Today we left at 8:00am and headed to the island of Chiloe. The ferry costs 12,500 ($25.00CDN) Chilean Pesos to cross each way.
Once on the island we made our way to Fuerte Ahui, which is on the northern peninsula of Chiloe. We arrived here about 10:45am and the gate was locked. We walked around the beach for a few minutes and got in the car ready to head off, when we saw a lady walking down the road. She stopped by the car and asked us, in Spanish, if we wanted to visit the fort. I indicated we did and she headed to the gate. We got our gear, went towards her and she did not unlock the gate but went to the barbed wire fence. She broke a few branches off and in Spanish told us to follow her. We climbed through the barbed wire fence, fought our way through a few bushes until we got to the gate on the inside. We followed her up a path until we came to two building and she used her key to open these doors. She then asked where we were from and told us to go up the path to the fort. I must say, it is the first time I have ever entered a fort this way … what a fun lady. LOL
We walked around the fort and took a few photos of cannons, building remnants, old gate entrance, and a 19th century lighthouse.
There was also a path that takes you down to the ocean and you can see these old steps that are carved in the cliff that go into the water.
After a lovely visit we made our way to Caleta Punihuil. Here you find Monumento Natural Islotes de Punihuil, a place where you can take a boat tour to see two types of penguins for 7,000.00 Chilean Pesos ($14.00CDN). The pavement ends and you end up driving through a large stream on a beach.
You are welcomed by various tour boat operators that guide you to their specific place of business (there are about four or five businesses here doing the same thing). What is interesting is there is no harassing; you just go with any one of them as they are the same cost and basically the same type of boat. They wheel you out in a cart to prevent you from getting soaked ... it was quite an interesting process. It is the same process when you return to the shore.
This was different than my visit to Isla Magdalena near Punta Arenas because here you cannot get out of the boat and walk on the islands. Instead they boat you around the islands and you see them from the shoreline.
For the cost, this tour was very worthwhile as I captured some great shots of the penguins on the rocks. There were also a variety of birds nesting on some of the islands including cormorants.
A
After the tour we hiked up to the end of the beach close to the islands, but came across a sign that indicated that that we were prohibited from entering any further as the land was protected for the penguins. We turned around and walked back towards our vehicle and found a path that led to the top of a hill. We hiked up the path to get a panoramic view of the beach. There were two rocks in the bay that were natural bridges. This was certainly a beautiful area.
Instead of driving back to Ancud and getting on the main highway, Route 5, we took a short cut on a gravel road that was approximately 18km long. It was an interesting drive to say the least. Every vehicle that went by us were trucks and we had a little car. Well, I think it was a good idea to have a little car as the gravel road was very narrow. I found it interesting that when you come to a steep hill, they have paved the side going up only with concrete. On many of the hills we peaked you had a great view of this farm country, absolutely stunning.
We finally broke out onto pavement and made our way to the town of Castro. Even though this gravel road was rough and some interesting sections, we saved well over half an hour driving time. Once in Castro, it took about half an hour to find a parking place. Talk about a lot of people, cars parked everywhere. We spotted a vehicle leaving and luckily pulled in by a park. From the park there was a viewpoint of a fishing village below us. The unique character of this area is the fishing homes along the inlet are two stories and are built on stilts. In other words, when the tide comes in the ocean is under their homes. This was a very unique picturesque community.
We didn’t stay long as the day was moving by quickly. We made our way to the north-eastern side of Chiloe to Dalcahue. We needed to get through Dalcahue to get to San Juan and Colo where I wanted to take photos of two churches. We made our way through town to find the road we needed to take was roped off. A gentleman here informed us that the road was closed but we could take an alternate road. We followed a couple cars and went up this alleyway. We got to a very narrow road and once around a bend saw that we were in a huge line up of vehicles including large trucks hauling trailers, buses, etc. This might sound like no big deal, but after 2km the road got very narrow and there was also traffic coming from the other direction. At one point we were at a standstill because of the steep hill and vehicles were taking turns in groups of 4 or 5. When we started up the hill we had to stop half way up because of the large truck in front of us could not go any further because of vehicles coming in the opposite direction forced the truck to have to stop. Also, you can see the truck that went by us ... so close.
This hill was so steep that I had to put on the emergency brake. Eventually when we were starting to move the vehicle in front of me started to spin its tires. While spinning its tires it almost ended up on my front bumper. Rocks were flying everywhere but it finally got a grip and moved forward. I had to hold onto the emergency brake, give it gas and while easing out the clutch slowly released the emergency brake. I did not slide backwards, but did some spinning to get moving. I did look behind to see a truck was stuck and other vehicles were driving around him. This road was made for 4 wheel drives. LOL … I laugh, but it is true. At some points it was so dusty from all the vehicles that you think you were in fog. Our black car was no longer black. LOL
After driving about 10km on this dirt road we finally got back to the paved road. We turned right on this road and over 90% of the traffic turned left … thank goodness. We now made our way to San Juan.
The 2 Churches that I wanted to visit were part of Iglesias de Chiloe – Monumentos Nacionales Patrimonio de la Humanidad. There are 16 Churches that were built in Chiloe that are identified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These Churches were built entirely from native timber including wooden shingles.
The first Church I wanted to visit was Iglesia de San Juan. You drive on a gravel road for about 7km. The very last section of this road is paved with concrete and is one lane. We were behind a tractor coming down the hill and a bus and two cars had to wait until we got to the bottom before they could make an attempt to climb up. The community of San Juan is a fishing community and is located right next to the beach. The Church is also located right next to the beach. This Church is huge and I walked around taking photographs of the Church.
A gentleman from the community was walking by and I greeted him in Spanish. I told him I was so impressed with how beautiful the Church was. He asked me if I wanted to see the inside. I stated that I would love to. He asked me where I was from and after telling him Canada, he told me to wait and he would see if he could get the key. I had already looked in one of the windows and it truly was a beautiful inside this Church. The gentleman came back and was apologetic as he was not able to get the key. I indicated no worries, shook his hand and thanked him for trying.
We then drove to the community of Colo, in the region of Quicavi, to visit la Iglesia de Colo. This Church architecture was very similar to Iglesia de San Juan. Iglesia de Colo was constructed in 1890 and was a little narrower than Iglesia de San Juan. I loved the birds that were sitting on top of the cross on the steeple. This community, about half an hour from San Juan, was a very quiet farming community.
After a short visit, we needed to get a quick bite to eat before heading back to Puerto Montt. We made our way to Quemchi, a fishing community, and found a quaint restaurant beside the harbour.
We wanted to try a special dish from Chiloe called Culanto, but it was not available. We ended up trying another dish that was made with fries, chicken, cheese, egg, tomatoes, sausage, pork and avocados. It was very tasty and not that expensive.
After leaving this lovely community, we made our way back to the ferry to get back to Puerto Montt. We arrived at the ferry terminal and were ushered to board the ferry. We started to drive down the ramp, but the ferry had started to lift its car ramp and was 3 feet from the shore. To our amazement, it came back in and dropped the ramp allowing us, one other car and a bus to board. What a lucky break as it would have been between a half hour to one hour wait until the next ferry crossing.
We arrived back at our accommodations at midnight and were greeted outside by the owner. There was a car parked where we normally parked in the driveway and he told me to park the car on the lawn. It was quite a task to back the car at a 45 degree angle from the gate between his house and the fence, especially after midnight. LOL A long day, but again, so many unique sites that we visited.
