Airbnb came through again (mainly on the price) and after a four hour bus ride, we arrived in Castro, Chiloe Island's main town. It was an odd set up for an Airbnb, hostel-like with shared bathrooms and kitchen, but with a restaurant downstairs that belonged to the owners, Antonio and Viviana, who also lived there with their two kids - a quieter fifteen year old and a very excitable two year old. We didn't sleep that well as it was right on the road and the room had hessian curtains, not to mention the kid who didn't seem to sleep at all but chose instead to bounce off beds and walls in the room next to ours. But despite this, we were getting good vibes from Castro and decided to stay three nights before making our way north to Santiago. Castro is full of super cool, quirky architecture, owned and developed by a growing number of hip Santiagoans heading south in search of some peace. But it is most well known for its 'palafitos', houses on stilts, which interestingly are all illegal builds, hence them hanging out onto the water. There are two palafito areas, along Pedro Montt and Gamboa, and staying near either of these is the place to be. We would recommend avoiding the centre of town. You can take a short boat ride to get a little closer to see the Pedro Montt palafitos from the water or head to Mirador Gamboa viewing point. Our favourite cafe was called Palafito Patagonia, with a cool interior and awesome deck on the water. Cafe del Puente was also fun for some tea and cake (avoid the scones, they were poor). There are also some pretty chic hostels and hotels, if we weren't on a budget, we would have stayed at Hotel Boutique Palafito del Mar which is #hotelgoals. And on the three nights we were there, we ate at Mercadito which we'd also HIGHLY recommend, such a fun interior and their ceviche was dreamy. We were treated to a tasty paella at our Airbnb, Hostal Catelan on the other night, where our host Antonio regaled us with stories of his crazy gangland past... enough said. Chiloe is famous for its 53 Unesco World Heritage protected wooden churches that were built by the Jesuits (whoever they were) hundreds of years ago, and are scattered all over the island. Iglesia San Francisco is located in Castro but the rest are in harder to reach villages. There is relatively good public transport but we liked the idea of being able to jump out when we saw something we liked so decided to hire a car. We had a bit of an issue finding a hire car as we didn't want to trek to the airport but finally found West Hire based at the casino. Our first day of driving was a bit of a non-day. A disaster in fact. Rob somehow managed to sleep all night with a fly in his eye. I was unfortunate enough to locate the gruesome discovery and was responsible for the safe removal of said fly. With the fear of an impending and possibly deadly Chilean eye infection, we decided it was best to find a pharmacy. Rob would stay with the car and I would nip in. Easy. FOURTY minutes later, a totally bizarre pharmaceutical system, me gesticulating 'fly in eye', rambling, "possiblo infectione", and I emerged with an unidentifiable bottle of 'antibiotico'. Meanwhile Rob had lost his shit after having to drive round the square five times wondering what the hell I was doing. There were crossed words, and long periods of silence, interrupted only by curt navigational instructions. I blame the fly. But we eventually made it to Dalcahue where the small car ferry to Isla Quinchao departs. We toured round the villages of Curaco de Velez and Achao, with the aim of visiting the best of Chiloe's wooden churches. Seeing them from the outside is fun but it's the wooden clad, often colourful interiors that you really want to see. Well, if you can get into them that is. Most are locked with bizarre public opening hours, and have 'key holders' outside of these hours. So then you start playing the really fun game of hunt the key and 'guess the vicars house'. Sometimes it worked but we missed out on seeing the inside of Achao after the vicar had gone missing. After flygate, neither of us were really in the mood to continue playing the game. Back on Chiloe, we decided to improve what was left of the day and try our luck further north (let's forget the unfortunate dirt track we then almost broke the car on). Isla Aucar is a fun and tiny island you can walk to from Aucar along a boardwalk that crosses the water. Quemchi isn't really worth visiting but Tenaun is a little gem, with a really spectacular ultramarine church which was worth all the effort of getting there. The next day was an altogether better day, we woke to bright blue skies and brighter moods. Our plan today was to venture to the west of the island, to find Muelle de las Almas or Dock of Soul, with two other guests from our hostel, Cecelia and Drew.
After a short hour walk on Chiloe's west coast, you reach this stunning little point, a wooden dock art installation which taps into the islands indigenous mythology of the Mapuche people. Before years of warfare, the Mapuche dominated Patagonia. Today, their influence is mostly only felt in island folklore and place names. The legend tells of four whales, who were actually four old women turned into fantastic sea creatures. Their job was to carry the souls of the dead from the pier over the sea into the afterlife. But not everyone got to go, you had to prove first you had a pure soul. I'm not sure we would have made it! After a short but sweet packed lunch it was time to rush back for our overnight bus to Santiago! Comments are closed.
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AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |