We ended up spending a total of 10 days on Chiloe Island in the very northern part of Patagonia. I guess technically, Chiloe would not be a part of Patagonia and more considered part of the lakes region. We originally planned eight days, but the ferry to get us to our next destination was full, so we stayed an extra couple of days. The island has a distinct feel about it. We made comparisons to Door County in Wisconsin and Cape Cod.
One of the things I had on the list for Chiloe Island was a kayaking trip in Chepu, which I had read about in Lonely Planet. Chepu is northwest of Castro and is situated just about on the Pacific Coast. It took some work to track down a way to accomplish this, but it worked out great. On Wednesday, I found a phone number associated with a campground in Chepu and they gave me the number to Alphonso, who operates kayaks from his home. He speaks less English than I speak Spanish, but we figured things out through WhatsApp and he told us where to be at 7am the next morning. The rest of Wednesday included a four-mile run along the Castro waterfront, enjoying our Greek salads in our house for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. There is a lot of dog barking in our little neighborhood, but it seems like the locals don’t even notice it.
Up early the next morning, we made the drive in Taylor (our rental car is a little Suzuki Swift, so of course we’ve named her Taylor) up to Chepu, arriving there at 6:30am. We met Alphonso at 7am and he took us down the hill to the river and the shed where the kayaks are. He showed us into a changing room and gave us wet suits to wear. We were confused because we weren’t planning to go into the water, but through the little Spanish I can speak and charades, we realized, he wanted us to wear those because we would probably get a little wet during the kayak excursion. I should mention that this whole experience was not anywhere near the top of Sandy’s to-do list, so when she found out she was changing into a wetsuit (that was slightly wet and very cold), she got even more excited.
Changed into our wetsuits, we went back out and Alphonso gave me a handheld radio to use. It then occurred to us that he was sending us out on our own and if we needed help, we just needed to press the button and call, “Alphonso, Alphonso, Alphonso.” This was getting good. We took the kayaks to the water’s edge and off we went. The little inlet led to the broader Rio Puntra and we paddled about an hour east.
In 1960, there was a huge earthquake in Chile – the most powerful ever recorded in the world. In this area, the result was the ground dropping around six feet and sea water rushing in. This water killed many trees along the river and it is now a destination to see what almost appears to be a cemetery of trees – the trees resembling headstones.
The kayaking was incredibly peaceful. We were the only ones on the water, and it was a foggy morning. The only sounds we heard were our paddles in the water and the morning birds. It ended up being a beautiful experience. Changing back into our clothes, we realized we were glad we had the wetsuits because we did get a little wet – but it was cold and the whole changing process was not fun at all.
Back at Alphonso’s place, several other people had arrived to join us for a boat trip with Alphonso out to Muelle de la Luz – the Pier of Light. This is out on the Pacific Coast and is a pier that is built basically to nowhere. You reach the end of the pier and you are standing at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
The area is beautiful, and we enjoyed that part of the experience as well – it was crazy windy up on the cliff though. One of the things we did was skip rocks on the river as we walked the beach to and from the trail up to the pier.
After Chepu, we drive a little over an hour to the town of Ancud on the northern part of Chiloe Island. Along the way, we were on a gravel road and suddenly out of nowhere a German Shepherd was in front of our car. I didn’t know how I didn’t hit it but it kept running in front of and to the side of the car. We finally got to a point where I could speed up enough to leave the dog in the dust, literally. Our exploration of Ancud included a bakery to share a chocolate alfajores, burgers at Indomito, a walk along the waterfront, chatting briefly with a guy who was wearing a Depeche Mode t-shirt (how crazy was that!), learning how the parking system works here (we had a ticket on our window and then learned we needed to find someone in a red jacket to pay them for our time in the spot – Sandy stayed in the car while I went to pay and another woman came with a 2nd ticket for our windshield so Sandy got out of the car and showed the woman where I was so I could pay for both parking fees together), and beers at El Jardin Techado – a brewpub with a spectacular view over the bay. We then headed back to Castro and had ice cream cones at Picaflor. It was a great day!
With the rest of our time in Castro, highlights of the time included:
- Starbucks time at Bauda Café – a great little coffee shop in one of the parafitos (stilt houses) along the water
- The very friendly people, tons of equipment, and great view at Stilt House gym (also in a parafito); $5 day passes
- Delicious sushi at Gaman sushi (recommended to us by the barista at Bauda Café)
- Enjoying French toast at home two days with the maple syrup from our Canadian friend, Mathis
- Spending an afternoon in the village of Dalcahue, which we discovered on our day trip to see the churches earlier in the week – found some really good chicken wings at Terraza Pizzaria
- Getting our 2024 taxes filed – the process was easier than I expected given that I didn’t have a way to print anything
- Enjoying Sandy’s baked chicken dish – including battling with the gas oven to get it started – singed some of my arm hair off as we tried to get it lit
- Enjoying Irish Beef Stew at home for St. Patrick’s Day along with a +56 Stout beer and a Volcanes del Sur Chocolate and Orange beer – both were great, especially the chocolate and orange beer – we’ll keep an eye out for that again
- Having finished Ted Lasso, we started watching the show Shrinking at the urging of our friends, Kevin and Jenn
For our last day on Chiloe Island (today), we stopped by Café Bauda again for chai latte, hot chocolate, and breakfast. On our way down to Quellon, we stopped by two more of the UNESCO World Heritage wooden churches (one in Vilupuli and one in Chonchi). We arrived in Quellon around 3 and did a three-mile cardio walk along the waterfront. Then we did grocery shopping for the coming week at the Unimarc there. For dinner, we had grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, and ceviche at Romeo Alfa and then walked around the area while we waited for our overnight ferry.
Our tickets instructed us to be at the pier two hours before departure time, which was 9:30pm. Unfortunately, the ferry arrived late and we didn’t actually board until 10:40pm. The ferry pulled away just before 11pm. The seats are similar to comfortable bus seats. It’s nice because there is obviously a lot more room to walk around. You can go to your car at any time if you need something from there. Unfortunately, there was a lot of snoring by our fellow passengers, but we were able to get some sleep as we make our way back into the Patagonia area of Chile.
For Chiloe Island overall, we definitely enjoyed our time here. It may have been a couple of days too long because of the extension we needed. If someone had only a day or two, I’d say Ancud is a good spot to be, but if you want to see the churches, you have to go further south. Happy to have been able to spend the time here, but also ready to move on.
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