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Published: December 3rd 2010
Surprise Ferry to Chiloe
Eli in our itty-bitty rental car on the ferry to Chiloe. We saw dolphins and sea lions on the rainy ferry ride, very cool!Our time spent in Argentine and Chilean Patagonia was muy precioso (amazing), but after 12 days of mostly trekking, camping and being quite smelly, we were both ready for a more cultural and chill experience. Chiloé was not originally on our radar as a place to visit, but after booking a cheap flight to Puerto Montt (originally just to catch a Bariloche-bound bus), reading about the archipelago of Chiloé and realizing it’s proximity to Puerto Montt, and finding an affordable car to rent for a few days (something very hard to come by in South America), we were sold.
Chiloé is an archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean and comprised of more than 40 minor islands, just off the Chilean coast. The main island is about 60 miles long and 30 miles wide, while the surrounding islands are much smaller. With its lush pastureland, soft rolling hills, strong heritage, delectable mariscos (shellfish) and friendly residents (population 155,000 Chilotes), Chiloé turned out to be the perfect laid-back and cultural taste of Chile we were looking for.
We picked up our itty-bitty rental car at the Puerto Montt airport, and funny thing, on the reservation it claimed to have room for
Palafito Neighborhood
Our lovely Palafito Hostel is "fiord-front" and on the right of the photo. It was the best hostel of the trip so far! 4 people and 2 bags… yeah right! We were one little happy family – me, Eli and our two “passengers,” or should I say our two muchillas (backpacks). I gladly opted to be the navigator while Eli was brave enough to be our driver (he did a great job amidst the insane Chilean drivers, by the way). With our nondescript map in hand, we headed towards Chiloé, not knowing exactly what we were getting ourselves into. Once we reached Pargua, a small port town, the road simply ended at the water’s edge and there was a line of trucks and cars waiting for something. Without any direction and no signs, we followed the trucks and cars onto a ferry, hoping that it would take us to Chiloé. I suppose this story has a boring ending as we did in fact end up in Chiloé, but it was quite humorous at the time when we had absolutely no idea what was going on. Anyways, we saw dolphins and sea lions on the rainy and cold ferry ride, pretty cool and unexpected. Upon reaching mainland Chiloé, we drove south to Castro, the attractive and idiosyncratic capital of Chiloé, conveniently located in the
Palafito Hostel Room
Our favorite hostel so far with the best room in the house! We had a view of the Fiordo de Castro (inland waterway that rose with the tide). central and eastern part of the main island (most towns are built on the eastern coast as they are more protected from the wild Pacific winds). Palafito Hostel was our lodging of choice, and it was hands down the best hostel I’ve ever been in. A palafito is a wood-shingled house on stilts, which means that Palafito Hostel was ideally located over water (when the tide was high at least) and overlooking the Fiordo de Castro… que bonita! We splurged a little and went with the nicest room in the hostel that had a private balcony, amazing views and cozy down comforters. The common area was warm and wonderful with its wood stove, many windows overlooking the fiords and cute, artsy and friendly atmosphere. We where so happy to find such a great little hostel that we booked our three nights in Chiloé there and enjoyed every single second of it!
Our first full day in Chiloé turned out to be quite cold and rainy, but after waking up to a simply amazing and delicious breakfast at Palafito Hostel, we were happy campers. Fresh fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, homemade multi-grain bread with homemade kiwi-banana marmalade, an egg with avocado and
Hangout Room at Palafito Hostel
Awesome hangout room with a wood stove where we made some great new friends during our stay! té con leche…we were spoiled with the best breakfast in South America! Anxious to go for a drive in our itty-bitty rental car, we drove to Dalcahue, a small town in Chiloé famous for its feria artesenal (crafts fair) and cocineras (local family-run kitchens in a palafito). The feria artesenal was incredible and dominated mostly by wool goods imaginatively woven into sweaters, skirts, beanies, purses and more. Eli found a great beanie while I found a colorful little purse/pouch accented with salmon skin (salmon is the main industry in Chiloé). For lunch at one of the family-run cocineras in Dalcahue, we shared the local dish of curanto, which is a smorgasbord of mariscos (shellfish), native potatoes, chicken, ham, meat and some sort of mysterious purée cake, all vapor-smoked in giant leaves and topped with a fantastic white wine sauce. Along with the corn humitas we had in Buenos Aires and the locro we had in El Chaltén, curanto was one of our favorite local dishes we had tried thus far. After lunch, we caught a short ferry over to Isla Quinchao for a rainy afternoon drive. Achao is the main town on the island, and it is home to Chiloé’s
Feria Artesenal in Dalcahue
Eli found a cool beanie and I found a cool purse, all made from local wool by local women who were really nice and talented. oldest wooden church, constructed solely out of wooden pegs and no nails (wooden churches dot the archipelago, some dating back to over 200 years old). I snapped a quick photo of the church in the rain and we made our way back to our warm and cozy little Palafito Hostel to make some dinner.
Our next day on the island was spent mostly on a bike as we rode about 25 miles from the small town of Chonchi, through the spectacular and lush countryside, ending up in Parque Nacional Chiloé for a sunny afternoon hike. We rode with another couple from our hostel, Ron and Shanee from Melbourne (well, we at least started out with them, but since they are not big bikers, we met them in the park after our hike). After a neat hike through a tepual forest (a type of tree with an extensive and impressive root system), a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean complete with wild horses, and a surprising encounter with a bull along the way (no worries, he was a nice bull), we were ready for some local empanadas. We went to a cute and humble little shack right on the water
Anchao Iglesia
Oldest church in Chiloe, made solely from wooden pegs! that only sold empanadas for an afternoon snack, and especially enjoyed the empanada de manzana (apple empanada). Later that evening we made dinner again at our wonderful little Palafito Hostel, which turned out to not only be quite interesting, but also quite good. We went to the store with the intention to make fish tacos, but after searching for black beans, tortillas and fresh fish to no resolve, we left the store with an interesting combination of ingredients. Our “fish tacos” turned out to be a combination of rice, shrimp, onion, garlic, lemon, white wine, beans of some sort, potatoes, avocado and some sort of fruit neither one of us had ever seen before… and paired with a Kuntsmann beer and a bottle of wine, it was quite delectable. After an absolutely wonderful stay in Castro at Palafito Hostel, and after another amazing breakfast in Chile (again, something extremely hard to come by), we set off for Puerto Montt en route to our main destination, Bariloche, Argentina.
Jessica, a French woman who now lives in Barcelona, needed a ride to Puerto Montt, so the three of us set off from the hostel with one major stop along the way…more
Pig on the road
Pig on the road when we were driving around Isla Quinchao. PENGUINS! In the northern part of Chiloé is another penguinera (penguin colony) with both Magellanic and Humboldt penguins. After an adventurous drive on a desolate dirt road in our itty-bitty rental car, we arrived to the penguinera where the road simply ended and all of the sudden we were driving on a beach and being flagged down by all sorts of men trying their hardest to sell their particular penguin tour. The Chiloé penguins live on small islands right off the Pacific Coast of Chiloé, which is why you need a tour (i.e. a boat and a captain). The most humorous part of the journey was the innovative “people-mover” these tour guides used to get people out onto the boats without a dock and without them getting wet (check out the photo, words can’t describe the hilarity). Anyways, the penguins were adorable as always, we saw a lot of other birds on the journey, and we were even lucky enough to see a cute little sea otter! After another fantastic afternoon of penguins (I swear I don’t have a penguin fetish or anything…), we stopped in Ancud (the largest city in Chiloé) for a quick lunch at a local market.
Car Ferry
Our 5 minute ferry with our itty-bitty rental to Isla Quinchao. Earlier I had said that we had one of our best local meals in Chiloé, well, we also had our worst. We thought we had ordered something like a quiche or dumpling or sorts, and it turned out to be some sort of seafood mush with what seemed to be crab shells still included. Yuck!
We had both heard only bad things about Puerto Montt, Chile, but since we were only going there to return the car and catch an early morning bus to Bariloche, Argentina, we thought that it couldn’t be all that bad. Well, we were totally wrong. The woman from the car rental place dropped us off near Hospedaje Betty and said not to go out at night, that is was muy peligroso, muy peligroso (very dangerous). When we arrived at our comfortable and quite affordable little hospedaje (more like renting a room in someone’s home), the sweet little señora told us the exact same thing. Luckily, our friend Jessica knew someone in Puerto Montt, so we were able to leave the hospedaje for dinner without being hassled, but it was certainly less than impressive. Puerto Montt physically has an ideal location being right on the
Castro Palafitos
Colorful Castro palafitos (wood-shingled houses over water). water with gorgeous snow-capped peaks and volcanoes as the backdrop; however, the city itself is dirty, grungy, not very friendly (except for Alejandro who took us to dinner, he was great), and basically a complete dump. The first place we tried to go to dinner was truly a local little Puerto Montt establishment of sorts, or at least that is what Alejandro claimed. The pitcher of beer she served us was terribly flat, and after Alejandro asked for a different beer, the waitress got so mad that she refused to serve us. We left that place and went to a chain restaurant with mediocre food, not really the local flavor Alejandro was hoping to show us. The most comical moment of the evening was upon our return to Hospedaje Betty where we thought we were locked out (she had said to be back by 11:00pm and it was about 11:10pm), so Eli scaled the fence while I, along with the neighbors, watched. Once inside of the fenced in yard, Eli came to let me in the fence, being the gentleman he is, when he realized that you simply have to reach your hand through the fence and pull the lever,
Cemetery
A small but interesting cemetery in a small town we stopped in on our bike ride to Parque Nacional Chiloe. which can easily be done from the outside. Either way, it gave us all, including the neighbors, a great laugh. Needless to say, we were both more than happy to get up early to catch the bus to Bariloche, Argentina, which turned out to be muy precioso (amazing), just like Chiloé. Until Eli posts his blog about Bariloche, we hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, a sweet opening day if you are in Steamboat and buena suerte a todos!
Ciao,
e squared everywhere (written by Erin)
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Mom C
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Simply amazing!!!!