Ancud & Surrounding Sites

After we arrived in Ancud on Thursday we strolled around town a bit before reporting to the supermarket to pick up supplies. The town's local bus station is located on the upper level of the market. There was a large building project underway right in the center of the business district so all the stores that remained open were running with generator power which didn't seem to slow down negotiations much at all.

We stopped with our heavy loads to rest in the main park after picking up what we need to supply our dinners for the next few days. Here in Chile these parks all have the same name, Plaza de Armas. In Mexico, they are the Zocalos, and in Guatemala, Parque Central. In Ancud's Plaza de Armas are carved statues of various mythical creatures that 'haunt' the islands. After reading and interpreting what we can understand from the spanish plaques, none of these characters is up to much good! Most will kill you after torturing you!



After supper I went out for a power walk along the bay which is right in front of our hostel and the two dogs that live here accompanied me. When I went out of their boundaries the female barked at me and we turned around to walk as far as she would allow in the other direction. We did this path a couple of times; dogs are the perfect substitute for a personal trainer!



Another special characteristic of the islands of Chiloe are the 120 or so churches that were built by the Franciscans in centuries past. Most of these are closed to the public although many are being restored. The one near the Plaza de Armas is being restored while it's opened as a museum which displays the style of building used in creating these churches. The artisans of the time were shipbuilders who built the church structures like upside down ships. A young man who loved his work and the building process took us around the museum and up to the highest bell tower pointing out how the timbers were creatively fastened without the use of any metal, nails or otherwise. The creative fastenings hold up well in earthquakes though many of these churches and nearly all the houses and other buildings on the island were completed wiped away during the tsunami that followed the 9.8 earthquake centered here in 1960.




Yesterday, Friday, we decided to board a bus heading toward two small villages on the eastern side of the large island of Chiloe. These locations were recommended in Fodors because of their churches and typical fishing sites. It felt strange to jump on a bus without a fair notion of where we were headed and because of the remoteness of the towns, we had little idea when another bus might come along to take us home.



The ride was much longer than we anticipated but made for a good day's travel experience to basically nowhere. The road was unpaved for the last sixteen kilometers and the path was narrow and winded around and up and down, much like a roller coaster. At the end of the trail, literally the road went into the sea, we jumped off happy to find a bathroom in someone's home for hire, we bought some cookies for lunch from a store that opened just for us and boarded the same bus to travel back in the opposite direction for two more hours. It was interesting to see the rural countryside and the way people lived. Keith remarked it reminded him of Papa Stan's stories of his early life in West Virginia and I imagine he's right-on as electricity is just coming to this hilly green country and their water is collected in large cisterns on handmade towers. Horses, cows, sheep, dogs and cats surround most houses and chickens and roosters with their young live under the homes which sit on top of posts.




When we returned to the hostel we met a new traveling companion, a outgoing young woman from Germany who was eager to find a couple of people to go with her to the penguin islands. It's expensive for just one person to book a taxi or tour operator to take them off the beaten path, and nearly everywhere on Chiloe Island would be considered just that kind of place. We made plans to take a taxi because the bus to the area only leaves Ancud for the Penguins one time on Saturdays, 6:45 am, and we all agreed that was much too early. Plus in order to do the trip by public bus you must walk in and then out again 30 minutes which might be hard for Keith. This morning we were greeted by Sr. Juan Gonzalez, a very talkative taxi driver, who gladly stopped for pictures along the way to the Pacific Coast. He waited while we took a boat ride around three little islands full of a variety of birds, this was a trip Shana Jan would have loved!
The boat crew was very knowledgeable about the penguins and other types of birds that they pointed out. The weather couldn't be beat, sunny and clear, which is a bit rare in Chiloe which only gets sixty days of sunshine a year. It was a fun day trip!




There were two types of penguins, some with young. It's amazing to imagine that in April all the penguins leave the area for Ecuador or the tip of Argentina, depending on the type. We laughed aloud watching the penguins dive into the waves and struggle to get back on their rocky landing zone. What cute creatures! Keith was hoping to see the 'circle of life' in action, but no sea lions were spotted this morning.







We did see an otter swimming about and when it jumped up on a rock I was able to get this shot.