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Published: March 15th 2011
CHILE: ISLANDS AND VOLCANOES
This section of our journey covers our travels from the Island of Chiloe in the south, northwards to Pucon, Valparaiso and finally Easter Island - all of which are in Chile. We have called it Islands and Volcanoes of which we saw many!
At the end of our last blog we were in Puerto Varas a small peaceful town, but just a one night stop on our way to the island of Chiloe. Chiloe is the second largest island in South America and we spent a fabulous 4 days there with a hired car, numerous ferries and wall to wall sunshine! The views of the archipelago from both land and sea, framed by a ring of snow capped volcanoes, were spectacular (see video above and photo at end).
Three things stand out about the island. First, the colourful houses or ‘palafitos’ - wooden shingle constructions built on stilts along the estuaries and lagoons (see photo to the right). The best examples of these were in the capital, Castro and on the small island of Mechuque (see photo at end) which was like a microcosm of everything in Chiloe and where we stayed for a
day and night.
The second highlight were the 18th century wooden ‘Iglesias’ (Churches), all built in a similar style and 16 of which are UNESCO world heritage sites. The churches are all close to the sea and to a large extent our travels around the islands was planned to take in as many of these as possible (see photo to the left and others at end) The state of the churches varied and sometimes we couldn’t even go inside, but on a couple of occasions we climbed up rickety wooden stairs to the choir stalls and then even higher up in to the bell tower.
Finally what we will remember about Chiloe is the food which is renowned throughout the country. The humble potato (of which there are dozens of varieties in Chiloe – see photo at end) came from here, before being brought to Europe and the rest of the world. The locals eat anything and everything that swims in the sea or slithers along the seabed, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to try all of it. However we were lucky enough to be there for the annual Festival Costumbrista, which celebrates the island’s gastronomy, so were
able to sample a good range, yet still keep some boundaries, such as avoiding ‘pico roco’ a kind of barnacle with tentacles.
Delicacies included potato filled pancakes cooked on 4 foot long wooden rollers (see photo at end), conger eel, freshly fried purple potato crisps, special skewers of very tender local pork and lamb, several types of sausages, a mussels and red peppers dish served on top of mashed potato, raspberry and apple empanadas, crunchy rhubarb ice cream, a variety of fresh juices and liquors and finally … Curanto al hoyo. Curanto al hoyo is a traditional way of cooking sea food, meat and vegetables. You start by digging a large hole in the ground at least a metre square and half a metre deep. Then you place some large stones in the bottom, pile wood on top and burn it to get the stones hot. When the flames recede, you place the raw food on top of the stones and cover it with palm leaves to protect it from the soil and turf which goes on top. Then you simply leave this for 2 hours to cook before digging it all out and enjoying it. We have to
say, that mussels and potatoes have never tasted so good. (see photo to the right).
After Chiloe our next stop was Pucon, to see a volcano close up - and we couldn’t get much closer, as you will see from the photo (see photo to left) of the smoking ‘Villarrica’ (2847 metres) which was taken from our hotel room balcony. The climb to the top was slightly marred by high winds and swirling clouds which prevented a good view of the inside of a crater, but the photos still give an impression of the landscape. The geographers amongst you might be interested in the following link which shows how ‘active’ Villarrica still is.
http://www.povi.cl/villarrica.html (scroll down the web page for pictures and videos)
Pucon is a major holiday destination for both Chileans and international travellers, catering for a range of tastes and budgets. As the Lonely Planet says - “if you can hike it, jump off it, ride it or climb it, you can do it in Pucon’. But it also caters for the humble camper and sunbather. The beach on the edge of town with black volcanic sand took us by surprise. It was packed with
holiday makers sunbathing, swimming and indulging in a variety of water sports (see photo to the right).An unusual feature was rather than having small light planes flying by towing advertising banners, there were motor boats pulling pontoons advertising Coke and Chilean beer.
Although we mentioned earlier that this part of our trip has been characterised by volcanoes and islands, bus and boat journeys also featured highly. From Pucon to Valparaiso we took a ‘Premium Cama’ bus. This was a top of the range double decker night bus with seats that recline flat into beds – like first class on an airplane - and breakfast served as you pull in to your destination. Actually we both had a pretty good night’s sleep, so it did its job.
Valparaiso, where this super bus took us, is another UNESCO world heritage site (they seem to be everywhere in Chile). The main reason for this accolade is that the city is located on a range of small hills on which sit crumbling colourful houses (see photo below left) connected by a maze of narrow cobbled alleys and stairways, or when they are working a range of ‘elevators’ or funiculars (see photo at
end). The town’s atmosphere is very bohemian and while exploring the streets and stairways we came across jewellery makers, murals, other artwork, ‘public’ loos, clotheslines and families barbequing in the narrow streets. One of the best examples of the colourful mansions belonged to the Chilean Poet, Pablo Neruda who was rather quirky and eclectic in his tastes. We visited his home which included a bar, a rocking horse, a ship’s wardrobe and numerous stained glass windows. The house is located right at the top of one of the hills with a panoramic view over the port and city (see video above).
However probably the highlight of our stay in Valparaiso was the fact that in a ‘fuente de soda’ (Chilean equivalent of a greasy spoon) we watched Birmingham City become Carling Cup Champions, beating Arsenal 2-1 in literally the last minutes of the match. Being football fanatics themselves, most of the clientele understood our shrieks of joy, and congratulated us – all helped by the fact that one of the Blues’ strikers is Chilean. (see photo at end)
After Valparaiso on our way to Easter Island, we had a quick stop in Santiago. Neither of us were that
impressed by the capital city and compared to other Chilean sights, struggle to mention anything for the blog. However we spend more time there before our flight home, so perhaps we’ll have more to say after that.
Easter Island is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles from any other land mass and it took 4.5 hours to fly there. The island - Rapa Nui - to give it its Polynesian name - was formed by volcanic activity (yes more volcanoes) giving an undulating landscape, interspersed with conical hills and craters. Beneath the surface there is a labyrinth of lava tubes, where many islanders lived in former times. The island is surrounded by the most beautiful turquoise-blue clear seas, starlit night skies and tranquillity that we have rarely experienced. Easter Island was annexed by Chile in 1888 but culturally and geographically is considered part of the Polynesian triangle, which is made up of all the lands to the south of Hawaii, north of New Zealand and west of Easter Island.
However it is not its remoteness or exotic beauty that makes it one of the most wonderful places that either of us has ever visited, but
its enigmatic history, defined in part by being totally closed off from the rest of the world for almost a thousand years. This past is illustrated by the 800 or more Moai or stone statues found all over the island. The statues vary in size but most are between 5-7 metres high. The majority of Moai are still in the same position as when the island was ‘discovered’ by the Dutch and Spanish i.e. toppled over from their platforms (see photo above right), or still in the quarry in the process of being ‘manufactured’ (see photo to left).
Little is known for certain about the Moai and their human makers. What is certain is that the statues were carved and erected on platforms in each village as a form of ancestor worship. A few of them have been restored and put back on their platforms to demonstrate how they would have looked (see photo below right). What is uncertain is what happened to suddenly end this ‘megalithism’ and bring about the toppling of the statues and the sudden ‘shutdown’ of work in the quarry. One explanation is tribal war. Another a gradual realisation by the population that the all-consuming
creation and transportation of the Moai (sometimes 20km across the island) was leading to their own downfall, as resources needed for their manufacture, namely wood, were becoming scarcer and scarcer. Had the island not been so isolated from the rest of the world, someone might have pointed this out centuries before!
We were on the island for 6 days (including 2 full day tours and 1 day when we hired a car). This ended up being just about the right amount of time, allowing us to experience Rapa Nui and learn about its past, as well as enjoying local dancing (see video above), fresh fish, white sands and swimming with giant turtles.
So that’s it for ‘Islands and Volcanoes’. The next blog will be our last and starts with our journey from Santiago back into Argentina, across the Andes for a second time, to the wine-growing area of Mendoza, where we are currently indulging.
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Jealousy
just seen Chile / Volcanos blog. Fantastic . rather different from Hashing in Thames Ditton. Keep on having what looks to be a magnificent trip of a lifetime.Onand OnandOn C Hand