Isla Grande de Chiloe

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After a long day travelling we arrived back to the nearest we've had to home on this trip - The Pink House in Puerto Montt. It was late and Francisca just handed us the key and we went off to bed having confirmed that they’d arranged for us to hire a car the following morning. Karim turned up the next morning to take us to his offices in town where we signed all the papers and drove away in a Renault Samsung....no, I’ve no idea either!

I say we, but actually H had agreed to do all the driving – I’m not a big fan of left hand drive cars or crazy Latin American drivers! H had put a GPS map on his phone and iPad for us to use but the iPad one appeared to have a Roger Moore soundalike who couldn't pronounce any of the Spanish street names so we abandoned him and relied on the quiet Spanish lady on the phone version. We had a bit of a struggle to get out of Puerto Montt but eventually we were on Ruta 5 heading towards the ferry for Chiloe Island. The ferries run constantly between the island and mainland so we drove straight on and set off within minutes. We had heard that dolphins can regularly be seen from the ferry but we only had a few pelicans and sea lions playing around the boat before we docked at the other side and drove off. Rather than take the main road straight to the town we were staying in, we picked the unpaved coast road and had great sea views and birdwatching. We stopped for lunch in Caulin at a restaurant that specialised in oysters which had 2 other tables with people that had been on the ferry - obviously a well known stop. Unfortunately we don't eat oysters! So for us it was beautiful smoked salmon with a view across the bay. The owner came and told us about how the family oyster farm had been in operation for 40 years and they only serve the oysters in the restaurant - I was beginning to wish I did eat them! The road from there took us straight across the top of the beach - quite clearly there are times when that road is impassable. The car was driving well on the unpaved roads and got up the hills well but it was quite a relief to get back to the main road and drive into Ancud, the second town on the island.

We had booked a room in a bed and breakfast just outside the town which had fantastic views from our room to the islands beyond. We walked into town via a small beach and the remains of a fort. The town itself is a bit shabby and the central square was quite down at heel but we rather liked the Christmas tree! We popped into a small museum about the wooden churches of the island - a large number have been given UNESCO world heritage status as they are very specific to the area and many have recently been restored by their local communities. Some are huge and quite stunning in their construction but are obviously subject to damage from a number of different sources so need a significant amount of maintenance. As with most of the other buildings on the island, they are also at serious risk of fire, so even the smallest town appears to have a large bombero or fire service with a serious collection of fire engines. Chile's fire service is completely voluntary but it's clearly very important in this area.

And after rather a lot of nescafe we discovered a lovely little cafe on the square with great coffee, cake and toilets!

Back at the B & B we sat in the sun watching for dolphins.... :-(

And then back into town for a rather uninspiring dinner in a busy pub.

Off the next morning in the car to a lighthouse at the end of the road going west. We arrived at the lighthouse station but, being very British, hung around outside the gate for a while as it was clearly territory of the Armada de Chile (Chilean Navy) and, despite open gates, a sign suggested you needed authority to go in. But there was nothing much to see where we were and the map showed it as a viewing point so we finally walked in to peer over the wall at the other side. We could see a few surfers in the water but the greenery meant that it still wasn't great views. We were just wondering if we'd got it all wrong and then jumped with surprise as we turned around to find a man in uniform standing quietly behind us. He directed us into the building behind us where there was a small exhibition about a man who was responsible for building many lighthouses in Chile. From there we could get into the lighthouse and squeeze our way up the spiral staircase to reach the viewpoint! This gave us views in all directions, directly out into the Pacific and across to the mainland.

From there we drove down to Punihuil, where a paved road suddenly drove us onto the beach where small boats were taking people out to nearby islands where there are colonies of Magellanic and Humboldt penguins. It was lovely to see them flying out of the water onto the rocks or hopping and sliding about but the trips are only short and we would have much preferred to sit and watch for a while. From there we had been led to believe that there was a road to a place further down the coast where you could walk amongst some penguins. However, the unpaved road proved a bit hairy in parts so took us longer than we hoped and when we had the option to turn back to the main road we decided to take it. From a different map it looked like we might have been on the wrong road but it's often hard to tell.....

Better dinner that night, lots of veg!

Next day we headed south towards Castro but turned off Ruta 5 towards Quemchi on a route around the coast to see some of the wooden churches. Quemchi is a small fishing village with the most pathetically decorated Chistmas tree in its tiny main square. We had a quick look around a museum which had been the home of Francisco Coloane, writer of novels and short stories who won the Chilean National Prize for literature in 1964. I must admit I had not heard of him before but his books look interesting and have been translated into many languages so will try to find some.

On from there onto more unpaved roads but ones we had been told were in a good state.....this was not quite how we found them! After one detour to see a church we realised that it was going to take us for ever to see them all and made an executive decision to bypass a couple in order to get across to Quinchao Island which we also wanted to visit. This was another drive straight on ferry (actually we didn't think there was room for our car but they somehow squeezed us on!) and head straight off across the central spine of the island with great views of both sides to many of the other islands that go to make up the Chiloe group. A couple more churches, the one in Quinchao being enormous for a very small community. We thought that there had been a big religious festival there the day before (we had had mixed messages from different places about this but it was never clear enough for us to change plans to get there early) - the church, like most others, was locked up but did have strings of rather decayed flowers around the outside suggesting it had been a few days before. However, on the coast nearby there were 2 women cleaning up the rubbish from what looked like a big party....who knows!

From there to Castro where we got stuck in unexpected traffic - a bigger/busier city that we had imagined. We were staying in a palafito or house on stilts on the estuary and we had a room with great view across the estuary and to islands beyond. We popped to the little cafe next door in search of good coffee and sat watching a heron on one of the supports for the previous bridge. Dinner was in a restaurant next door on the other side with excellent food and the same view over the water.

The following morning we set off for the west coast of the island to the Chiloe National Park. The park service have set the area up very well with marked trails from a camp site. The first took us through different forest areas with explanation boards about the ecology and great views across the lake. But all the way round the sound of the Pacific waves crashing on the nearby beach was in our ears and so we took the path through the sand dunes to the enormous and completely empty beach (unless you count the cows and horses!). The views north and south were misty and it was difficult to tell what was cloud and what was spray off the waves but it felt like we were miles from anywhere. Having blown the cobwebs away we headed back to Castro, popping into Chonchi for another wooden church. Then onto Castro's church - probably the most brilliantly coloured. Inside has beautiful stars painted onto a dark blue ceiling.

The following day the predicted rain started as we headed back north. We'd heard good things about the museum in Ancud but it had been closed while we were there so we called in to have a quick look around. I have to say it was rather disappointing with a rather random collection of things and information about Ancud and Chiloe, eg. bits of the old railway system that once connected Ancud and Castro but no details of when it was built, when it ended, where it went! Another transport issue is the subject of much controversy at the moment as they are in the process of building a bridge between the mainland and the island.

From there it was back on the ferry to the mainland and on towards Puerto Montt. We turned off the main road a little way before the town to follow the coast road past the main port area which was much bigger than we'd realised. We drove for a few miles past a whole range of boats - ferries and passenger cruise ships, large container ships and smaller fishing vessels. Then back home to the Pink House. We said goodbye to Francisca for the last time the following morning, wishing her and Pablo good luck with the baby due in a couple of months. She says that they will keep the guest house open...Pablo will be doing all the work! I don't envy her going up and down the hill and stairs with a baby though - I always felt quite precarious with my backpack on!

And after dropping off the car we headed to the airport for our trip to the end of the world.

Hope the rain has finally stopped over there and that you are all enjoying the run up to Christmas.

Sarah & Hugh xx

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