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Our official first leg of the journey home was through the island of Chiloe, the second largest island in South America. This journey was supposed to last 6 hours until we reached the southernmost city of the island, Quellon. We believed that the island was connected to the mainland by a bridge, but as we were driving south, the bus jumped on a ferry. As we continued our journey we found out that Quellon was a port city with nothing to do so we decided instead to spend the night at Castro, the island’s capital. As soon as we arrived we knew there was something special about the island. Back when the Spanish conquistadores where colonizing the region, they were unable to do so in Chiloe because of fierce resistance from the natives. The island finally went under Western influence in the 17th century when Jesuits established missions throughout the island. Today, the island is still dominated by the natives who inhabited the island hundreds of years ago and its landscape is composed mainly by wood structures painted with beautiful colors. As we walked around the island at sunset we knew that it was one of the most beautiful places in the world.

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