The Lonely Planet guidebook describes Chiloe as "an archipelago whose wild western woodlands are darker than the Black Forest and traversed by trails leading to secluded ocean beaches with rolling dunes." Followed by descriptives like "ideal for sea kayaking", "Chile's most diverse seafood", and "roadless wilderness." We were sold.
Chiloe started out easy enough. Our hostel in Castro - the "big" town in the middle of the island - was lovely and we picked up some fantastic clams and smoked salmon ($4 per kilo!) at the local farmer's market (which did have an amazing seafood selection). But when we asked our host about one of our destinations, Parque Tantauco, he was not optimistic: We would not make it up the park road in our rental car and the nearby town was not nice. Another American couple was also hoping to make it to Tantauco (probably reading the same guidebook) but were also stymied by transportation obstacles - apparently, you need a boat that only goes sporadically and only in good weather.
So that afternoon we decided instead to head to Chiloe National Park, where we found a small network of nature trails and a cafe. The walks were pleasant and there was a beautiful secluded beach, but we wanted more hiking. And so we asked (using Erin's passable Spanish) if there were longer trails. Yes, there was one - a four hour hike to a refugio on a beach, no reservations needed.
The next day, we packed up our camping gear (including our pieced together tent), bought food and headed back to the park. We kept driving, and driving, looking for the trail, until we realized we were on the trail. The trail was really a dirt road through a native settlement. Hmmm....With the bus loads of Chilean 20-somethings we kept passing, ominous skies, and a taped up tent, we decided to turn around and find a place to stay nearby. A good decision as it turned out because the ominous skies opened, raining torrents all night.
On our way back, we saw Jeroen, a friendly Norwegian we met on the Circuit. Jeroen was also stymied by Chiloe - it had beautiful wilderness, but how to explore it? He was considering heading to the north of the island for a "kayaking at dawn" excursion. We were thinking about doing that too (same guidebook?). He needed a ride and we had a car, so we got his email and planned to head to Chepu, Chile for kayaking.
The next day we turned off the island's main road and headed 13 kilometers down a dirt road to Chepu Adventures, an ecolodge/kayaking spot where you can stay the night in a dorm, get dinner and breakfast and go kayaking at 6am near the "sunken forest", a roughly 25 square-mile marshland created by the 1960 earthquake, which dropped the land by 2 meters.
This was the Chiloe we were looking for. Quiet, full of birds (parrots!) and wildlife (Jeroen saw a Pudu!), kayaking, and a hike to a penguin colony. Chepu Adventures is also completely off-grid, piquing Brook's environmental interests and, because you can continually monitor your water and energy use, satisfying Erin's love of data. We stayed an extra night.
But the next day we woke to driving rain and wind, so we packed up the car and headed north. As we left, our hosts gave us a warm goodbye, but with a hint of happiness that they had their little piece of Chiloe back to themselves. And maybe that's true for most of Chiloe - they want you go come and explore, but they don't want to give up the really good stuff too easily or else you might not leave.
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