Dear friends,
In our campervan we boarded the ferry to Chiloé, a large island, just off the west coast of Chile. It was here that we started our three-week road trip from Puerto Varas, through Patagonia and down to Punta Arenas right at the bottom of Chile.
Arriving on the island, there are apparent differences from mainland Chile, firstly the unintelligible speed at which the locals speak Spanish! We were improving, but here we had no hope. Secondly the architecture, all of the houses are built with tejuelas, Chilote (of Chiloé) wood shingles, and many houses are mounted on stilts along the water’s edge, called palafitos.
Chiloé’s natural windswept landscape, with dense forests and wild national parks, has been compared to the English countryside. Its rugged hilly coastline reminded us of Anglesey, in North Wales. Chilote’s (the nickname given to those from the island) are renowned for being fiercely independent, seafaring people, with fishing the main industry on the island.
Not far from Chacao where we arrived on the ferry, lies the city of Ancud. It was previously a wealthy town formed of palafitos, but in 1960 it was decimated by an earthquake. It has been rebuilt, and is now relatively modern in comparison to some of the other cities on the island. Here in Ancud, we explored Fuerte San Antonio, an old fort, which was Spain’s last Chilean outpost during the wars of independence. It was here in heavily fortified Ancud between 1820-1824 that the Spanish resisted attacks, until their defeat in 1826. After stocking up on supplies, we headed to a secluded beach off the main highway where we parked up, cooking an ambitious meal of veggie chilli on our single hob gas cooker and gazing up at the milky way.
Chiloé is famous for its wooden churches, they are in every village and town. There are over 150 on the island, and 16 of these have been declared UNSECO World Heritage Sites. Spending only a few days here, we didn’t explore them all, but we made sure we visited the oldest wooden church in Achao.
We had already begun to notice the dropping temperature as we travelled south through Chile, but we knew that in reaching Patagonia it would only get colder. Further evidence of this changing climate, came in the form of penguins! Just off the coast of Puñihuil, there are three islands in the Pacific Ocean, which are breeding grounds for Humboldt and Magellanic penguins. We were lucky enough to be there during their breeding season which runs from September to March, so we took a boat trip out to catch a closer look at the cute little things. The penguins appeared to be bathing in the sunshine, whilst they waited for their feathers to malt and they could take back to the water.
Hungry from our busy morning, it was time to try Chiloé’s speciality dish, curanto; a stew of shellfish, pork and chicken. Traditionally it was made by heating up stones in a hole in the ground until they crackled, then adding the main ingredients: shellfish, pork and chicken, followed by nalca (a rhubarb-like plant) or pangue (a native plant of Chile) leaves and damp cloths before covering it in dirt and grass and leaving it to simmer for a few hours. We however, opted out of curanto al hoyo (from the hole) and tried curanto al olla (from the pot). Underestimating how much seafood there was, Simon gave it a good go, but it was all VERY sandy… Even I struggled, and mussels are one of my favourite things. We were glad we tried it, but decided we weren’t missing anything after all, and that perhaps the guidebooks had set us up!
The following day we continued to explore the island, visiting small fishing villages and checking off more churches. In Quemchi, we walked across the 500m pedestrian wooden bridge to a small island called Aucar. It was nicknamed by a Chilean writer called Francisco Coloane as the island of the navigator’s souls, due to the mystical fog that often descends on it. We wandered around the church and small nature reserve here before crossing back over the water and travelling further afield. From a town called Dalcahue, we caught a small ferry to one of the islands off Chiloé, called Quinchao. It was here we visited the previously mentioned oldest wooden church in Achao, and another impressive one in the small town of Quinchao. Heading back to Chiloé, we found a quiet spot next to a lake where we parked up for the night.
While exploring the islands we kept our eyes peeled for a minga, a custom dating back to the Huilliche tribe in the 1500s. It’s when neighbours and friends gather to help people move house, doing free work for the community. Having moved out of our flat in London to come on this trip, it sounded like a fantastic idea. What baffled us however, was that they move the entire house! Sometimes due to rising tides, the danger of erosion, or declining quality of farmland, families need to move house. Some may not be able to afford investing time and money in building a new house and others believe that the ‘collective Chilote spirit’ resides in their house – so they just bring it with them! Usually the house is placed on big tree trunks which act as a roller, and a team of oxen or bulls are used to propel it forward. Not uncommonly the house will be placed on fishing boats, wooden rafts, or hooked up to buoys to travel across stretches of water. Once all the hard work is done, the community is thanked in the form of curanto (of course!). During our short time on the island, we weren’t lucky enough to witness this tradition, but here’s some proof…
The next day, excited to see the palafitos, we headed to Castro. On the outskirts of the bustling city centre, the colourful houses on stilts line the water front and are very beautiful. We watched the tide coming in, and the views transformed as the colours were reflected in the water. We headed into town to stock up and find a nice bottle of Chilean red wine (just to compare!). Here we stumbled across yet another church, and we marvelled at the bright yellow and purple painted San Francisco Church. The original church was one of the first on the island and was built in an attempt to convert the local indigenous people to Catholicism. It was burnt down in a fire however, and the one you can see in the main square today was reconstructed in 1912.
After an early night, escaping the rain, we travelled down to Quellón to catch our ferry to Chaitén. Our Patagonian adventure was about to begin!
Lots of love,
Xaverie
xxx