Chiloe to Puerto Natales

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After leaving Pucon I feel like I missed out lots of nice places like Valdivia and Puerto Varas but I was on a mission to get to the mystical Isle of Chiloe bufore flying down to Punta Arenas and hotfooting it to the Torres Del Paine park.
Chiloe is an island full of strange folklore and distinctive architechture, as soon as we got on the boat it started drizzling in a wet welsh kind of way and didnt really stop for most of my time there. This is supposedly the norm for Chiloe and it really felt like we were somewhere else entirely, I had met up with an American guy on the bus who I spent the next few days hanging out with. He swore it was just like the area around Seattle, but for me it was like the Outer hebrides or something, but with more people. I guess it was that special combination of rain, slightly deserted fishing towns and not much to do. I loved it!
We stayed in Castro and from there caught the bus to Isla Quinchao where we wandered around Achao and had a look in the Church there. Chiloe is famous for its ornate wooden churches covered with shingles made of a native tree (like cedar) called Alerce.
Then we hopped back on the bus to Curaco de Velez and hunted down the shack on the beach where I tried my first ever oysters. They were all laid out in pile of different price dependant on size. We went for the second smallest which were still massive and only cost us 30p each!!
Washed down with lemon juice salt and a cold beer they were not half bad. I found it was better not to think about the whole thing too much whilst chewing but the texture was less chewy and more fleshy than I was expecting, maybe I could develope a taste for them but I´ll probably never get them as cheap anywhere else.
Unfortunately my time in Chiloe was very fleeting and I would love to go back there, there was just something special about it and probably enough to do for another few days. If I get back to Santiago again I might hire a car and fill in the gaps that I missed.

Anyway I had to get to Puerto Montt (complete dive) to fly down to Punta Arenas on the 6th, but I only stayed overnight. I happened to bump into an ex roommate from Pucon who was supposed to be getting the bus to P.A. to meet here friend but had ended up flying. This all worked out well and we hung out in P.A for a couple of days while she waited for her friend to arrive, then the 3 of us went on to Puerto Natales and the park together. P.A was a pleasant town but we didnt really do a lot, just some washing and a quick look at the maritime museum which had an exhibit about the battle of Iquique where a completely outnumbered Chillian navy where annihilated by the Argentinians which was very amusingly recounted as a story of courage in the face of horrednous odds. They all died anyway though. They also had a film about Shackletons escape from antarctica when his ship Endurance got stuck in the ice (the remaining crew were finally rescued using a Chillian ship), I had read the book and I think seen the film before but its really a story that gives me goosebumps and makes me marvel at the early explorers and what they endured. Torres Del Paine didnt seem so adventurous all of a sudden!

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Photos

Its not a tardis
Its a tumble dryer! Doing our washing in Punta arenas I spotted our clothes going in to this contraption!!

Comments

[willis]

hello
hi lisa, been following your blog, cool as. wish i was there. hope your well. take care and keep on having a great time. like the ice!!!!!