On Friday morning, peering out over the still sea into foggy, breeze-free air I could make out the faint outline of shore looming in the distance. After a long 12-hour bus ride from Vina del Mar to Puerto Montt, we had about made it to the Chilean emerald isle itself: Chiloe. Finally!
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| Foggy, foggy Ancud |
Chiloe Island is the second biggest Island in South America, situated off the coast of Puerto Montt. Technically that makes it Northern Patagonia and somedays, if the view is clear enough, you can see the snow-capped Patagonian ranges in the distance. But otherwise it's a far-cry from the raw, intimidating reserves closer to Antarctica. Chiloe and the surrounding ports are the near-south, mostly just small, charming fishing towns separated by vast green farmland and rocky coast.
The island itself is satiated with a rich old mythology that includes mermaids, forest dwelling trolls, ghost ships and witches. Something sort of hung in the air and it was easy to see where these stories came from, with the creeping fog, rolling green valleys and isolated wooden cottages.
Many a time a smile lit across my face as I strolled through the sleepy salt-licked town of Ancud, only to be reminded of the Cozens family home on Madekat in Nantucket Island (before our house just about fell into the ocean, at least). It may sound strange, but the whole time I was there I couldn't shake the weird feeling that I had been there before.
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| Old artifacts preserved in Ancud Museo |
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| Old carving of the island troll |
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| Weavings of witches |
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| Charles Darwin himself stopped here for some time while writing his book...and complained about the jungles and constant rainfall |
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| Ship outside the Museo |
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| Giant Baleen Whale skeleton |
Since the season was over, we were able to see the less-busy side of Chiloe and things were relatively quiet. The local people went out fishing during the day and at sun down the town would go quiet. When the tide was out boats that looked like bath toys rested contentedly on gray beaches and the hillside houses stood brightly in their many colors against the constant sea mist and random bursts of rain.
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| Famous palafitos in Castro |
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| Brief protest in Ancud |
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| Old fort on the town's edge. Last stronghold against the invading Spanish. |
We explored the towns and the UNESCO churches, ate some interesting seafood, and searched for trinkets in the many artisan markets. Like I said, it's off-season so we managed to get amazing handmade goods really inexpensive. Finally, I'm knocking off some of my gift shoppingŀand I'm swiftly running out of money.
For a moment as the ferry pulled away from the humble little dock on the northern face of Chiloe Island, I felt a fleeting but all the same poignant sense of bittersweetness. A part of me wanted to stay and just sit on one of the lush green hillsides to watch the sun go down over the sea. And then another part of me just wanted to stay on the boat and spend my life out on the ocean. Although I never knew him, I must have somehow inherited an unquenchable love of the ocean from my dad's father, who was apparently quite the amateur mariner. I had to tear myself away from the boat deck when we docked, dragging my feet all the way back to the bus. Ah, wellŀat least for the next two months the ocean is still my backyard!
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| Bye, Chiloe! |
So now that I'm back in Vina, it's time to take a little break from traveling and try to focus on my school work in some capacity. Next week it'll be May and then essentially I'm in for the homestretch. Already. El tiempoŀadonde vas?
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