Chiloé

The island of Chiloé is magical, mysitical, misty, green forests, sandy pacific beaches, shingled houses, fish fish fish, cultural festivals, campfires and vino. It is a place where you can truly escape the gringo trail and spend an evening around a campfire with Chileans, learning local slang, finding out where to go out to eat in Valparaíso, dancing to reggeton, and laughing until two AM. Here there are small port towns where you can sit on the pier eating bread and jam, walk for miles down the beach, venture around the ruins of old rotting fishing boats, and never see a sign of tourism. Ferrying across the salt water to a nearby island we saw dolphins with dark fins gliding over the water and sea lions stunning their freshly caught fish against the crashing surf, teasing the gulls with the scent of food. The sun kindly shown on us for our entire stay, lighting up the orange bark of the local trees, the blue lips and tongues of giant barnacles, and playing in our hair as we road standing up in the back of a pickup down winding dirt roads.

Chiloé was distinct from the rest of our travels thus far in its quaint nature and distinct culture. It is far less westernized than other places we have visited, and gave us the sweet taste of real life here, away from the built-up fabricated nature of tourist spots. We stayed two nights in the small pueblo of Chonchi, on the island´s east coast, one on the west coast in el Parque National de Chiloé, and the final night in the island´s capitol, Castro. Our last day there was spent at el Festival Costumbrista de Chilote, a huge local fair bursting with delicious foods, local traditional crafts, music, dancing, and crowds of smiling, happy Chileans. I ate my first empanadas de mariscos (seafood; i´ve decided to be pescaterian while in south america, since tofu and cottage cheese are hard to come by) which was incredibly savory goodness, fresh and hot. It was a joyful place and a great end to our travels.

Now I am back in Santiago, steamy and hot even at 11 pm. Tomorrow the study abroad program begins, though we have orientation, regestration, and moving in with our families for a week or two before school begins. Yet another adventure!