Geography
Chiloé is located at the south end of Chile, and it is part of the administrative Region of the Lakes, X Región. The island is only 180km long and 50km wide. This island is separated from the continent by the channel of Chacao, which is about 2 km wide. Most of the population centres in the cities of Ancud and Castro. Click on the map for a better view in a new browser window.
Getting There
Most people take one of the many buses from Puerto Montt. The buses run regularly and are reasonably priced. In December 2000 I paid about US$3 for a single ticket. From my diary:
'...it is almost Christmas and the rain has bleached all colour from this strange land...the bus ride to Castro is dreary, low clouds, green fields and stunted trees. The bus is rolled onto a ferry...I stand on deck freezing cold watching dolphins frolic over the port bow.'
Places to Eat
There are many little seafood restaurants dotted around Chiloé. The prices are generally on the reasonable to expensive side. Most travellers and backpackers I met were eating out of the local supermarkets which all sell huge empanadas, cheap wine and beer.
Accommodation
Like most places in Chile, accommodation is never a problem. Almost every other house offers rooms for rent, which in December 2000 cost about US$5 a night. Normally the locals meet all the buses which arrive to offer out their rooms. It is perfectly acceptable to agree to go and look at a room and then not take it.
An alternative to the bus station touts is just to wander the streets and look for signs which read 'hospedaje' - they will be difficult to miss. During a six week trip I Chile I used this method every day and not once did I stay in a bad place. From my diary:
'Christmas eve and we have just found a lovely place to stay a few blocks from the bus station (this was in Castro). The old lady who owns the house virtually dragged us in the door and before we could even explain that we wanted a room for a couple of nights she had poured us glasses of the local fire water. She would not hear of us not drinking an endless round of toasts with her on this special day and by the time we were allowed to look at the room I was feeling terribly light headed.'
Most of the local hosts also try their hand at breakfast:
'...the old lady has now gone to spend Christmas with her family and has left the keys to the house for us. As she walked out the door she called out that she had prepared a special Christmas day breakfast for us...the breakfast was certainly special in an experimental Chilean sort of way. A pile of smoked meat (origin unknown), some sachets of instant coffee, some fruit jam (type of fruit unknown), some warm bread and some cheesy looking things.'
About the Author
The author grew up a few houses away from where Charles Darwin wrote his famous Origin of Species and has followed in his famous neighbour's footsteps all over South America. He is a regular contributor to BootsnAll and has even been accused of serious journalism at times. When not halfway up a glacier cursing, he can be found in a snug Cambridge pub with a map of Africa and a worried looking girlfriend. He may be contacted at: nihon_news@yahoo.com
Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our South America Insiders page.
