Chiloe

After Frutillar, I went to Chiloe, an island in the south part of chile, one island, actually, there are thousands of islands in the south. This is the most populated.

I headed straight for Chiloe’s capital Castro and there met host Hugo. Hugo has a this house he’s been tweeking and customizing for a few years. The next day I walked into town. Outside the downtown area, its all residential winding roads. Getting to the plaza was a bit of a task. Every house seemed to have a barking dog, or a tied up one. The yards are small. The dogs seem full of fear.

Having a look downtown,  I decided to go to Chonchi, a nearby town. There wasn’t much to see here. There was a beach and some barking dogs. It was grey. I walked around a bit on some residential roads and headed back to the house to make pasta.

The pasta was mediocre. The tomatoes were obviously transgenic, had the right texture, but tasted like rubber. Produce here is expensive.

The next day I headed to Cucao, the main park on the island. It was nice, I wouldn’t venture to say drop dead beautiful as the locals claim it to be, but I did enjoy the wooden walkways that resembled catwalks.

There are a few microclimates and a beach. It rained the last half of my time there.

The next day I headed to the nearby island Achao. Achao is nice. Tranquil.

I stayed by the beach most of the time. The dogs are friendly and erratic.

I spinned a bit, under a small pavilion building overlooking the beach.  A group of 12 adolescent boys came over in close proximity and proceeded to drink juice and beer and smoke while I was dancing. I got the impression they were on a school lunch break.

The next day I headed to a town in the north of Chiloe, Ancud. I hadn’t heard great things about this place but I found it to be lovely town.

I found this little, local bakery, I believe the former living room of a house, which had amazing bread, just the right amount of salt.

I walked through town and along the beach. The main plaza was lovely and active.

The next day I headed out south to the port city of Quellon to take a boat to Chacabuco. I got there at 11am to find the boat ticket office closed. So I waited a bit by the beach. I hadn’t heard good things about Quellon, and at this point, believed them to be true, but later I had a walk to the plaza, which over looks the ocean. I was looking for an appropriate place to spin, as there were none down near the beach in front of the boat office. At the plaza I encountered a young group of jugglers, poi dancers, and other circus skilled types. I showed some of the poi dancers a few tricks.

One of them invited me to check out a beach on the opposite side of Quellon that over looks the city. Her mom took us, along with her boyfriend and brother. The view was nice.

After they invited me to stay at their house until my departure time. There they fed me, and I met her dog.

I boarded the boat. 

The trip crossing to Chabuco was peaceful all but at one point when the waters were turbulent and there was much rocking. It was 30 hours crossing. I saw a lot of uninhabited islands and had lots of time to meditate, read, and look at the chilly wind whipping the water.