Chiloé part 1

This took way too long to post (I am veryyy behind on my posting, but its because I had finals and now I'm preparing to go to PATAGONIA!!!!!) but for the sake of my own memories I will do so. I still need to put up my church's goodbye party for us gringos. And then I will be silent for about a month, as I will be scrambling to go on my church retreat today, travel the south of Chile, camping in Torres del Paine National Park, stay with the Ahualli family in the north of Argentina, and finally North America =)This is where Chiloé is. Very far, certainly not a stone's throw away.

I felt so self conscious in the beginning traveling by myself. A lot of people were looking at the airport like, "Who is this small Asian girl with this huge backpack all alone?" I was super nervous about it at first, but my friend Liz (UCI) did the same journey herself and she loved it. If Lizzard can do it, I can too! While I was waiting at the airport, at my gate there was a huge group of soccer players. I had no idea who they were, but they looked professional as they wore Chilean beer-sponsored soccer jerseys and carried Louis Vuitton suitcases. I didn't want to ask who they were because I didn't want to look stupid if they were indeed super famous (I probably should have; my Asian girl charm lets me get away with a lot of things). I found out later they were from the team Union Española, the 5th best team in Chile. Dang it! The coach sat right in front of me too!

When I landed in Puerto Montt, I was greeted by 2 snowy peaks of volcanoes. The above one is so perfectly pointy and snowy. 'Twas breathtaking.

From Puerto Montt--> Chiloé. Chiloé is a very rural and isolated area. It doesn't have an airport, and the closest city is Puerto Montt, which requires taking a ferry to get there. I got on a bus to continue my voyage in moving vehicles, going on all modes of transportation: plane, bus, and ferry (air, la and water!). The bus itself goes on the ferry so you could get off the bus to stretch your legs, breathe in the air, enjoy the body of water.
Here's a map of the island of Chiloé! The black arrows show the route I took for the 6-day voyage.

I arrived in Chonchi, to Hostal Esmeralda, which was highly recommended by 4 different tour books. The owner is Canadian and super helpful, especially since he speaks English. He talks a lot--one morning, I simply went to ask him for a map and it ended up being a one-hour discussion about Pinochet. But anyway, this is the view from my room. Precious, huh? I felt like Pablo Neruda with a little desk facing the water, ready to be inspired to write Nobel Prize-winning poetry. Since it was my first night, I hadn't gotten chummy with any of the fellow travelers in the hostel. I was hungry so I went out to look for some food by myself. This was the part of the trip I was not looking forward to--I HATE eating by myself, especially in restaurants where it's even more socially unacceptable. When I see people eat by themselves, I get sad. I asked Lizzard what she did in her case, and she told me she brought a book or wrote in her journal. I was prepared for this with a journal and a book to bust out in case I got lonely. I went to this newly-constructed, aimed-at-tourists establishment where there are a lot of kitchens/restaurants. I picked an unassuming spot in the dining area close to the window so I could enjoy the beautiful body of water and the salmon fishing boats as I dined in solitude.

And of course, being in the south of Chile, one absolutely will run into salmon dishes. There are a bunch of salmon farms here, which provides jobs for the Chilotes (residents of Chiloé). It's pretty cheap, too: ~$5 for this delicious plate of food + a hearty seafood soup. I love Chiloé's abundance of cheap seafood..... But I digress. Salmons. Later that night, as I got chummy with a fellow hostel dweller (Ben--who's from the US, works in Santiago at the Patagonia Times, and who knows Sara from UCSD who is like my walking Lonely Planet since I reference her facebook pics for any trips I take in Chile) as we sipped vinito and as he told me about the negative aspects of the salmon industry.

I went back to the hostel and this was the beautiful view I saw. Chonchi is such a tranquil little town. I would walk around at night by myself (not that I did, but it just felt that safe).

And these were the beautiful water-meets-the-moon views I got from my hostel the 2 nights I was there.

The next day, fellow world trekkers Bethany and Charles, a young married couple from Wyoming, invited me to visit Isla Lemuy with them. Chiloé is one big island/archipelago with a bunch of small islands surrounding it. There are ferries that run from the main island to the smaller ones. So we walked from our hostel for about 2.5 miles to get to the ferry port. These were the beautiful views we saw while walking.

Here's the view from the ferry.We landed in a few minutes.

To be greeted by cows, rolling hills, and sheep! Here is a sample of the cows we saw. They were very fearful of me. Aw. :(

The wooden church we saw, but was sealed off =(

We walked a good chunk of the way, finally reaching the "major city"=more than 200 people living there. At first, I was disappointed there wasn't more to see on the island, since all we did was walk, take pictures of cows, wave hi to people but my hostel owner told me that Isla Lemuy isn't about finding stuff to do, rather, it was to see how these people lived. I saw a farmer sowing his own little piece of farmland with a hoe (absolutely no machines!), and when he saw us, he took a quick break to wave hi to us gringos from afar. Furthermore, every time we walked by people, we made eye contact and smiled to say hello. I realized that these mere acts of salutation was indicative of the kind of people and the kind of life there is here. I realized that I did appreciate it after all :)

A cemetery that we came across.

After Isla Lemuy, and about 4 hours of walking, we caved in and took a bus back to Chonchi (thank goodness!) and I fell asleep on the 20-minute ride. Charles and Bethany wanted to rest up, so I wandered around Chonchi taking pictures.

It was an empty little rocky bay. No one around, and I only heard the rough salmon farmers yelling at each other in the background.

The end of the pier where the salmon farmers were working.

I sat down at the edge of the pier, deathly afraid of falling in. I took a picture w/ my shoe to prove I was there. Haha! Then an annying salmon farmer saw me and started yelling, "Hola chinita!" I ignored him and left.

Boats are a common sight in Chiloé.

I went to a museum in Chonchi with artifacts of Chonchi upper-class life in th late 1800's. Pink and yellow room!!

And here are the very famous, all-wood, UNESCO World Heritage, Chilote churches.

Not a piece of cement. Wood, wood, wood, made of alerce, a certain type of tree.

Nope, no marble either! Its imitation marble, painted on--you guess it--wood.

Look at the super cute nursery-like ceiling of the church!! Isn't it precious!??!

After wandering for myself for a few hours, Charles, Bethany, and me went to go out for dinner at the same place I went the night before. It was so nice to eat with people =) This is charquican, a typical Chilean dish that my host mom is an expert at. And naturally, my host mom's charquican was more delicious! It was so much food that I saved the charquican and the table bread for lunch the next day.

Licor de oro is a typical drink of Chonchi. After dinner, Bethany, Charles, and I bought a bottle of this (dulce de leche flavored!) and had a great conversation over this delicious nectar of fermented milk (that's what it is!). Bethany and Charles left the hostel the next day, and Bethany slipped her email under my door, since I told her if they are ever in San Diego they should contact me.
I left Chonchi and went to Castro, the capital of Chiloé. This picture was taken when I went in a stranger's car who offered to take me to the bus terminal. Kids, don't get in strangers' cars--unless you're in Chiloé! Jajajaja, just kidding, kind of. Chiloé is known to be super safe and even in Chonchi, the hostel owner encouraged us to hitchhike since it's normal and safe. I was very close to doing so, but no cars came to pick us up =( But I tried to use my best judgment and this stranger was helping an elderly couple with physical therapy by a bench where I ate my lunch. He was super nice and gave me his email and cell phone # and told me to call him if I needed anything. Thanks, Andrés!

I took the bus to Achao on Isla Quinchao, where the pastor friend of my pastor in Santiago lived! He invited me to stay at his house.

I met the little ones--Josue (6) and Marco (2).

Typical architecture of Chiloé. Wood shingles EVERYWHERE, which looks like fish scales.

I found snoopy rock.

And more with the Chilote churches. This one was intense on the inside, with intense carvings made of wood but photography was prohibited =(

And this is a typical Chilote home's stove, where it heats up the house the entire day as it burns. Even though I went in spring, Chiloé was very, very very cold. Brrrr.

Okay, off I go to my church's retreat! Hopefully I can update more later!