A few days on the Chiloé Archipelago

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Chiloé is a long thin island (one of the largest in South America) which lies just of the mainland, south of Puerto Montt. Frommer's Guide describes it as ....


... a land of myths and magic -- of emerald, rolling hills shrouded in mist, and tiny, picturesque coves that harbor a colorful palette of wooden fishing skiffs. The landscape here by and large is pastoral, with a deference to development that tends to make the visitor feel as if he has been transported back a century. Across the island, antique wooden churches modeled after a Bavarian, neoclassic style appear like a beacon in every bay; they are so lovely and architecturally unique that UNESCO recently deemed them World Heritage Monuments.



After spending the night in an expensive campsite near Puerto Varas we got up very early to pack up our tent (making sure we woke the up the noisy bunch who had kept us awake the night before) & drove into Puerto Montt to pick up Claire from the bus station. Then it was of to Jumbo to pick up more supplies before driving out of town (the opposite way from the Carretera Austral) to catch the ferry to Chiloé. Compared to our previous ferry experince this one was a doddle we drove straight on then were sailing in no time & in 40 minutes we arrived at the Gran isla of Chiloé.

We had read about a fantastic smokery near the harbour which turned out to be a tiny wooden house. We bought a fillet of smoked salmon from the friendly woman then drove on through gentle rolling hills that were in sharp contrast to the dramatic mountain scenery we had become used to & which reminded And & I of home. After an hour we arrived islands capital Castro were we stopped to look at the colourful Palafitos which are brightly painted wooden shacks built on stilts out over the sea. Then we drove on to look at the church which the guide books described as shockingly gaudy but which we found a bit drab. After getting lost in the one way system we felt we had seen enough of Castro so we headed off down yet another bumpy dirt track to the National park on the other side of the island. This side of Chiloé is constantly battered by Pacific winds so is more barren and windswept with large sweeping beaches & sandunes. We drove to every campsite in the area until we found one with good shelter then spent the evening oggling Claire´s tiny little one man tent, cooking dinner in the rain, chatting & catching up with what Claire had been up to.

In the morning we walked out of the campsite through woods & sandunes to the huge expanse of beach. I paddled in the ocean & got soaked by a naughty extra large wave while And tried to fly her kite. For once the Pacific winds failed to blow so we went back to pack up camp & drove back accross the island to catch another ferry out to one of the islands in the archipelago. The little ferry only took five minutes to make the crossing then we were off to explore.

We drove past lots of wooden signs advertising beaches, black necked swans, oysters & museums & as we were feeling adventurous we decided to go wherever the next sign took us. This was down a dusty road along the coast. We followed the sign out of town watching fishermen wheelbarrowing their catch across the beach as we passed to a viewpoint over the ocean & on to a little seaside village to a tiny museum where the woman who run it jumped up excitedly as we drove up so we felt obliged to go in. Or at least Claire did as she got out first & went in thinking we were behind us but instead we sat in the car giggling evily as she was shown all the items in the two rooms & had to appear interested in the explanations for each one (apparently there was a shoe making machine)! She was getting more embarrassed & red faced each time she appeared at the window but she eventually escaped after the signing the visitors book with an enthusiastic "bueno" by this time she was the colour of a beetroot (but luckily for us she saw the funny side).

Then it was on to the pretty little town of Achao where we wandered around visited the ornately decorated church & bought a few bits for dinner then we drove to the top of a large hill to a campsite with amazing views over the archipelago to the distant Andes on the mainland. it was a bit of a chilly evening so we took shelter in the Fogon, which this time was a proper wooden hut with a fire pit for warmth & electricity, there was even an cooker! We spent the evening chatting to the mother & adult (ex army) son who were the only others camping there. They shared some of their dinner with us a delcious stew of tomatoes & melted cheese (like the topping of a pizza), we shared some of our wine with them. It was a fun evening spent chatting & laughing.

The next morning we drove back into Achao to do some internet stuff then drove back to the little port wth the museum in to visit the pretty church there & go to the open air restaurant there for lunch. It was a funny little place with outside tables made of logs & a few stalls around it selling food. The largest of which was selling freshly caught Oysters. I had never tried raw oysters before so I headed straight there whle And & Claire opted for empiñadas. I only bought two as they were both very large & one of them was huge. The first one went down easily but the giant was a bit too big to swallow in one gulp (of course this is the one Claire & And took photos of me eating) I managed it but I don´t think I´ll be rushing back for more any time soon! After our second course of Salmon & chips we lazed around in Hammocks under the trees for a while then it was tme to get back in the car.

We left the island on the tiny ferry, this time accopanied by a man with a horse. Drove back accross the Isla Grande & caught the ferry back to the main land. Then drove past Puerto Montt to visit the Alerce Andino national park where we planned to do some hiking the next day. The dirt road in to the park was treatcherous, full of huge pot holes & boulders. And somwhow managed to get us safely into the park & although our progress was very slow we made it to a campsite just as it was getting dark. Once again we had the whole place to ourselves. It was a little chilly so we collected dead wood for a roaring campfire & had an enjoyable evening drinking Clos & eating noodles.

The next morning I awoke to the sounds of bumble bees buzzing around flowers on a hot sunny summers day. Then I woke up properly & realized that the buzzing I could hear was actually the sound a hundred of hungry horseflies all trying to get into our tent. These were no ordinary horse flies either, they were "Tambanas" huge black flies with red heads who had the most persistent & determined attitude I have ever seen in an insect. They would fly right up your face & look you in the eye (you could almost hear them say "I´m going to eat youuuuuu") & you could not shake them off no matter how hard you tried. They are so solidly built that even if you hit them they hardly seem to feel it & soon come back for more & if they did bite you it hurt like hell & left purple welts that took days to dissapear. So far we had encountered one or two at a time & that was enough to have you pack up your picnic & scurry to the safety of the car but as I unzipped the tent & stepped outside there were hundreds of them swarmin around our campsite. I packed up our cooking things as fast as I could but after being bitten through my clothes I dived for the safety of the car. Claire was next to get up but soon she gave up trying to take down her tent & we sheltered in the car together. Then Andrea emerged & had Claire & I in hysterics as she squeeled & danced about trying to ward off the flies by swinging the tent´s fly sheet around her head. Eventually we managed to get everything packed up & drove further into the park aiming to get to the lake to hire kayaks. Unfortunately when we reached the ranger station we found out that the road to the ection of the park we were heading to was unpassable so our plans were scuppered. And & Claire went for a short walk (which was supposed to take half an hour but took them about 5 minutes) then we drove down the dodgy road & out of the park. We all decided that although the park itself had been pants it was worth going for our fun evenin at the campsite & the experience of surving the evil Tambanas.

We headed back to the coast were we had seen a lot of sweet little campsite the day before & spent the day in our camping spot by the sea, swimming, reading & just relaxing, oh & Andrea & I cleaned the car in preperation for returning it to Hertz the next day. It was strange to see it all white & clean again as for most of the time we had had it it was covered with dirt dust & the remains of thousands of squashed flies (hopefully there were a few horseflies in there too). In the evening we cooked up a luxury dinner of Hotdogs & Cheesy beans while listening to the Men in the site next to us sing Chilean love songs. Later we sat looking at the stars & drinking more Clos until I felt tired & went to bed. I was woken later by a very squiffy claire telling me that a very squiffy Andrea was tryin to burn the picnic table. The next morning I got up to find that And had melted all the plastic containers we had been using as candle holders to the table. She was very sheepish when she saw the mess she had made. Naughty Andrea!!!

After packing up & cleaning the table as best we could we drove back into town said fond farewells to Claire & checked back into Hostel Tren del Sur where we waited for the Hertz man to arrive.

When he came he was a completely different person to the one who had rented us the car in the first place when he was gruff & very grumpy. This time he was friendly & so chatty that we found it hard to get rid of him. We think it was because he was relieved to get the car back with no damage (a fact that we were very proud of). He was even more impressed when we told him where we had driven & showed us the scar from where he had crashed his car on the Careterra Austral & blown out two tyres (Men drivers eh)!

As he drove the car away from the hostel we waved it a sad goodbye. We had had an absolutely amazing month. The car had given us more freedom than we could have imagined & had carried us safely through some very rough road conditions. It felt as if we were saying goodbye to an old friend. Bye bye little car, thank you.

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Photos

Patagonian kingfisher
This little fella was just sitting on the bridge as we drove by

Typical house in Chiloè
Note the interesting shingles ... at least that´s what the guide books told us to do.

A lovely Church
Can´t remember the name of the village but it was where the Oysters & Claire's museum

Our last dinner on the road .....
and the poor ill fated table

Comments

[rrruss]

Gorgeous pictures
So many recent memories came flooding back reading your blog. Great work.