Chiloé

Patagonia

Chiloé

A group of islands in the northern part of Patagonia, enclosing the Golfo de Ancud south of Puerto Montt.
Very rustic and all that. The islands are of a luxuriant green because it's supposed to rain all the time,
but we mostly had dusty roads instead.

About the most famous info-titbit of Chiloé is that they build houses on stilts. So, naturally, we save that for the last.
Take my hand and I'll get you there. Don't worry, I'll be very gentle with you.

You get there by taking a ferry. There's so much traffic, there are about seven running. Cheap and fast. From there on, you are in a place where pigs and steers roam, where kelp and seaweed is collected and dried. Most of the place is coast; all slightly older buildings are wooden.
The photographs take you from the north coast with its tides and boats, via the rustic interior and wind up in the main town, Castro.

[TITANIC: still no lifeboats]

always those churches and shrines

so peaceful

contented pigs

a lot of kelp and seaweed to harvest and dry

Jumpin' in the Woodpile:
Maybe only god can make a tree,
but we sure can cut it down and up to burn it.

Tides in these estuaries are incredible, to us from the Caribbean...

...which tends to explain all those houses on stilts

even down to doghouses

you never see them like this - photographers wait for the flood tide - much more romantic
truth be told, those mud flats stink

it's in all books, folders and what-have-you: this cathedral is built of wood
(then, they covered the façade with tin and made that look like stonework)

Another quaint characteristic: Many houses are shingled with alerce wood

Imagine you are living in a place of which they say "It always rains there."
Then, in mid-summer, it's Sunday afternoon after a splendidly sunny week-end.
Where do you go?
To the town square and have a jolly good time!

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