Chiloé

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November 21st 2009

Published: November 22nd 2009

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Photo 2

Plaza in Osorno

We arrived in Osorno and walked to a hostel that we had found in the guidebook. We got all settled in before anyone asked how much it would cost. Some people were unhappy with the cost so we ended up leaving to find a different hostel. We checked into a different hostel. It was a bit cheaper and had a kitchen that we could use. We walked to the store to get food and drinks. We went back to the hostel, made our food and then went to sleep. We were pretty exhausted from traveling and most of us felt like we were still on the boat.
The next morning we got up, checked out of the hostel and went to explore Osorno. We walked through the plaza, saw a few churches and saw some old wooden buildings the guidebook said we should see. It wasn´t very fun exploring while dragging my luggage around. We eventually made our way to the bus station. The strike had ended so we bought tickets to go to Chiloé. We had to wait in the bus station for an hour or two so I just sat and waited. We bought stuff to make sandwiches the

Photo 3

Church

night before because we were thinking about going to the national park near Osorno. It was raining in the morning so we decided not to go but we forgot the sandwich stuff at the hostel when we left. Catie, Brad and Evin walked all the way back to the hostel to get the stuff and we made sandwiches in the bus station.
Finally we were on our way to Chiloé. It was a pretty long bus ride. The bus had to board a ferry and cross to the island. We didn´t have to get off. We just stay right on the bus. I was reading my guidebook right before we reached the city of Ancud on the island. I realized that our hostel wasn´t close to there and so we asked the bus driver to drop us off at a crossroads so the owner of our hostel could come pick us up. We had to pay them a little extra but they said they would do it.
We got dropped off and the owner of the hostel was waiting with his little ford ranger. We piled all our luggage and ourselves (8 people) into his truck. It was kind of

Photo 4

bull statue in the plaza

chilly out and I felt bad for the people that had to ride in the back. We went down windy, hilly, gravel roads and eventually made it to Chepu Adventures. There was a main building/house, several little cabins and a bathroom building. Chepu adventures is an environmentally friendly place. The electricity is generated from a windmill and the water is heated by solar panels. There are recycling bins and compost piles. They have rules for you to follow to conserve water, such as they would like people to take no longer than 3 minutes in the shower.
We were kind of unprepared to stay at such a place. We didn´t have any blankets or pillows to sleep with. The owner gave us each a blanket. There weren´t heaters in the cabin either. We settled in and then went to walk to a nearby store to get food and water. We found the store but it wasn´t open. We walked a little further up the road just for fun and then headed back. It was a beautiful secluded area. It reminded me a lot of home with just farms and animals. The owner of the little store must have seen us

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inside the first church

walking and opened up the store so we were able to get food and water on the way back. We decided to order some bread for the next day. We relaxed down by the river for awhile and then decided to get ready to go to sleep. The next morning we were getting up to go on our penguin trek.
We had to be up and ready by 8 am. I did not sleep well at all since it was SOOO cold! I literally slept with my winter jacket on and lots of clothes. Not fun. We headed down to the main building. The owners wife though we were crazy since we didn´t have hiking boots but all I had was tennis shoes. We had been told the trek would be 6 hours long but we didn´t really know what we were getting into. We knew that we would have to cross the ocean tide at one point and that it could be thigh high so we should be prepared to get wet. We got in the boat and headed across to river to begin our trek. There were 8 of us and 4 other people plus our guide. There

Photo 6

little prayer room

was a pretty rainbow over the river as we began.
We started walking basically through a cow pasture. I guide walked really fast since they were worried about the tide being too high. I guess we could walk all the way out there and not be able to cross if we took too long. We began walking through woods. It was really muddy. Of course, me and my white winter jacket were the first to fall but surprisingly I didn´t get that dirty. We walked and walked and walked. We saw lots of cows. We trudged though mud practically up to our knees. We were filthy. We walked along the beach for awhile too. We saw a ship that had wrecked and some starfish. We knew that we could walk slower on the way back so we just kept going and going and going. By the time we got to the part with the tide we just walked right through since we were wet, muddy and filthy already. The water wasn´t too deep. about to our knees I would say. We finally arrived at the penguin colony after about 2 and half hours of trekking.
We had to move very

Photo 7

old wooden bulidings the guidebook said we should see

slowly and be very quiet. There was a little shack that we took turns looking at the penguins from. They have been doing this trek for awhile so the penguins aren´t scared too easily. They weren´t super close but they weren´t that far away either. The zoom is broken on my camera but I got some decent pictures. It was fun to watch them waddle and swim around. I can´t believe I got to see penguins in the wild. It was fantastic. They didn´t seem very big, maybe only a foot tall. We watched for about an hour. At one point we crawled on our bellies to get a better look.
We sat around snacking on the food we had brought. 3 hours of trekking makes you kind of hungry. We rested, watched some more and then headed back and a much nicer pace. We had time to take pictures, collect shells, and play on the ship. It was a peaceful walk. We were back in no time, well about 3 hours. We were all so exhausted and trying to stay awake on the boat ride back.
When we got back we all cleaned up, showered and had some food.

Photo 8

second church

We were going to a roast later but we were famished from walking for 6 hours. I took my 3 minute shower. It really wasn´t bad. You just turn off the water when your not rinsing soap out. We left for the asado (roast) around 6:30. We would be eating Curanto, which is seafood, chicken, beef, and some bread like stuff that is put into a hole in the ground and cooked all day. You can cook it a faster way but the stuff we had was cooked traditionally. There was grass covering the hole and the steam cooks everything. We all road in the back of the truck on the way to the farm the asado was at. We watched them uncover the hole and take the food out. They prepared plates for us and we sat around big tables, eating and drinking wine.
I wasn´t a fan of all the shellfish but the chicken and beef were good. I wasn´t full but it was fun to experience a traditional dish of Chiloé and even better it was cooked traditionally. We went back to the cabins. We were all pretty tired. I spent some time down by the river

Photo 9

it lost a bell!

and then went up and went to bed. We were getting up to go kayaking the next day and had to be ready by 6 a.m.
It was warmer the second night and I didn´t have as hard of a time sleeping. We got up and got ready to kayak. The hostel gave us pants and boots to wear since we were kayaking in sea kayaks which get water in them easily. They served us tea and cookies before we left. Then we headed down to the river. We didn´t have a guide this time. Just walkie talkies and they had told us where to go and when to turn back. We headed down to the river. I shared a kayak with Hayley. We had to fight the current on the way out.
We were supposed to be very quiet so we could see animals but it was hard. We paddled and paddled. It was hard since Hayley paddled faster than me so we were constantly off. By the end we got better but it was a bit of a struggle sometimes for me, since I was in back and always had to change my paddling. We finally decided it

Photo 10

making sandwiches...

was time to turn around. We rested by a log and ate cookies and granola bars for a little bit. When we got closer to the hostel we decided to stop paddling and just watch for awhile. We were almost back when we finally saw an otter. It was only there for a few seconds but it was still really neat.
When we got back to the hostel we got ready to go. I showered and packed my things. We left the hostel around 10 or 11. We piled into the truck and the owner took us back out to the road where we were dropped off. We decided to catch a bus to the city of Castro, where the palafitos are. Palafitos are houses on stilts that have survived many natural disasters that have destroyed the rest of the town but not the palafitos. It was tough getting on the bus with our luggage but we managed. We arrived in Castro and decided to buy our bus tickets back to Puerto Montt right away. We got them and then checked our luggage at the bus station and went to walk around. We shopped at a market for awhile and

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...in the bus station

walked around to find the palafitos. We found some really old crappy ones but then walked along the coast until we found nicer ones. There are a lot of steep hills in Castro. We got some food and then headed back to the bus station to catch our bus. It was a long ride back to Puerto Montt. We had to take the ferry again. We finally arrived. We got off and quickly bought overnight tickets back to Concepcion. We thought we were on a semi-cama (half-bed) bus but it turned out not to be. That wasn´t very comfortable but we survived. While we waited in Puerto Montt for awhile we went to the store to get supper. We boarded the bus and began the long ride back to Concepcion. We finally arrived early on Sunday morning. Hayley´s host dad gave me a ride home. I was happy to be back in Concepcion for a few days before heading off to Peru.
I unpacked, showered and ate some breakfast. I arrived around 7 and nobody in my host family got up until about 9. I spent the whole day catching up on things and doing assignments. On Monday it was

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back to class. I brought my computer so I could register for my SCSU classes when the window opened. I didn´t realize until I was already on my way to school that the time difference meant my window opened at 1pm not 10am. I would still need my computer but I would have to wait longer. I got all registered though. After class I took the micro home and ate lunch. I called some people on skype and also went for a run.
Tuesday I got up, showered and was all ready to go when I checked my phone and discovered that our class with Profe Triana was canceled because she was sick. I spent the whole day being a bum, packing for Peru, and doing homework. Class was also canceled on Wednesday morning. I ate lunch and went to my class in the afternoon from 3 to 5. After class I went over to Evin´s in San Pedro, just for fun. I ate cena with his family and then headed back to my house. We were leaving for Santiago in the bus at 10pm.

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