Less Than Impressed In Castro

Hi Everyone

Bare with me during this blogpost as the keyboard I am using is missing a few key elements, such as particular capital letters and the exclamation mark, which I tend to use quite often.  However, lucky for me, the last few days have been less than exciting.  I am trying not to be critical but just plain honest.  And honestly, Castro and the surrounding area in Chiloè have been less than impressive.

On Monday, we arrived in Castro, which is the capitol of Chiloè and after getting settled in our hostel, that is actually quite comfortable, Falco and I took a walk around the city in order to see the ¨sights,¨ of which there are few.  The big attraction in these parts is definitely the palofitos, which are houses on stilts near the water.  In the photos I had seen previously the houses look colorful and lively.  However, in person, they looked dirty.  Maybe it was because the water was not very high, which takes away some of the charm... Anyways, those were a little bit of a let-down.

On Tuesday, we decided to go where our tour books and fellow friends who had traveled to Chiloè told us to go - Dalcahue and Achao.  Dalcahue is a small town near Castro that was supposed to have a stellar market and is also the port city to go to Achao, which is on a nearby island.  Sadly, the market was less than stellar.  The attraction in Achao?  The oldest church of all the churches in Chiloè, which are famous for weathering all the earthquakes Chile has had in the past.  Impressively, this church was built in 1730 by the Jesuits.  While the fact that it is still standing may be impressive, the church itself is not.  Bummer.  ajor bummer.  Even though the sights were less than exciting, Falco and I did manage to have a good time and I even learned a few words in German.

That leads me to today, Wednesday.  Well, on our last full day in the area the only thing to do was go to the national park.  As you all may know, I am not too much of an outdoorsy type girl.  I would not declare myself a girly girl, I can get dirty and play in the mud, so to speak, but bugs really are not my thing and generally nature does not get me too excited, unless it`s something crazy, ya know?  So I am probably not the best person to judge this national park, but there was a beach, which was cool.  Nevertheless, Falco and I walked around for awhile and did the main tourist treks.  Then, we headed back to Castro and our hostel, where we made pizza for dinner.  Is it sad that that was probably the highlight of our day?  For the record, it was good pizza.

And tomorrow... well, tomorrow Falco and I part ways and we are once again ridin` solo. Needless to say, Falco and I have had a blast together, especially when we were a group of three with our English friend Amanda, whom we miss quite a bit.  At the crack of dawn, Falco takes off for a long bus ride to Bariloche, Argentina while I take a different route.  In fact, it is quite different from my original itinerary, according to which I, too, was supposed to go to Bariloche.  However, after talking to different people and doing a lot of thinking, I opted not to cross over to the Argentine side, but instead take a ferry, called the Navimag, from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales and then go to Punta Arenas, which is my final destination.  The ferry is quite large, holding more than 300 people, and the trip in total will last three nights and four days.  Although it was a little pricey, at least on a backpacker`s budget, it will definitely be worth it.  I will be able to sit back, relax, and let someone else take the wheel for awhile.  Plus, I will be able to see a part of Chile and of Patagonia that is only visible by ship.  Here is the website for those of you interested in a more in-depth itinerary - Navimag Itinerary

Oh, and that`s the map of my route.  Pretty cool, eh?  Well, that is the general update and now you have an idea of where I will be headed.  Sadly, this ship does not have internet, no surprise there, so I won`t be able to blog for the next five days or so, but that`s probably okay.  I bet you all are desperate for a break from my blogposts.  Haha.  Hope you all are doing well.  Stay tuned for more updates on my journey to the End of the World.

Un besito,

Ciao