Isla de Chiloé

Ancud - in the north of the island

In Puerto Varas I wake up quite early and decide to walk to the bus terminal of Cruz del Sur to book a bus to Ancud on Isla de Chiloé. There are still seats available at 11:00. Great. I'll take it.

The bus ride takes about 2 hours further south and then we have to take a ferry to the island. Another hour and I'll be there. It's pouring rain. Great!

I quickly find my hostel. Nobody there, I have the 6-bed room all to myself, which I quite like. At the reception I ask about a tour to the penguin rocks the next day, THE attraction in Ancud. The receptionist says it might be difficult to go on the day before New Year's Eve, but he will make some calls. Isla de Chiloé is not nearly as touristy as Pucón or San Pedro de Atacama. Less than 10 minutes later, he comes into my room excitedly and says I can go today. AHORA! So 1.5 hours later. Perfect, I'll do it.

I am picked up late at around 16:00 in an old rickety bus. There is also a couple from England with me. The driver "zooms" through the lush green landscape. I feel really sick, unaware that it will get worse later...

We arrive at a bay. WHERE are the penguins? The beach is beautiful, although there are huge algae and stuff from the Pacific lying around everywhere. Pure nature :-)

We pay and get instructions. HOW? I HAVE TO GET ON A SMALL MOTORBOAT?! Oh well, okay then. Put on a life jacket, neoprene cape against rain and spray water, and off we go onto a movable ramp. Once all the passengers are on, we are pushed into the water until we can board the boat with dry feet.

The boat is rocking like crazy. It's stormy and rainy. The waves are understandably quite high. We set off and I try to hold on bravely...

We arrive at the first rock and there are penguins. Yayyy. Not many, but probably around 10-15 pairs and I can also spot a chick. The little rascals are really small and hardly visible in photos.

The boat is rocking like crazy, I feel unbelievably sick. So sick that I'm afraid I'm about to vomit. The driver sets off to the next rock. The waves there are huge and mercilessly crashing against our small boat, which makes me even more scared now. The guide, an older Chilote (islander) with tanned fisherman's skin, takes care of me relatively kindly. FUCK! I want to get out of here, no desire to capsize in front of a penguin rock with a boat!!

Finally, the driver turns around and we head to the next rock from my personal "Danger Zone". There are black cormorants perched there, an otter in the water, and a few penguins. Quite a lot of animals here, but few penguins. I thought the whole rock would be full. Hmmm... It seems to be the season, they will all come to breed in the next few weeks. In any case, two different types of penguins breed on these rocks, which is probably unique. The Magellanic penguins and Humboldt penguins. I've seen both :-)

After 30 minutes, we finally head back to the beach! I'm one of the first to hurry off the boat and I'm super glad to have solid ground under my feet again.

Now we have some time to walk along the beach. Yayyy. I really enjoy doing that and can take some pretty photos and see interesting shells.

Castro - the largest city on the island

At breakfast in Ancud, an older woman sits across from me, I would guess she's in her early 70s. We start talking and it turns out that she is also German and traveling through South America. She asks me a few questions and at some point she says that her luggage was stolen in Ecuador, except for a small backpack, and she is now having trouble finding hostels and hotels since she doesn't have a smartphone and, well, computers/internet are not really her thing. Oh dear. I get my travel guide and give her tips for a possible route, as she is heading north and I have already been there. I lend her the travel guide until she leaves so she can look up addresses and then I pack.

I take a bus from Ancud to Castro for about 2 hours and arrive in the early afternoon. My hostel is a palafito. These are little houses built on wooden stilts right on the water's edge. Totally quaint and beautiful. The hostel is great. In the kitchen, I meet 2 French people, with whom I share a room, and we make plans for the evening. After all, it's New Year's Eve. But first I'll go into town to explore. As always, I stroll around and let myself wander...

First, I land at the port and look for the fishermen who sell fresh fish for immediate consumption. There is salmon (cold) with onions, herbs, and lemon. Delicious! Fresh ceviche - it doesn't taste like gimmicks, just great. For the evening, I also take some octopus with me.

Right next to the fish market is the Mercado Artenasale. Everywhere you can find handmade clothes, hats, gloves, socks, etc. I start shopping :-) and then continue walking along the harbor. There are tourist boats that cruise through the bay for 30 minutes. I'm convinced and go on a boat ride. Well, a little bit of boating can't hurt.

After arriving, I head back into town towards the church. Castro is not that big, so I'm relatively quick with my city check. I buy a few beers for the evening and go back to the hostel.

The weather is getting better and better, so I enjoy the view from the palafito over the bay, which slowly fills with water, for a long time. From here, you can observe many funny little birds, such as a kingfisher, which was sitting almost right in front of me. Really pretty little guy...

Later, I meet Catarina from Italy, she is also staying in my room, sleeping above me. She tells me that around 22:00 she will go to a woman across the street who cooks Chilean food and celebrates the New Year. I go over and ask her if I could also join for dinner. Works out. Well, she also takes money for it. But it's cool to celebrate New Year's Eve there with other locals and Catarina.

The food is really great, just unfortunately there are not many people. Besides Catarina and me, there's only the crazy host and two friends of hers. We chat, drink Pisco Sour, and celebrate the new year unspectacularly. Actually just salute - Feliz año novo and nothing more. But it's okay :-) Shortly after that, we go back to the hostel, toast again with the French people and then I go to sleep.

The next morning is tough. That Pisco Sour always knocks me out! Eieieieiei 🙈 Today I'm not doing anything, except taking a walk to a church in the neighboring town and cooking. Oh, and I'm planning the further travel route. That also takes a while before I go back to sleep. Tomorrow I want to go to the west coast of the island to a national park.