the only other people on the beach and took a nap – fickle!
Back in town that evening, the city's tourism officer, Nicolas (who'd recommended earlier that we go to the national park) drove past, and stopped to say "hi" and ended up inviting us up to his beautiful house on a hill overlooking the bay. We had drinks, listened to jazz, and discussed chile, korea (he'd travelled there twice), etc. He had a wonderful young dog, Theo, who'd had a mishap with Nicolas's horse and was suffering from broken front leg. Poor thing! There really is nothing to compare to south american hospitality! Gigi's family in Bolivia, the Torres family in Santiago, and Nicolas in Chonchi - how lucky we were to have met all these wonderful, generous people!
I'd hoped to catch the ferry from Chiloe over to Chaiten in Patagonia, but it turns out that service has been canceled because there's an erupting volcano in the way! We could see the huge pillar of ash and smoke from Nicolas's house, which is 100's of miles away. Wow. Oh, well, I'll have to leave the patagonia pin in the map for the next trip!
Talor: I wish you could see what I saw on Chiloe... it is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. The towns of Ancud and Chonchi were cute with modest homes painted in bright colors and l
ovely gardens with flowers blooming. But just a short distance outside of town, the fields of green and yellow with trees and wild flowers growing everywhere... well, it was simply breathtaking! Though I kept taking photo after photo, they do not begin to show what it was like. Guess I'll just have to remember it all...
Though we took day trips to see the penguins and to the national park, there really wasn't much to do so we wandered around town, watched kids break-dancing by the wat
er, ate really fresh fish and seafood and sampled a whole lotta kuchen. A word about kuchen (pronounced ku-hen), my newest obsession... there's quite the variety, and at times, they are like cake, and at times, like pie. Sometimes they have a creamy middle, but most times not. They're always filled with a layer of fruit (berries, apples, bananas or quinoa). The best are the ones with the crumbly buttery top. And when you get one with just the right combination of pastry to fruit to crumbly top, it is heaven! One of the first orders of bus
iness when I get home is to find a kuchen recipe.
Anyway, with friendly locals like Nicolas, who invited us to his beautiful home on a hill for a drink and a chat, we were really enjoying life on the island. I thought, “why don't i live here?” then remembered that it gets bitterly cold in the winter and the months are dark and long... o well, nowhere is perfect. Time to move on...
We have way too many photos of Chiloe... |
| Isla Chiloe |
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