Chilean Chiloe

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So, we left Puerto Natales in Chilean Patagonia on a 3 day/4 night Navimag ferry which took us north through the Chilean "fjords" eventually arriving at Puerto Montt. The ferry trip was fun: we spent most evenings playing cards and drinking pisco sours with Pete, our Australian friend from Antarctica (if you see what I mean). The daytimes were spent reading, standing out on deck and complaining about the quality of the food! This was no luxury cruise, but definitely a more enjoyable experience than taking a plane.

The days passed by quickly and we arrived early on a monday morning at Puerto Montt. We were only here for about 20 minutes though as we walked to the bus station and quickly caught an onward bus to the island of Chiloe. Our next few days were spent exploring the island, and trying to avoid the heavy rains which dogged our visit! We enjoyed the small town on Ancud on the northern coast, but this was unfortunately where we faced the worst weather. It was nice though to be back by the sea, and the fishing boats were lovely to look at whilst watching the fishermen bringing in their daily catch. We also visited the town museum which gave us more of a feeling for the history of the island (the second largest in South America) and how it has developed over the years.

From Ancud we moved south and spent a few days based in Castro (the "capital city" of the island). This is a nice town, where we found a good cheap hospedaje giving us great views over the sea. Castro is known for its "Palifitos", houses which are built on stilts over the water. They are a strange sight, and one wonders how safe they can be, but they are now recognised as culturally significant which should hopefully ensure their upkeep.

The best day we spent on Chiloe was our visit to the National Park, located on the western edge of the island. They have a particularly fascinating "rain" forest there (called "El Tepual"), with its associated humidity and vast overgrowth. In stark comparison is a wonderful 5km stretch of beach which takes the full force of the Pacific waves (and weather systems!).

For our final day in Chiloe we went to a small island which is said to represent "real, traditional Chiloe". We went to the town of Achao, which we had fully explored within the first 30 minutes of our visit. It was not the most exciting place, but very pleasant to stroll through and nice to once again walk along a beach and smell those seaside smells that I miss from home! Our one exciting experience in Achao was to try the local seafood - an experience we had been putting off for days. We both had a "marisco" soup which contained all kinds of slithery things, from mussels to octopus. I managed to eat quite a bit of it (more than Barry!) but those tenticles were a bit too much for me. Eugh...

So, that was our visit to Chiloe over. It is not the most exciting place we have visited, and it is not as "traditional" as the guidebooks would have you believe, but still a fun place to spend a few days and smell the sea.

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Photos

Barry, Pete, Me
Evening fun on the Navimag!

Massive ´Nalca´ Plants and Barry
Chiloe National Park

Underneath a massive ´Nalca´ (looks like rhubarb) plant
(thanks to Stephen Paul for the horticulture tip)

Comments

[Stephen Paul]

Same!
For the record the leafy plant might best be called Nalca, its Chilean name! While it is in the same class as Rhubarb- Magnoliopsida- so is practically every other fruit, flower and nut tree. I feel like if you are in the country of a specific plant, the name you call it should be in latin(Gunnera species) or the local name, Nalca. Call me crazy! :) I have loved your last few blogs, you are working your way up Chile now huh? Go off the beaten track, I better not see a summit of Villarica without corresponding pictures of the alpine lakes of Huerquehue!! And try to get to Llaima Volcano in Villarica, it was clam for me but spewed lava Jan 2!!