La isla de Chiloé

living the island life

By Heather & Pravin

April 4^th, 2017

Getting There...

Our journey to Chiloé marked the end of our time in Patagonia; this was bittersweet as we had absolutely loved Patagonia, but also exciting as it meant we were about to tackle a new region in Chile.

Two days after finishing the Circuit in Torres del Paine, we checked out of our hostel in Puerto Natales and took a 3.5 hour bus ride to the airport in Punta Arenas, from which we took a 2 hour budget flight 2,100km north to Puerto Montt.

The flight may have been our cheapest option, but we didn't realize how incredibly scenic it would be as well! The plane flew over all of the national parks and peaks that we had spent weeks exploring in Patagonia. With clear skies, we got to enjoy a birds-eye view of Monte Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre, Lago Roca, Glacier Perito Moreno and much of the Southern Ice Field, and even all of Torres del Paine.

At the Puerto Montt airport, we picked up our snazzy lime green Chevrolet Spark, and we were off!

As almost all of the rental cars in Chile have a manual transmission, it was up to Pravin to do all of the driving, as I still haven't learned to drive standard. I was slightly skeptical as I hadn't actually seen him drive standard before, but he assured me that he had spent several days learning. In any case, we made it away from the airport with no problems and then directly onto the Panamericana Highway. Luckily, traffic was light and there were no hitches until...the ocean. The next obstacle was finding, and then driving onto, the ferry to the island of Chiloé. We were expecting something along the lines of BC Ferries terminals back home, but were slightly shocked to find ourselves simply driving onto a small concrete ramp and then turning straight onto the lowered end of the waiting ferry.

Our car came to a bucking halt just as we finished pulling up to the point the deckhand had directed us to park at - we stalled at exactly the right moment and also gave the deckhands something to laugh at! I think it was at this point that Pravin also let it slip that the extent of his experience driving standard might actually have been more like 30 minutes in total, rather than "several days"...

The ferry ride was quite short and scenic and full of holidaying Chileans. Upon docking on the island, we made for the town of Ancud to stock up on some groceries and hopefully pick up a map or two. It was a bit of an adventure finding parking in town, however fortunately it was Sunday afternoon and not a weekday towards the end of the working day, when there would have been many more vehicles on the road! Once loaded up with groceries, we headed for the northwest coast of the island to where we were planning on camping for our first night.

Chiloé has a very well-organized rural tourism cooperative, and we made great use of these accommodations. We decided to spend our first two nights at the lovely Agroturismo Ballena Azul, and set up our tent in the clifftop camping area with a breathtaking view over the Pacific Ocean. There was a steep path leading down to the beach, so before having dinner, we made our way down to the shore, which reminded me a lot of the black rock beach in Ucluelet. We eventually made our way up to the restaurant on the property, and after finding out how cheap the menu was, decided we couldn't pass up a meal with such an amazing view! We shared a $3 bottle of Chilean red and had fresh, made-to-order empanadas. I opted for centolla (spider crab), as Chiloé is celebrated for its seafood options, but Pravin stuck with his trusty favourite, carne.

The island of Chiloé is very different from anywhere else that we visited in Chile. It's extremely rural, with several vast park reserves, and many, many small family-run farms. The coast is also known as a breeding spot for blue whales and for two different types of penguins. Many of the popular dishes served on the island can't be found elsewhere in Chile, and farm-fresh food and catch-of-the-day seafood could easily be purchased from family front yards or markets in town. Although we had initially been planning on visiting Chiloé based on online research, each time that we discussed travel plans with a Chilean, they were adamant that we absolutely had to visit Chiloé, so that sealed the deal for us. I don't think we've found a single person yet that didn't have glowing reviews of their time on the island!

los Pingüinos

Bright and early the next morning, we decided to make our way to the Pinguineras de Puñihuil - a group of boat operators that run trips out to the small islands offshore that house a number of penguin colonies.

The first surprise of the day came as we were following Google Map directions to the beach, when all of a sudden the gravel road ended and we found ourselves fording a small river and then driving along the beach - in our tiny Chevrolet Spark! Luckily the sand was hard-packed and there were many people trying to wave us into their "parking area" (the section of sand in front of their tour office). We were slightly overwhelmed and parked at the first one, intending to scope out the rest for prices before making a decision, but we ended up just sticking with them and it was a fine choice!

The penguins were hilarious to watch as they stumbled around, seemingly drunkenly, often unexpectedly falling into the ocean. As the islands are protected, we weren't able to go ashore, but the boat driver got us up close to the shore and we had ample time to laugh at the penguins on each of the islands.

Afterwards, we ended up in Ancud again for lunch at one of the comedores above the market, and then picked up some local farm cheese and bread, as well as our first bottle of Pisco of the trip! Pisco is a liquor made from grapes and is somewhat similar to brandy. Numerous Chileans had told us that we must drink Pisco with Coca-Cola to make a piscola, so that's exactly what we did that afternoon/evening!

We enjoyed another beautiful evening down at the beach and enjoyed the relative warmth of Chiloé, after the cooler nights in Patagonia.

Muelle de las almas

We had heard from various sources that the Muelle de las Almas was a must-see sight on Chiloé. Aside from seeing photos of people online standing on what looked to be a dock perched on a hillside, we weren't really sure what to expect. We drove all the way across the island from Castro to visit the attraction, and it turned out that the drive itself was quite the adventure! After reaching the coast, we had to turn onto a gravel road and follow it up, up and up as it wound its way around the coastal headlands. It was incredibly steep and at times, we weren't sure if our tiny, gutless car would make it. Eventually however, we found ourselves at the parking area, and paid both parking and admission to the private land on which the Muelle is situated. First, we had to walk a couple of kilometres before reaching the Muelle. Although we had just recently finished a 9-day trek with no injuries whatsoever, I ended up wiping out on this small walk and came away with a deep, fist-sized bruise on my upper thigh. After dusting off, we continued along and found ourselves in view of the Muelle, and the dozen people lined up patiently waiting for their turn to pose on it!

It was quite hilarious as we were really in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by incredibly beautiful nature, and here was a lineup of people waiting to take their photo on a dock - that didn't even stretch out over the water! I did end up reading a sign that explained the Muelle was created as an homage to a particular aspect of Chiloé mythology, so at least we felt that we came away having learned something!

And of course, after travelling all the way there, we also waited in line for some photos ;)

Castro

We woke up in our tent on our second morning at Ballena Azul to torrential rain and gusting winds. We stayed inside for a while, hoping it would let up, but as it had already been pouring for hours, we decided that we had better hurry and pack up before the gravel roads that led back to the highway were in too rough shape for us to make it out of there. After getting soaking wet packing up a soaking wet tent, we decided that it was time for a night in a real bed in order to let our gear dry out.

We headed for the town of Castro, famous for its palafitos (stilt houses) on the east side of Chiloé. We found a cute family-run guesthouse with a view of the water, and had hot showers and hung up our camping gear to dry on the patio of the common area before exploring a bit of the town in the afternoon and picking up groceries to cook dinner.

After spending two nights in Castro, we headed north to the rural area of Tenaún and decided to stay at Camping La Posada, which is again part of the rural tourism cooperative on the island. We were treated to another gorgeous campsite, overlooking the small islands off the east coast of Chiloé, and also to the company of an extremely friendly dog that made a quick friend in me!

We could see that preparations were being made for a large meal, so I inquired with the owner to see what was happening. She explained that a group had arranged for a curanto to be prepared. I asked if we could also take part and she happily obliged. Curanto is a traditional Chiloe dish that consists of shellfish, meat and many kinds of potatoes prepared in a few different ways. The whole meal is cooked in a dirt pit on top of fire-heated stones, and packed with layers of Chilean rhubarb leaves to keep in the heat and moisture. Finally, the now full pit is covered with more leaves and stones and the meal is allowed to cook for about an hour. It was lots of fun to watch the food being dug up once the cooking was complete - although there was probably about 15 people to feed, there looked to be enough food for an army!

We also made the acquaintance of a couple of super-friendly Chileans that introduced us to some other typical Chilean food and beverages, like sopaipilla con pebre, chicha made from apples, and Valdivian beer. It was great getting to know Sebastian and Fernanda over the course of the evening, as they were also spending the night, and we made plans to meet up again once we reached Santiago, where they live and Fernanda operates a pizzeria.

The food was delicious, and was served in such vast quantities! I ate Pravin's share (and more!) of shellfish, and he took care of my portion of meat. The shellfish seemed to be never-ending, as there were still numerous serving bowls full of giant mussels and clams once everyone had enjoyed their fill!

The following morning, it was time for us to make our way back to Puerto Montt to return our rental car. First however, upon the recommendation of Fernanda and Sebastian, we made our way to a nearby waterfall and had the place to ourselves!

Chiloé was a magical place, and we barely scratched the surface in 5 nights. Usually we travel exclusively by bus, but Chiloé was perfect for having a car to get around. We really enjoyed getting away from the main towns and exploring the rural areas and sampling the unique food that we haven't been able to find elsewhere. Most importantly, despite Pravin's exaggerated experience driving standard, we returned the rental car in one piece with no damage - no small feat considering the state of some of the roads (and beaches, and river crossings) on which we had taken the car!