Chile 2006, part 7 (Punta Arenas, Lake District, Chiloé)
In the evening following our return from Antarctica I went to bed relatively early and I slept until 8.30 the next morning and yet later in the day I often felt exhausted. I don’t know which fuel I worked on while in Antarctica. There I didn’t feel any of the tiredness that surfaced upon the return to the continent.
When I got up I first wrote long emails to my friends and later, when Sneza was also up, we got ready and went downtown. We were actually killing time because owing to the change in the departure to Antarctica we also had to change the flight that took us up north, so without any intention we ended up with this one free day.
We walked leisurely around the centre of the town, going to the main square, Plaza Muños Gamero, where we saw numerous stands offering crafts. In addition, in the centre of the square there is a monument dedicated to Magellan who passed here almost 500 years ago and who, on account of the fires he saw on the island on the other side of the water route, came up with the idea for the name of this piece of land which has become its official name – Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire).
In addition, we visited the museum Palacio Mauricio Braun, also called Casa Braun-Menendez. Namely, members of the two families started with their economic and social ascent at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century and over time through marital merger they became one of the most influential families in the entire South America. Nowadays, this house that used to belong to them and has been given to the state in the meantime contains a museum where it is possible to see not only exhibits that concern the history of this region, but also those that show how its owners used to live in the first half of the 20th century.
In the garden in front of the museum we also saw the flag of the region of Magallanes located in the far south of the country, which has certain ideas related to secession from Chile.
After the visit to the museum we went for a lunch and then to the shore in order to watch wistfully across the Strait of Magellan towards Tierra del Fuego and farther on.
Still, this all had to end and we went home as we had to pack. After a while, Cecilia also came home from her work and we spent the evening in joyful chatting and dining. Our meal consisted of a tasty salad, a selection of cheeses, bread and wine. For the sake of symbolism, we drank wine appropriately called Tierra del Fuego, but as it turned out it was also nice palatable wine that we liked. I soon went to bed, while Sneza stayed with Cecilia to help her with some computer tables and formulas which Cecilia needed for her work and Sneza knew very well. On the other hand, it was nice that we could in a way return the favour to our by now dear friend who took us in her home so generously.
What is additionally interesting is that I have also had an opportunity to return the favour to our hostess. A couple of years later, her son Matias travelled around Europe and then he came to Belgrade for a couple of days when he stayed at my place as my guest and the same thing happened a year later when Cecilia herself was my guest and I was absolutely delighted to see my friend again, as we live so far away one from the other.
The next morning we had an early flight to Puerto Montt which is approximately half-way between Punta Arenas and Santiago. When flying northwards from Punta Arenas, provided the weather is nice, if one sits on the right-hand side of the plane, it is possible to see the National Park Torres del Paine. If one sits on the left-hand side of the plane, it is possible to see the huge glacier South Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur). When we were flying on this route, the day was great, the sky was mostly clear and we could enjoy some beautiful views.
Even before we got to Puerto Montt, it was clear we were arriving in quite a different geographic and climate zone.
We landed in Puerto Montt, but immediately went to the nearby town of Puerto Varas, where we had a base for the next few days. And then, just having left our things at a hostel, we immediately returned to Puerto Montt in order to visit it first and in a way check it off our list. All of this was easily feasible thanks to the fact that these two places are only half an hour away one from the other.
When we returned to Puerto Montt, first we walked around the town and along the Pacific coast, and then we went to the main square with the town’s cathedral. When we got there, there was also a concert going on.
Still, we didn’t find anything too attractive and we soon went by a mini-bus to the village of Angelmo, which is some 3 kilometres away, where there is a famous fish and sea food market, as well as a medium quality crafts market.
In addition to fresh fish and different shells, which were abundant, we also saw quite a lot of dried fish, dried shells and tunicates that were strung in the form of a necklace and there was also famous Pacific edible sea weed cochayuyo. This weed is commonly first dried and later used in soups or some similar dishes. Apparently, it is full of iodine and considered to be very healthy. When dried, it looked to me like belts of dried pig’s skin.
This was all very picturesque and interesting, but we were just too keen to return to Puerto Varas, which we did after lunch.
The reason why we were in a way in a hurry to return to Puerto Varas was that already when leaving our things in the room we saw how beautiful the place was. So, from the bus station we went straight to lake Llanquihue, which is where the place is located, and we were very lucky that some rare clouds got completely cleared from the sky in the meantime. I was completely mesmerized and just started to shoot with my camera. See for yourself the view in Puerto Varas:
Puerto Varas is perhaps not a typical Chilean place or what one may expect to find in Chile. Namely, there is a very strong German influence here, since emigrants from this European country started to come here in larger numbers around the middle of the 19th century. I guess some also came after 1945, but this is now already a question of the past. The influence of this group of migrants which dominates the area is more than visible, since a large number of houses have been made in a style reminiscent of Germany, in addition to which German-type of cakes may be found in the town’s pastry shops.
As I’ve said, Puerto Varas has a fantastic position on the shore of lake Llanquihue and everything would perhaps be like “Little Germany” if on the opposite shore of the lake one couldn’t see the perfect cone of volcano Osorno (2660 m) the sight of which is overwhelming. To the right, one may also see volcano Calbuco (2003 m) which is slightly lower and which has to endure the fact that Osorno appears more impressive and more beautiful. By the way, volcano Osorno is situated in the National Park Vicente Perez Rosales.
I found both lake Llanquihue and volcano Osorno particularly beautiful and attractive, and it seemed to me I could sit there by the lake and look at them for hours without getting tired. Still, as if this hadn’t been enough, at some point an almost full moon appeared and it started moving slowly close to Osorno. Needless to say, I kept taking photos like mad. I did it when it was still daytime, and when the sun started to set, and after the sun was gone, and all the time I was taking photos of that same view. But, it was perfect!
Of course, at some point I had to go back to my room and go to sleep, as we had already organized the following day, plus I was getting tired from all the moving of that day.
The next day we got up early again, as we were to go for a trip to the island of Chiloé. We were picked up by a mini-bus in which there were already a few people and then we first went to a village relatively close to Puerto Montt where we embarked on a ferry. Using that ferry we crossed the part of the ocean which is locally called Little Pacific. This is in fact a broad strait near Puerto Montt that separates the land from a rather big island which seems to be protecting Puerto Montt and the coast south of the city from the open waters of the Pacific. For this reason, this section is significantly calmer, which makes it a perfect place for numerous sea farms used for producing salmon and shells. The Chilean coast is not particularly attractive for swimming, at least not for those who are used to warmer seas, but it is ideal for sea animals, fish, shells and all types of sea creatures, since the coast is washed by the cold waters of the northbound Humboldt Current which from the waters around Antarctica brings along the coldness, as well as nutrients. As we were crossing to Chiloé by the ferry, we saw some sea lions splashing around not too far from us.
Chiloé is a large island – it is 180 km long and 50 km wide, and this is in fact an archipelago consisting of the Big Island (Isla grande de Chiloe) of the said dimensions and a number of smaller islands that are located mostly in the strait east of the Big Island. Chiloé is mostly populated by people who are a mix between the indigenous residents and Spaniards. In comparison to the population on the shore, where there is a dominance of the mixture of Germans and Spaniards, meaning their descendents are slightly taller and there are also blond ones or ones with lighter complexion, here in Chiloé the population is mostly a little shorter, with darker hair and skin.
Once in Chiloé, we first went to Ancud, one of the two bigger towns on the island, along with the capital Castro. Chiloé is an island famous for the large quantity of trees growing there and it has such a micro-climate that it is frequently cloudy and rainy. In addition to fish, primarily salmon, that is farmed in large quantities here, there is also a large number of sheep on the island.
Our first sightseeing stop in Ancud was at the San Antonio fortress which was built in 1770. It was active until 1826, making it one of the longest serving Spanish fortifications in South America.
Then we went to the museum in Ancud. It is a small museum in which the exhibits show how people gradually came to inhabit the island, how they conquered it and lived on it, but what I particularly liked was the big map of Chiloé which clearly showed the Big Island, as well as the numerous small islands that somehow cuddled cosily along the big one, as if the latter did not protect only the coast but also its tiny neighbours. Within the museum, in its yard, we could also see a whale skeleton laid down on the ground. Namely, due to the Humboldt Current, whales regularly pass in the vicinity of these shores.
In addition to the museum, there is also a cathedral in Ancud’s main square, so we went to visit it. There was a service going on at the time, so we stayed inside for a short while, but what shocked me was a dog which peacefully slept in the middle of the church. This is completely unthinkable in my culture, but by then it had already become completely clear to me that it was not so in Latin America. I have already mentioned a similar situation when I wrote about Ecuador (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/ecuador-march-2004-continental-ecuador-part-1/).
Then we went to Dalcahue and there we visited first of a couple of churches that we managed to see and that were of my special interest. They were, in fact, the main reason why we went there in the first place. Namely, these churches are in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The reason for this is that they are completely made of wood. This may not seem that unusual until one sees the size of these churches. These are not small chapels, but full-fledged big churches. The inhabitants of Chiloé have always been extremely skilful ship builders and they simply applied those same techniques onto the construction of churches. There are 16 of these churches, but some of them are situated on the small islands next to Chiloé, so it is impossible to visit them all in a day or during an excursion such as ours. So, we managed to see only two and the first one was the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores) which originates from the end of the 19th century.
After the visit to the church, we went down to the coast. There were numerous fishing boats to be seen there, as well as one of the smaller islands that belong to the archipelago.
The visit to the island would not have been complete if we hadn’t gone to one of the numerous places where we could see the famous “palafitos” – a type of stilt houses built over the water which are typical of Chiloé and in which local fishermen traditionally live.
And then we reached Castro, the capital of this region, that is, of the Chiloé archipelago. There we first had a lunch break and then we went to do local sightseeing. Having in mind that this is an island surrounded by salmon and shell farms, this type of food may be found on the menus even of the most modest of restaurants. We actually went to a better one and there we really enjoyed some fantastic food.
After the fabulous lunch, we went to a large church in Castro – Church of San Francisco de Castro. On the outside it has metal sheathing in a few places that protect the wooden parts, but on the inside it is made of wood through and through, and it really appears impressive.
Still, it is important to say that not only churches are made of wood here. As opposed to the south where the houses were mostly covered in metal sheets, here the houses’ coating material is mostly made of wood, simply because there are so many trees around and this is the most available material. Although the churches represent the high point of this technique, wooden sheathing may be seen even on the ordinary houses throughout the region. On the island of Chiloé this is all accentuated in particular because of its micro-climate where rains are very frequent, which in combination with moderate temperatures favours the growth of trees.
After the visit to the church, we got down to the waterfront, i.e., to the shores of the Castro fjord where we enjoyed in the scenery around us for a while.
And this is where our sightseeing visit to Chiloé ended, so after the group gathered again we started with the return journey. Although we were followed by dark clouds the entire day, it did not rain. However, as we crossed towards the continent by ferry it was interesting to see those heavy dark clouds lingering above the islands, while the sky above the mainland was completely clear. It was even possible to see the snow-covered Andes in the distance. And again we had an opportunity to watch sea lions swimming in the relative vicinity of the ship, while numerous birds kept flying above and around us.