Chiloe Island, Chile
November 22-28, 2015
Its no denying that Chiloe Island is wet and cloudy on the best of days and down right miserable during the winter months. But in between intervals of rain and misty fog you can catch a glimpse that something is quite different here and when the sun shines its a beautiful place to be! Chiloe is only a 10 minute ferry ride from mainland Chile but the people here are fiercely independent, seafaring people who developed culturally and historically in defiance of Santiago. The uniqueness of this island can be seen in its architecture with Chilote wood shingles, "palafitos" (houses mounted on stilts along the water's edge) and the many wooden churches (16 of which are Unesco world heritage sites). There's also a spiritual culture here based on mythology of witchcraft, ghost ships and forest gnomes. Though our time here has been relatively quiet because we're early to the start of tourist season, we've appreciated the isolation and had an opportunity to glimpse the real way of life before the arrival of foreigners for the summer months.
Our Accommodations in Ancud - 13 Lunas Hostel
This was a wonderful place to stay! 13 Lunas Hostel is a beautiful hostel located in a lovingly restored and well kept old shingle home situated directly on the water front. The rooms and spaces provided were impeccably clean and the staff extremely warm and welcoming. Its a cozy place to be and warm up by the wood burning stoves during those rainy days on Chiloe.
Exploring the Northern Area of Chiloe
The weather was quite poor and rainy while we were here so we mostly enjoyed the time at our hostel, meeting people and sharing stories. We also visited a Unesco world heritage church on Aucar Island. A 500 meter boardwalk stretching from mainland to a tiny island houses a old wooden church and cemetary from 1761.
Exploring the Southern Area of Chiloe
We used the town of Castro for 3 days as a base to explore the southern area of Chiloe and visited the following places:
Castro, Dalcahue, Cucao, Chiloe National Park, and Chonchi
Chiloe National Park
We were lucky to enjoy some sunny weather and quickly headed to the west side of the island to visit Chiloe National Park. This was a wonderful little gem that's well maintained with easy trails and beautiful scenery. It was the perfect day to enjoy lunch on the beach and soak in the rays!