Castro, Isla Chiloe, Chile
July 23, 2013 – Breakfast at Faros del Sur was delicious as usual with all the customary Chilean breakfast items offered. We have had more “pan” (bread) in the last 2 weeks that we have had in a year.
It was very foggy this morning which worked well with our plans to get on Routa 5 and drive all the way south to the bottom of Chiloe. It rained a little and there was roadwork being done again and the road went down to one lane in many areas. We had more delay than we wanted …but oh well. The city of Quellon has many artisanian shops where we bought many of the handmade Mapuche items that we have admired since our trip started.
On our way back north we stopped at more of the wooden churches. We even got to go into the church in Nercon which was under renovation. The workers allowed us to go in and even encouraged us to look around and go up into the choir loft. There were even stairs that went up to the bell tower, but they looked a little sketchy so we didn’t attempt it. Doing the church tour was a great way to see more of the sites and cities via back country roads. Everywhere we went the people were lovely and friendly. When we were on dirt roads and came upon people walking or on horseback they would always smile and wave.
Our favorite part of Chiloe was the area just south and east of the capital city of Castro. It was just beautiful and rivaled some of the areas of the Lakes District. The area reminded us of the areas in the Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands. There were green rolling hills, forest, island and ocean views which were breathtaking.
Made it to our next hotel and noticed that Wayne’s computer bag was missing….with his laptop…and passport, and US cash, and credit cards and drivers license…oops. I guess when I was checking out in Ancud I left it at the desk at the last hotel. Luckily, the manager Nikolas at our new hotel spoke excellent English and called Minerva for us and she confirmed that she had the bag….Phew!
Our new hotel is an old palafito in Castro. A palafito is a stilt village or a single house built in a body of water. In the 19th century, fisherman lived in these dwellings and would go out fishing and come home with the tides. The tides change every six hours and we saw the tide all the way out with boats laying on their sides and the water up high within a couple of meters from the bottom of the house. We have a very nice upgraded room with a full view of the water. We sat and spoke with Nikolas for a while at the dining table and noticed that the hotel had an espresso machine. There are no coffee shops in Chile. In fact there is no good coffee in Chile. Instant coffee is the norm there so the espresso and latte that he made us tasted awesome!
We had dinner at a restaurant called Donde Eladio. We noticed at dinner that when something was ordered the wife of the owner would sometimes have to go out to the little market a couple of doors down to get the items that she needed to prepare the meals…It was all fresh and very tasty. Wayne had congrio (which is a red conger eel) that was baked in foil with a creamy sauce with mussels. I had a Churrasco…which I spoke of in an earlier blog.
We are tired from our busy day and are in bed early…We leave in a couple of days so were are trying to pack our days with as much Chile as we can get.