Chiloe

Friday 7th January 2011 -Wednesday 12th January 2011

Having viewed Puerto Montt at dawn we caught the 08.45 Queilan Bus (another first) to Ancud on the island of Chiloe. Altogether there were 15 people standing on the bus. Health and Safety? The bus went on the ferry ( 25 mins) and soon we were at Ancud. First impressions in the sunshine were green, greeen with luxurious vegetation. We took a taxi to the hostel Mundo Nuevo , very nice and run by a Swiss guy. As you would expect from that, the German Language was favourite here! I managed to negotiate a 10% discount on the first two nights and pay full price on Thursday when we came back. It is a nice hostel and comes highly recommended by us. We decided to hire a car to explore the island for 4 days and were pleasantly surprised to pay only Eur 40 per day.

We picked up the car the next day and have it until Wednesday at 10.00. We drove west from Ancud and saw the people gathering a seaweed like substance which apparently becomes agar agar. Two bullocks were in the sea attached to a cart pulling out this agar agar. Round the bay to Fuente Ahui the last Spanish fortress in Chile with a few cannons still intact. We followed on to Punta Corona and were cordially received by the lighthouse keeper and shown round. A picnic lunch followed and we moved the car just before the tide came in. Round to penguin island and coffee but didn´t take the trip because it would have meant waiting 90 minutes and we have seen lots of the little black and white buggers on this trip. It is a beautiful unspoilt coastline and we hear from our host at the hostel that it is planned to put up to 3000 windmills there! In the evening we drove east and around the coast to Caulin, Huiche and back Again unspoilt coastline. I cooked chili for dinner.

On Sunday we drove the dirt roads down the east coast on the Wooden Church trail. This is World Heritage Country for the wooden churches. Quenchi, Aucur, Quicavi and Telaun churches were all visited. We picked up a hitchhiker from Telaun and took the ferry to the island of Quinchao and saw the church at Achao (most beautiful and locked) We went back on the ferry which goes ferry often (don´t laugh at him) to Castro . The hostel was dirty, smelly, lots of people and one bathroom with no cooking allowed. The hostess was very welcoming though! We went down to the waterfront and had mussel soup and salmon for dinner. Totally fresh, inexpensive and lovely. The walk back uphill to the hostel was hard!

On Monday in Castro we went to the wooden Cathedral where the Pope visited so they painted the building purple and yellow for the occasion. The museum was also very nice. We went down to the waterfront again to the fish market and took the trip around the bay to see the palafitos, houses on stilts. Following lunch in a palafito we went back to the car and off to the churches in Dalcahue,Rilan and Llao llao. Sunny and warm all day.

Tuesday found us going west on paved roads to the Parque Nacional at Cucao. The lakes of Hullinco and Cucao are really beautiful with forested banks. We walked around the Parque for a couple of hours . This would make a good place for trekking and camping with lots of good forest trails. On the way back we saw another bullock cart coming back down the road. We drove back via Castro to Ancud about 140 km. Sunny. Marianne ordered a loaf from the hostel which was delicious (integral) but it should have been so for Eur 5.

Wednesday we took the car back with no surcharge but lots of dirt and dust from the roads.

Summary of Chiloe
Wonderful, wonderful. Green with lush dense forest and hills. It certainly is a place for myths and legends. Castro is geared up for Spanish speaking tourism and is well worth a visit. The Nacional Park would make a good place for walking and camping.