Blogs from Chiloé Island, Los Lagos, Chile, South America - page 11

Advertisement

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island April 12th 2007

4/12/07 12:04 AM Oh wow, so I guess it’s been quite awhile since I’ve written. Two big adventures in the past weeks: Pucón and Chiloé. I just got back from Chiloé so I’ll write about that first. It was a difficult decision to go to Chiloé for semana santa, but I’m really glad that I did. You’d think that in a catholic country like Chile we would get more than just a 3 day weekend for Easter, but that’s not the way it works. But no matter, In the last 2 weeks I have had six classes cancelled because of student protests and riots (and one today for my professor being sick, and then the week before I had a class cancelled because there was an organized drunken beach trip for the freshmen, where the university ... read more

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island April 8th 2007

With an enormous burst of power we lurched up the last of the almond coloured sandunes. Whilst my horse regained his breath, I breathed with a sigh of relief, grateful to still be sitting on him. To my left stretched an endless beach, relentlessly pounded by the Pacific ocean. Cows munched lazily on seaweed to cure parasites in their stomach and watched us with disinterest. To my right was a vast expanse of Patagonian landscape. The mainly flat ground was covered with dry brown dirt, rough green plants and a few rocky outcrops. I love horses and in my mind I have visions of riding like John Wayne, full speed, one hand around a lasso and hair flying in the wind. In reality I am allergic and almost as uncordinated on the back of a ... read more
Cows relaxing on the beach
On top of the dunes
Entrance to the park....

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island April 6th 2007

The islands of Chiloe, accessible only by ferry, is so far the most restful and tranquil place we have stayed. Most travelers go to Chiloe for the local churches, unique in their architecture, detail, and local wooden construction, and we visited our share. In one fishing village of only a few hundred at most we had a merry set of visits throughout, trying to find someone with the key to the 19th century church in the middle of the village. We asked someone cutting brush near the church,a home builder, a fisherman, at the loca lpost office and general store, and ultimately at what we think was her house, but she was not at home, and it was unclear where she had gone or when she would return. We never did find the key but ... read more
church arch
church steeple
ferry

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island April 3rd 2007

I sat on the wall and watched as the fisherman loaded their boats with nets. Behind me a local man chopped wood for the fire and a rooster crowed in the distance. Across the bay, sheep and cows grazed on the green hills, occasionally looking up to the panoramic views of the neighbouring islands. A mist had settled over the water and lent a mystical air to the surroundings. The cry of nearby gulls contributed to the nautical theme. I watched as people called greetings to each other and a dodge truck spun its wheels in the gravel in an attempt to climb the hill. School kids looked at is with interest before continuing with their lively game of football. Beside me, a stray dog and kitten were huddled close hoping for some affection. The ... read more
The colourful houses
Harvesting the seaweed
Not much else to do in town....

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island April 2nd 2007

After the Navimag we headed to Chiloe, an island, which is a pretty laid back place and scenically very beautiful. Excited to be back to dry land we decided to get a car for the day so that we could bomb around and get the island done pretty quickly. Or so we thought... After a trip to the national park, we headed towards Quimchey, a small fishing village where we had heard they made good Curanto, the local dish of seafood, meat and potatoes. Looking at our map, we decided to take the coast road after another village called Dalcahue. When we got to Dalcahue it looked pretty nice so we had a drive around and then headed out on the coast road. Soon, the road became less and less of a road, and more ... read more
Chiloe´s Churches
The Route to Chiloe´s The National Park
The Route to Chiloe´s The National Park

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island March 29th 2007

Five girls: three from the States (Alex, Liz, and myself), one from Brazil (Geisa, pronounced Jayza), and Marketa, from the Czech Republic. A plane, a bus, a ferry, and a trip from Santiago, Chile to Puerto Montt, then to an island in the south of Chile, Chiloe. Here, I'll give you the raw, unedited version from the scribbly pocket journal where i record spontaneous thoughts and impressions. "Day one: On my own for tonight. In the air now, to arrive in Puerto Montt at 1:35 am, must find my own hostel and sleep a lil bit before taking bus to meet others tomorrow. Dear Self: please stop waiting to buy plane tickets till the last minute. okay? I cant help but think, what would dad say about this?" "Find taxi. Find hostel. Get ripped off ... read more
Mask
Roll on
Airplane rides

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island March 7th 2007

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 ... read more
Achao church
Beautiful wooden interiors
Achao market

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island January 29th 2007

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 ... read more
Palafitos
I´d live in the little blue one
Vast Pacific beach

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island January 23rd 2007

Our short trip over to the island of Chiloé took us over the Canal de Chacao and away from the Chilean mainland. On the crossing we saw a school of dolphins playing in the busy shipping lane, and a flock of pelicans glided gracefully by. Our first stop was the town of Ancud, the last bastion of Spanish rule in Chile. The main reason for our visit though, was to meet up with Juno (Junah/Jeroen) from Belgium who was a fellow student on our English teaching course a year ago. He owns a farm nearby and we were keen to see what his lifestyle was like. It was great to see him again after a year, and it was a pleasure to have a wonderful dinner with his delightful girlfriend Grecia. Ancud was a very quiet ... read more
Fishing Boats of Ancud
The Spanish Fort
A Multi Lungual Sign

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island December 18th 2006

Daar zijn we weer vanuit het inmiddels regenachtige Chile. Je kan niet alles hebben natuurlijk. Ik ben inmiddels al weer een paar dagen op het eiland Chiloe in het plaatsje Castro maar ik zal weer met het begin beginnen want ik heb de afgelopen week veel gezien en veel gereisd. Ik was gebleven in Pucon waar ik de vulkaan beklommen had. Mijn Australische reismaat, Tim, vertrok eerder dan ik omdat hij minder tijd heeft. Zodoende ben ik nog een dagje extra gebleven en ben gaan hiken in het nationale park Huerquehue (vraag me niet hoe je het uitspreekt maar ik ben er gekomen). Dat had overigens behoorlijk wat voeten in de aarde want onderweg ging tot 2 x de bus stuk en moesten we wachten op vervangend materiaal. Het was dan ook een bizarre rit voor ... read more
One of the three lakes in nat. park
Another lake
And yessss, another lake




Tot: 0.166s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 8; qc: 97; dbt: 0.1123s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb