Chile and Patagonia 2016 – Castro, Chiloe Island

Date Explored: February 9th

Yi-yi, what an adventure! We set forth from Chepu Adventures EcoLodge to a completely mysterious B&B in the Ten Ten area of Castro, which is the major city on Chiloe Island. We were extremely lucky to find accommodation. Upon arriving at Castro, we took the very first opportunity to stop and gaze at the palafitos (houses on stilts) while the tide was in:

These were on our left as we drove into Castro with our horrible directions to the B&B. Our directions consisted of an address in “Ten Ten,” but we had no idea what “Ten Ten” was. Turned out it was an area on the outskirts of Castro, before you get to the palafitos.
Palafitos on the right, later when the tide was out. There are restaurants on stilts in Castro, even a gym on stilts! The architectural style has existed in Castro and other Chiloean cities since the late 19th century.

We had decided that we weren’t going to book ahead for our two-night stay in Castro. Instead, we would stumble upon whatever we found once we were there. That was before we discovered we were traveling at the height of Chilean travel season (for Chileans). On the advice of our host at Chepu Adventures, we went ahead and found a B&B on Booking.com the night before leaving, and, let me tell you, the Interweb pickings were slim. When we arrived in Castro, the traffic was crazy, it was hot, and the little hotels along the main drag looked hot and sweaty and noisy. Our B&B sounded fantastic…if only we could find it.

We stopped at a gas station to ask directions. The guys were pretty sure the gas station attendant said to head back out of town and take “the second right,” but for reasons unknown to SILly and Moi, the guys took the first right, “just to see” if they could find the B&B that way, you know, not trusting that they heard “the second right.” Hey, I wasn’t driving. I had to leave things in the capable hands of our resident experts.

We drove a lot of dusty gravel road. Finally, when we began to wonder if our B&B existed, my dh, who was in charge that day, noticed a Castro police car on the side of the road. So we stopped, and he attempted to communicate in his lousy Spanish (have I mentioned we neglected to bring our handy little Latin American Spanish guide on our trip?).

My poor dh! He couldn’t understand the police officers’ Spanish well enough, and they couldn’t speak or understand English at all. So he got the bright idea to take my iPad to the police, so they could look at the address. They understood immediately where it was and attempted to communicate the information, but alas, alack, amiss, it was not to be understood. These police officers would not let a little language barrier stop them from helping us! First, they called the B&B to ask questions and let them know they had their guests. Really, they were looking for a stolen car, but I think we were more interesting. Because next thing you know, they volunteered to escort us to the B&B!

The coppers turned on the lights and drove very, very quickly toward our destination, which consisted of several twists and turns on the dusty gravel road. BILly (a “professional driver”) kept up rather well. FINALLY, we arrived at our destination, which was a one-bedroom plus loft guest house, I guess, on a larger property.

If you’ve been following my Chilean adventures, you might remember that my husband brought two gifts from Canada to give to folks who he felt went above-board. One he gave to our wine tour guide around Santiago. The next he gave to the officer who helped us, and the officer was very happy. 🙂 🙂

Too bad, so sad, we found our destination but our hosts had not finished cleaning it for our arrival. No problem, we went back into town for lunch. We parked down at the water and found a place called Nueve Galicia. It was excellent. If you’re in Castro, you have to eat here! We sat at the very back, which meant we had a view of the cooks:

“BILly and me” eyeballing the cooks.
BILly had “Curanto,” a traditional southern Chile dish, which consisted of mussels and potato and dumpling-thingies and ham and pork and sausage and…you could go on!

After lunch, we visited the Church of San Francisco downtown, which is famous for being constructed entirely of wood on the interior (we would see another church like this the following day). Exterior:

The nice bright yellow begged us to enter!
Pictures can’t do the interior of the Chiloe wooden churches justice. It was just breathtaking.

Finally, remembering our directions from the kind police officers, we returned to The Loft at our B&B, and discovered, to our delight, that it was practically brand new. DH and I took the bedroom, and BILly and SILly took the loft. We shared the fashionable bathroom. Everything about the place was funky and fashionable. The Loft came with a little fridge and sink and stove, and also with a wood-fired hot tub that had never been used before. It took quite a while to get going, but eventually those of us who wished were able to enjoy a soak.

Trying to get the hot tub going!
Yes, I found it necessary to cackle loudly and pretend to be a witch preparing to stir her victims. Yours is not to ask why. Yours is to simply wonder...
Yes, I found it necessary to cackle loudly and pretend to be a witch preparing to stir her victims. Yours is not to ask why. Yours is to simply wonder…