Chiloe

I´m in an Internet Cafe in Chiloe right now. We arrived Saturday at about 2PM, the flight took about 2 hours from Santiago. Chiloe is down south so it was about 60 degrees out when we got off the plane and plenty rainy. It`s been raining on and off the last two days so I`ve gotten a lot of use out of my rain jacket. Even though it`s chilly and rainy I don`t mind the weather that much because it`s such a nice change from the weather in Santiago which is always the same, hot, dry, and sunny. It`s a lot cooler at night but our hostel is comftorable so it isn`t too bad.

Yesterday, we went on a tour of one of the smaller islands around Chiloe. We saw like eighty thousand churches. They`re all recognized by UNESCO as Patrimonio de Humanidad. They are all pretty much the same though. The natives had a special building process that gives them their unique shape and colors. After seeing the 60,000th church I've started to wonder if there is anything else to do on the island?

PS. They also grow a million and one types of potatoes here too...

More interesting was taking the ferry around the islands, walking around some of the smaller towns, and looking at the scenery. I liked today a lot, even though the van broke down at the end and we had to get it towed. We went around the big island and explored the national park which had a lot of interesting foliage.

Chiloe is an interesting place because it has a strong and very unique indigenous culture. The natives have a lot of interesting mythology, and they way they constructed their houses is interesting. They have very unique paneling on the houses, and odd shapes that give Chiloe an interesting feel. Even cooler are the houses on the water that are held up by poles.

The seafood is nice too. I had clams and oysters the other day.

It`s a nice place, cows and sheep wandering around, a bull even crossed the path of our van. However, I think it`s pretty miserable in the winter.