C..C..Castro

It's no wonder I'm having a hard time keeping track of all the places we've been. It seems all towns in Chile begin with the letter C! Chile Chico, Cochrane, Coyhaique, Chaiten, Chiloe Island, and now we're in Castro!

And it was quite the effort to get here! We got the truck off the boat at 1AM this morning (How can they honestly have been caught off guard by the tides??? They're known years in advance!!!) and then found a quiet road to park on and set up camp....18hours after we set out to catch the 4-hour ferry! Groan. "It's all part of the adventure" she says through gritted teeth!

We both slept really well which speaks to how comfortable the safari tent is. Our alarm clock, what eventually got us up, was the quiet sound of crunching gravel followed by a rattle on the ladder. I imagine it must have been like a spaceship landing overnight on these people's property! Naturally the owners were curious to who the heck we were and what we were doing. We got a minor scolding for not asking permission to park there (at 2AM?!) but Zach diffused the situation with a classic "lo siento" and his winning smile and all was well.

One of the reasons we were discouraged from coming to Chiloe Island was because it's rainy a lot. We got really lucky and so far today's been sunny. That has given us a really favourable impression of the island and the town of Castro.

Castro is famous for the palafitos, or wooden houses on stilts. They are quite photogenic when the sun is right.

Upon arrival in Castro we sought out a hotel and a laundromat. One of the most exciting parts of our day was dropping off 10kg of laundry to be cleaned and ready for tomorrow morning. How wonderful!

Chiloe Island is famous for wooden churches. It has something like 12-14 chilote-style churches which are protected by UNESCO. The Iglesia San Fransisco in Castro is stunning. Here's a photo from the outside and one from the inside:

The Plaza Ferial is the main market where they sell many crafts. Knit hats (toques!), sweaters and knit dresses were on offer all over the place and in many colours:

In the evening Zach and I 'logisticized' about the remaining 4 days of the trip. Time is running out. We still have 1200km to go before we need to be in Santiago on the 31st. We decided we wanted to see a volcano and a vineyard on our way up north. So many to choose from! Ha! I think we managed to split them up nicely and have got it sorted so that there's only one mammoth driving day, on the 30th. I have yet to drive so maybe I can take a shift then to help out a bit. I can't not take a turn driving after all!