Words of the day:
archipiélago- archipelago, group of islands
milcao- local food, sold in the street everywhere. Made from fat, potato and bits of meat...It was kind of gross although warmed you up, I guess. Another food to add to the “How are Chileans skinny?” list.
Today we headed out to another island close to the big one, known as Quinchao. We went to the biggest city, Achao, no more than a little town really, but quite charming. The ferry ride and the bus ride were very beautiful with views of the ocean from many different angles, the roadsides were lined with giant yellow-flowered buses and there were many sheep filled farms with beautiful old houses. We went down to the beach and wandered a bit, checking out fishing boats beached with the tide, a giant rock formation off the coast which is a hang out spot for sea lions (this one live!) and cliffs lined with vegetation. After a funeral had departed , we checked out one of the oldest and most famous of the wooden churches of Chiloe, this one dating back to the 18th century and with a beautiful all wood interior. It’s so interesting to think about the contrast between the heavy presence of Christianity on an island that originated a very unique paganistic mythology. We grabbed some delicious empanadas from a nearby mini-mart, beef surrounded by potato and then lightly fried. Quite possibly the best empanada I’ve had in my time here, and I’ve had my fair share...
While trying to find where the buses back to the main island departed from, we had a very interesting experience with a “local.” We asked a woman with a baby for directions and she replied that since she had only lived here for a year, she didn’t know exactly the name of the streets to tell us where to go, but could bring us there herself. Not wanting to bother her, we replied that we would just find it. But she replied that she didn’t have anything to do at present and before we knew it though, Thomas had been handed her baby, we were packing into her car, and Eric was sitting on top of the baby’s car seat. She told us she was originally from Easter Island and had lived in Santiago before that and as something of an outsider herself, liked to help foreigners out. She offered to let us use her bathroom and completely seriously said she would have given us oysters if she had only run into us earlier. This is what I mean when I say people in the south of Chile are ridiculously nice.
Then sadly, after a bit of time in Dalcahue, a small ocean side town with lots of fishing, a beautiful church and an artisanal fair that is especially famed on Sundays, when artesans from all over the area come with their wares, we made our way back to the mainland by bus and ferry combo. Just as we were about to leave the island, up by the city of Ancud, it got sunny, really sunny, with the ocean turning a beautiful shade that was practically turquoise. Tricky Chiloé, Tricky.
I got a little taste of Puerto Montt today while we were waiting for a bus connection. All the tour guides describe it as nothing really special. It’s grown quite large in recent years, meaning that it doesn’t have a lot of character, with American style housing developments packing the outskirts, and a few high rises going up. It definitely was interesting to see a southern city that wasn’t especially touristy though. It was very bustling and kind of grating, in a sort of off-color port way, although there was a reasonably nice park area right by the waterfront, with a beautiful view. There were tons of homeless people wandering around, which kind of surprised me. I guess they ended up there because it’s the biggest city in the area, but it must be a horrible climate for them to live in, with all the rain and cold. Curious if there’s some other factor involved.
Basically, the streets were just crowded with people, ethnically showing the dual Mapuche and German influence of the region, fruit vendors outside of grocery stores, even more stray dogs than usual, buses and collectivos, a lot of construction work and diner style restaurants. The bus station was even more crowded and random, filled with dogs, a random clown, families traveling in groups or wishing off their loved ones, African nuns, and the usual food sellers hawking their wares.
Found a bus back for even cheaper, $17, and for a nice semi-cama. Going to miss this aspect of traveling in Chile a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment