Chiloe & the Lake District

[gringa]

Here are a few pictures from Chiloé, with more to come later.



This is the city of Castro, the archipelago's capital, with the famous "palafitos" (houses on stilts). The first day we flew Santiago-Puerto Montt, then went by bus/ferry to Castro and finally by bus and ferry again to the small town of Achao, where you find this church:





It is a Unesco World Heritage site and the oldest church in the archipelago.

This is the waterfront in Achao:



And this is the dock where boats and ferries depart for nearby islands:



We spent one night in Achao. That afternoon and the next day we saw a lot of boats departing, we were told most were going to the island of Caguach. There is a famous religious festival that goes on there, so my husband thought they might be taking people to that and we decided it might be interesting to check out. we though Caguach was the next island over, but it was actually quite far, about an hour and a half by small boat. This is the festival. The place got quite full, but normally very few people live there, there is just a church and a small settlement.

[WildlyTravelled]

what's the guy in the last pic with white shirt and hat?
looks like a sea captian...

[mockchoc]

So you got to join in on the festivities? Tell us about it more.

[happytraveller]

Looks nice ! Want to go there too !

[gringa]

WT - the Navy and Police came from neighboring islands due to the festival, it looks like that is a Navy guy. It was actually quite good to see their presence since they were making sure that the boats were not overloaded and that people were given lifejackets; unlike Bolivia where it felt like the boat would sink and there were onnly enough lifejackets for the crew.

The festival is called Jesús Nazarino and happens in August and January. It is named that for the statue in the church. They give out little pieces of the robe, which are supposed to bring good fortune. There was also a mass, of course. The families on the island turn their living rooms into restaurants since it usually is so quiet there that they don't have any real restaurants. They all served the pretty much same thing, lamb roasted over a fire and empanadas.

Roasting the lamb:



The final product:

[Voy]

I love that the churches look like they are from New England.
was that part of Chile settled by Yankees? I know there were tons of them in the 19thC

[gringa]

Yankees, like from the US? I have never heard of that. There were a lot of British that came over to Valparaíso and also the north, due to the nitrate mines. Chiloé was actually the last stronghold of the Spanish in the country. The churches were mainly built by Jesuit priests that were trying to convert the indigenous population. It did kind of remind me of New England, though or the Gaspe Peninsual in Quebec due to the architecture used and the location of most towns on the coast. The Lake District where we spent the last few days was settled mainly by Germans.

[Voy]

yep - like from the US.. my grandmother's friends, the Newberry's had a huge deal in Valparaiso - and there were more, my ex, Jaime/James great and grand mothers were Yankees, born and bred in Chile

[gringa]

Muy interesante, I had no idea. You hear about the Germans and English, but not much else.

[WildlyTravelled]

Jaime is a Spanish spelling...

[gringa]

So, after eating lamb, we left the festival to avoid the worst of the crowds heading back to the more populated islands:



We returned to Achao and made our way to Castro.





The next day we went to the town of Chonchi, the site of another Unesco WHS church:









After lunch on the waterfront, we headed to Lemuy Island and the town of Puqueldón:

[Voy]

wildy - yes Jaime is the spanish spelling, he's Chilean. and when he moved here ( in college ) quickly realized that being called what sounded like Hymie was NOT a good idea. so just uses the translation with his gringo friends.

[WildlyTravelled]

he could have kept Jaime and had it pronounced like a gringo would, no need to englishise that name, I don't think

[WildlyTravelled]

gringa, it looks like you've been superimposed onto the third picture in #10

[gringa]

He he, yeah, I actually never left home, I just photoshopped myself into someone else's pictures.

[WildlyTravelled]

you probably don't even live in Chile

[gringa]

I have been found out. It is all an elaborate scheme of mine. I have never even left the US and I surely don't speak anything but English.

[Baz Faz]

Why is it so impossible to visit Chile? So far from Europe, so expennsive to fly. I want a budget airline to fly from Paris to Santiago. Maybe in 4 weeks time when we go home.

[gringa]

Well, baz, it is actually pretty pricey for us to go anywhere out of the country as well. When we went to Bolivia, the flight to Arica was less than a third of the cost to La Paz, when the cities are only about 8-10 hours by bus. And let's not even talk about flights to the US or Europe. By plane the only somewhat reasonable destinations are Buenos Aires or Lima, and maybe Arequipa or Mendoza depending on the demand.