Chiloe

Early on in the trip, a young woman from Australia asked us where we planned to go in Chile. When we mentioned Chiloe, she responded, "We went there. It was all right, but they don't have a lot of stuff for tourists to do." To us, this was a ringing endorsement.

Located just off of the coast of Chile between the fjords of Patagonia and the vast Pacific Ocean, Chiloe prides itself on being distinct from the rest of Chile.

As inhabitants of the second largest island in South America, Chilotans have developed their own unique culture and traditions including several unique dishes all capitalizing on the potato and a collection of wooden churches recognized as World Heritage sites by UNESCO.




The island itself is gorgeous. One magazine said it was one of the top five most beautiful islands in the world (who comes up with these things?) The west coast is lined with long wave-swept beaches and rocky headlines overlooking the Pacific ocean, while the east coast is rimmed with pastoral islands, sheltered harbors and fleets of fishing boats. In the middle are rolling hills dotted with farms and pastures.

We left Puerto Montt in the morning and arrived in the town of Ancud, Chiloe that afternoon. We decided to rent a car - our first of the trip - and head to Chepu, a small community that is a gateway to Chiloe National Park where we heard we could see penguins.


We camped out in a field that night and the next morning found a tour outfitter that took us by boat up the Chepu River.


We were dropped off at the trailhead and were told the full hike would take us about 5 hours round trip. Our Spanish still not being that great, we were a little bit fuzzy on the directions - Woody thought we had to use an abandoned boat to cross the river to get to the beach Giovannina though our guide had said don't worry the trail won't abandon you at the beach. When we got to the beach we realized, what he had really said.



We followed the beach and hooked back up with the trail on the other side.

When we got to the Island we couldn't spot any penguins and decided to try to find the ranger station and someone to ask. The woman ranger informed us that there had been Sea lions in the area and that there were not many penguins around but if we looked closely we would find them. We went back to the Bird Blind and watched but didn't see anything so we decided to walk a bit closer. Hidden up in the trees there they were ;-)

During our hike, we wandered about admiring the coast and taking photos. So by the time we found the penguins we realized we only had an hour to make it back to the boat. Practically running back to catch our ride, we joked about the tree penguins - we had never seen a penguin other than in a zoo before and as didn't expect to find them in the trees .

After finding the Penguins we looked at our time and realized we had used almost four of our Five hours and we needed to head back if we were going to catch our boat.



After the penguin excursion, we spent the next few days in Chiloe, exploring little towns and markets, marveling at the colorful homes on stilts and of course enjoying our time at the beach or in the country side.


Bee Boxes were everywhere and the honey was great !

We spent our last night on Chiloe camped out on a bluff overlooking a broad, wind-swept beach. The long, sloped sands strewn with seaweed, small fishing boats laid on their gunwales waiting for a tide to rise and carry them off. Across the water were several other islands, all deep green with hillsides rimmed with pastures. Beyond the islands, reaching into the clouds, the Andes stretched high into the sky, an impenetrable fortress leaving only the sea before us.

It was the perfect setting to end our time in Chiloe. The next day we caught an all-night bus to Santiago, leaving the green hills and beaches of Chiloe behind us.

To see more photos of our time on Chiloe, check out our Chiloe photo album. And if you'd like to see the shingles - the things on the side of the house - of Chiloe, check out this album (it's really pretty cool.)