Top Secret Chiloe

After having our minds blown on our first day in Chiloe, Beth and I set out to explore more of the fabulous little island on the afternoon of January 11. We spent the morning lingering over breakfast admiring the views across the fjord.The church is indeed bright yellow with pink roofing.Once we extracted ourselves from the beautiful main building at the Centro de Ocio (no small feat), we climbed into our Nissan Xtrail and hit the dirt. Our little jaunt turned into an epic 8-hour, jaw-droppingly beautiful exploration of some of Chiloe's off-the-map backroads, culminating in a spectacular sunset at 930PM as we crested the ridge home, headed for another wonderful meal prepared for us by Carlos.Based on Yonny's recommendation, we headed first to Dalcahue and caught a short ferry across to Isla Quinchao with a bunch of locals.Once on Isla Quinchao, we drove to Curaco de Velez and wandered around admiring the colorful old, shingled buildings.I was holding my camera level. The house, and many others, were in various stages of falling over. If people have heard of Chiloe, it is generally because of the dozens of colorful wood churches that dot the archipelago, like this one.The churches are cool, but the best part of Chiloe is exploring the roads that aren't even on the maps. Four-wheel drive and ground clearance required. After finishing up on Isla Quinchao, we decided we had enough daylight, energy, and gasoline left to drive across Chiloe to the Parque Nacional Chiloe on the Pacific Ocean. It was partly cloudy on most of the archipelago during the day, but we thought (optimistically but incorrectly) that it might be sunny on the beach. After escaping the clutches of rush-hour traffic in Castro, we sailed along the Panamericana for a little while before turning off and driving along a lake shore practically until we hit the Pacific Ocean. The road transitioned from fresh pavement to old, potholed pavement to gravel and then ended on the beach, which was bathed afternoon sunshine. We drove for a little while on the hardest sand we could find.The sand became softer and softer, and as much fun as it was to drift around the beach and bounce over small dunes, we thought it wise to turn around since we were quite alone and did not want to get stuck in soft sand. We found another gravel road --this one marked "Tsunami Evacuation Route" -- and headed for the hills above the beach. The terrain was rougher but still not outside the capabilities of the Nissan Xtrail. You can see that it was still cloudy inland.Every five or ten minutes, we would round a corner or crest a rise and see the Pacific again.Eventually, we made it over the hills and the Xtrail nosed its way back down to the ocean.Foiled again by soft sand on the dunes and unwilling to get stuck (we were at the extreme north end of the park, well beyond the actual road), we retraced our steps and startled two pudús. Pudús are the world's smallest deer, and we saw a mother and her child as they leapt across the road in front of us. No photo, alas, but a memorable sighting.Just before we descended back to the beach again, we stopped to admire the stunning view south along the Pacific Coast.The landscapes were movingly beautiful.We drove out of the park and returned to the fork in the road that would lead us home, but decided to head for the sea cliffs you can see in the photo above. The afternoon was too beautiful, and we had just enough gas to keep exploring. We again left the map and found a dirt track that ran along the edge of the ocean -- good thing it appeared to be low tide!The dirt track turned into a real road once we climbed the side of the hill, and we found yet more stunning Chiloe landscapes.The road was magical. Every bend brought audible gasps from both of us.We headed for the bridge, past a family living in one of the most serene spots on Earth, crossed it, and turned back because of soft sand, fading light, and a low gas tank. You can see the family's compound if you click on this panorama.We made it back to the Rilan Peninsula in time to watch the sun sink across the fjord. Vivid colors filled the sky and landscape during the last fifteen minute of our drive.We walked past the fireplace straight to dinner. Carlos had been roasting rack of lamb for the past four hours, and he served it with a delicious hummus, coriander-infused pesto, and a delicious raspberry and pepper sauce. It was out-of-this world good, just like our second day on Chiloe. 

Chiloe will blow your mind

Chiloe landscape

Chiloe penguin beach

Chiloe penguins

Chiloe Penguin island

Chiloe birds

More Chiloe birds

And more Chiloe birds

More Chiloe penguins

Northwest coast of Chiloe

Not safe to ford that water crossing

Chiloe fence

Centro de Ocio Viento Suite Rooftop Deck View

We headed southwest from Puerto Varas to Pargua and drove straight onto a Cruz del Mar ferry to cross to Chiloe. A group of sea lions welcomed us to the harbor, and we disembarked and resumed our drive on the Panamericana to Ancud. While Beth asked the woman at the tourist information office how to get to the beach where we could take a boat to see penguins, a German motorcyclist named Frank pulled up and told me that his friend's bike had broken down about 15km away. Frank spoke, by his reckoning, ten words of Spanish, so Beth and I tried to help him get his friend's bike transported into a shop into town for repairs. After half an hour or so of discussion with two different mechanics, we sent Frank on his way in a lorry with a local who would pick up his friend's bike and bring it back to the shop. The drive from Ancud along the the coast to the penguin beach was spectacular. I hadn't expected Chiloe to have as many rolling hills, but the constant change in elevation made the landscapes and vistas absolutely stunning in the afternoon light.The houses, as in the Lakes District, were beautiful, colorful wooden structures with lovely details. The final stretch of road to the beach was particularly gorgeous. As with our drive around Lake Lllanquehue the previous day, we were running out of superlatives for the landscapes. When we arrived at the penguin beach, a lady with a radio met us  and directed us to the shallowest part of the creek crossing so we could drive onto the beach.We told her we wanted to take a boat to see the penguins, so she radioed her colleagues and set it up. We parked the car and were wheeled into the surf to board the boat. The whole operation was impressive and seamless, and the people running the concession seemed to be really happy. The boat tour itself was outstanding. We went to one of the closest islands first and saw a passle of penguins lounging on the rocks.We circuited a few more islands, saw more amazing wildlife, and generally enjoyed being on the Pacific in the afternoon sunshine. We returned to shore and retraced our steps to Ancud, stopping once on a hidden dirt road that headed towards a massive expanse of beach.Alas, a deep-looking inlet foiled our efforts to access it. The Nissan Xtrail has acceptable 4WD, but no snorkel.We paused to snap a few more photos.We rejoined the Panamericana and zipped south through more amazing Chiloe landscapes and turned off towards the Rilan Pensinsula to look for our hotel, the Centro de Ocio. We had read that it sits on a fjord across from the town of Castro. When we arrived, it was immediately apparent that we had arrived at a special a place. The people who greeted us made us feel immediately at home (the fireplace flickering behind us helped too), and they took us on a tour of our amazing lodgings. "Room" is a deeply inadequate word to describe where I am writing this, watching the twinkling lights of Castro burn across the fjord from our peaceful, bucolic perch. The woods and woodwork are spectacular. Dinner was wonderful, too. Carlos, the chef, came out and discussed the menu with us. We had salmon and hake ceviche, an avocado soup, steak with risotto and local spices, silverfish with cous cous, and some delicious fruit and tres leches for dessert. Everything was delicious.Chiloe has already blown our minds.

Relaxing and Exploring Arica

Arica is Chile's northernmost city, a legacy of the War of the Pacific. The town is perfectly situated along several nice stretches of beach, and the ocean is as warm here as it gets anywhere in the country. I decided to make Arica the first stop of my month-long exploration of this fabulous country because I needed to replenish my Vitamin D stocks after a few dark, dismal months in the Northern Hemisphere. Natalia, our local guide, and Daniel, our local driver, met us at the small airport after our flight from Santiago, via Iqique, on December 21 and drove us to the Hotel Arica, a faded piece of 1970s chic situated on the water between two beaches.After settling in, we went walked to town for dinner on a nice new path that the city completed in 2012, past local landmark El Morro. The colors of the stone in the low light were fantastic.After dinner at Los Aleros de 21 (friendly people, average food -- but outside of Santiago, Chile is not famous for its gastronomy), we wandered back through town, picking our way through the crowds doing their Christmas shopping and crashed. My room had a view of the pool area and ocean beyond, and there was a raging party until 3AM -- not that late by Chilean standards, but late enough to prevent me from denting my sleep deficit from the overnight flight to Santiago. There was also a small earthquake in the night, which is a common occurrence in Chile. I swapped rooms the next day to escape the nighttime pool parties and got a nice view upgrade as a result.In the morning, Natalia and Daniel picked us up and took us on an outstanding tour of Arica and its surroundings. The "city tour" far exceeded our expectations. We began south of town along the partially destroyed old coast road, where many locals go to party at night. The walk along the ocean was awesome. That white rock in the distance is covered in bird excrement, not snow.In addition to crumbling road, there were lots of markers of road accidents past (a common sight along the roads of South America).The cliffs were immense and made us feel very small, sandwiched as we were between the mountains and the ocean.We walked for about half an hour, passing through a few small caves along the way.Daniel drove us to the top of El Morro next, so we could admire the sweeping views of the city, ocean, and valleys behind. Here's a shot looking towards Hotel Arica and Playa El Laucho.And a view towards downtown, Playa Chinchorro, and Peru.Our next stop was Agro, the enormous farmers market at the edge of town packed with local vendors and produce. Since it never rains in Arica, the ceiling is made of woven grass. The bright sun shining though left magical little round light bubbles on the ground.It was really enchanting. Jen and Clark bought fresh olives here, and we all ate an empanada al pino (meat, onions, and olive). Our exploration continued into the Valle de Azapa, one of Northern Chile's premier agricultural regions. Plenty of sun and clever use of limited water. There were geoglyphs on the hills overlooking the fields.We headed to an excellent museum next to learn about the Chinchorro culture and to see some of their mummies, which are the oldest in the world. Natalia knows a ton about Chinchorro culture and the mummies. After a quick shopping trip, Daniel dropped us off back at our hotel.We walked into town around sunset, and the locals were still hanging out on Playa El Laucho.We admired the customs house and church, both designed by Gustav Eiffel. A local invited us into the customs house to check out a photography exhibition showcasing photos taken by local students. We took a few photos in colorful downtown Arica on the way uphill to dinner.We dined at 890, a delicious little cafe full of locals picking up the cakes they ordered for the traditional Christmas Eve feast.*All photos are copyright Peter Roady and may not be reproduced or reused without written permission*