Chiloé

After taking a series of buses and one ferry, Devon and I finally arrived in Chiloé, it is a gorgeous island just south of Puerto Montt, and according to the Lonely Planet it is the second biggest island in South America, behind Tierra del Fuego, the island that forms the southern end of Chile’s part of Patagonia. Chiloé is very green, with the exception of the summer months, it is almost always raining in Chiloé and the island’s architecture has a very antique feel, all the buildings seem to have been built around the 1940’s, and never remodeled, or repainted.

After driving through beautiful rural Chilote scenery for 25 minutes we reached our first destination in Chiloé, a small town called Ancud, I guess it could be considered a large town in the standards of Chiloé, the population is roughly 26,000.

Our arrival presented us with yet another strange living situation. After we got off the bus, surprisingly there was a lack of taxis waiting outside the bus station; so we started to walk down the street to try to find a cab that would take us to Nuevo Mundo, a nice little hostel, with a gorgeous ocean view, in the southern part of Ancud. After walking maybe 10 steps towards downtown Ancud, an older lady approached us and asked us if we wanted to stay at a hospedaje, after she told us the price was 4,000 pesos roughly $6.50 US dollars, and half the price of Hostal Nuevo Mundo, so I couldn’t refuse… I’m still an Economical person. We were lead to a very antique and large house right near downtown Ancud, which we later found out was her home, and she was just trying to earn a few extra pesos by allowing us to occupy a vacant bedroom, in her large and creaky house. The sheets were covered in stains, the kitchen was full of flies, the bathroom had no toilet paper, the bathtub was rusting and it’s safe to say we overpaid. I’m glad we made it out alive.

The next morning, after trying to leave the horror movie house as quickly as possible Devon and I went on a Penguin tour, to see… Penguins... Penguins... Penguins! We saw a lot of Penguins and it was awesome. I love penguins... and I bet you love them too.

Castro

Castro turned out to be better than Ancud in at least 25 ways. Here is a list the reasons Castro es mejor que Ancud. Or if you’re a mathematical thinker why Castro > Ancud.

1. The Palafitos: These houses are a Chilote specialty, they are homes that are built above water, and are held up by numerous wooden stilts that rest on the ocean floor. A great spectacle. In Ancud all the Palafitos collapsed after an earthquake, terremoto, in the 1980’s.

2. Hostal Cordillera: I decided to not be quite as economical when choosing a hostel in Castro, and it turned out to be a great decision. For 7,000 pesos roughly $11. Devon and I stayed in a gorgeous hostel with an amazing ocean view, wireless internet and spacious private rooms furnished with comfortable beds and televisions.

View from our Hostel

3. Breakfast: The horror house in Ancud didn’t serve breakfast. The hostel in Castro, served a delicious breakfast cuisine, composed of fresh hallulla, a type of Chilean bread, hot Nescafé, orange juice, apricot jam, butter, cheese, ham, and fresh fruit.

4. Scary Circus Streets: There were no scary circus streets in Castro. There were scary circus streets in Ancud. Devon and I are not big proponents of scary circus streets.

5. Short Lines: Devon and I waited for 30 minutes, in the ten item or less line, each time we went to the grocery store in Ancud. Side note—we never had more than 5 items each time we went to the grocery store. In Castro, there wasn’t even a line… and really cheap Pasta.

The other 20 reasons Castro is better than Ancud are minimal thus they will not make it into this blog.

El Parque Nacional de Chiloé

Devon and I are big fans of hiking so we thought we would check out the national park in Chiloe, we entered the park with really high expectations, these expectations were shattered about 25 minutes into the trek. All the beautiful views and more advanced treks were conveniently located 25 kilometers from the park entrance, so we aimlessly through small paths, senderos, close to the park entrance.

Luckily Devon and I are great at entertaining ourselves… in a very childish manner. We found a sendero that lead to a large foggy beach overlooking the pacific ocean, and we killed about an 1 ½ hours, taking pictures of ourselves running on the beach, Baywatch style, doing yoga poses in the water, chasing after dogs, and telling bad jokes.

We finally ended our disappointing trek, at 3:45 because our return bus was scheduled to pick us up then. Despite our best efforts to flag down our return bus, the driver failed to stop for us. He must have known we weren’t ready to leave the amazing park. Devon and I waited another 1 ½ hours to catch a different bus home.

During this long wait we entertained ourselves by playing different games involving rocks. Here is a list of our Rock Games.

1. Rock Throw: We threw rocks… submarine style at different park signs.
2. Rock Stack: We, by we I mean mostly Devon, stacked rocks on top of each other, trying to build a large formidable tower. Rock stack was quickly followed by Rock Smash; this game will be further developed in numeral 5.
3. Rock Toss: We, by we I mean mostly myself, tossed a rock from one hand to another, attempting to not let it hit the ground.
4. Rock Drop: We picked up rocks then dropped them on the ground.
5. Rock Smash: We threw large rocks, at large rocks on the ground, hoping to smash them to pieces.

We are on the verge of taking a 16 hour bus ride back to Santiago… Chiloé it has definitely been an interesting experience.