Ferries and more ferries

From Puerto Varas, we headed further south and a little to the west to Pargua, where we got the ferry to the island of Chiloé. The beautiful island of Chiloé is 250km long and 50km wide, it's small rolling hills and rugged coastline quite remind me of Ireland.

For lunch we stopped in Ancud for a fantastic lunch of 'curantos', a local seafood platter. Once we had digested sufficiently to be able to stand up, we continued on down the coast to Castro, the capital of the small island. It's a pretty little fishing town with a beautiful wooden Cathedral on the main square, where myself and Oisin went to mass in the evening. One of my first masses, definately my first in Spanish, but really enjoyed it. It was lovely to get the space to think, pray and worship, and the people were so welcoming.



We stayed in a lovely family guesthouse in Castro. At 4 am, I was woken by the sound of sirens and looked out my window to see the house accross the road in flames. There were 3 fire engines and a couple of police cars arriving, and firemen seemed to be rushing from everywhere, jumping out of cars and hurriedly dressing. Within the hour the blaze was under control. I guess in a town where all the buildings are made of wood, you need to have a good fire brigade. And fortunately, the residents were away on holidays when the fire happened, so no one was hurt.



After a somewhat sleepless night, we headed further south and west to the tiny hamlet of Cucao, one of two settlements on the west coast of Chiloé. Here I had my first swim in the pacific, and after, a well earned lunch, before making the long trip back to the mainland.





Last night we arrived in Puerto Montt, and this morning we checked in for our 4 day ferry to Puerto Natales (you'll see where is it here, as usual). Had a few hours to gather supplies and do a bit of blogging before we head off, which is rapidly getting shorter, so I'd better run. Next time, it'll be news from pretty much the end of the world! Asta la huego!