Chiloé was breathtaking, just as I thought it would be. My friend and I caught a bus Monday morning that took us from Pucon down to Puerto Montt, which took about five hours. From there we took a bus to Ancud, a city on the island of Chiloé. The bus actually went onto a boat to take us across the water! It was so crazy! We stopped in Ancud for lunch, which happened to be the best burgers at a little dive. We looked around a bit, but we were tired and wanted to relax, so we caught a bus to our final stop, Castro, the capital of Chiloé. Total that day we traveled approximately ten hours, so you can imagine we were so happy to get to our hostel!
The hostel we stayed at was right on the water. And when I say that, I mean that in a literal sense! Called Palofitos, they’re little houses partially on land, but with sticks in the water supporting them. It was a lovely view, and the hostel was small but clean, which was perfect for us.
The only problem I had with Chiloé was the rain. It was ALWAYS RAINING during our short stay. The rainy season doesn’t end until December. And it was a cold rain, which just makes it worse. On Tuesday, we went to the Parque Nacional de Chiloé, which was magical and lovely… and wet. I wish we could have seen even more, but the rain was just too much for us. We got back to our hostel and took hot showers and stayed warm until dinner.
For dinner, we found a beautiful, fancy restaurant close to our hostel and thought, why not? Chiloé is known for seafood, so we couldn’t leave without trying some. The traditional dish of Chiloé is called curanto, and it consists of mussels, pork, chicken, potatoes, and some type of Chiloé bread. The dish was HUGE and was totally worth twelve dollars.
Our final day we walked around a bit, looking at their art, eating more seafood, and trying to stay dry. We left Castro at 3, arrived in Puerto Montt at 6:45, and then caught our bus at 7:30 that would take us back to Viña. We got back Thursday morning around 11, which means we traveled a solid twenty hours! I’m happy to be back in my comfy bed, but it was an adventure and I’m so glad I went to see beautiful Chiloé.