I’m sitting here in an adorable, trendy café in Ancud, a city at the northern tip of the island of Chiloe, looking up the territorial limit of Patagonia. There’s no actual definition but it seems that I’m currently right about there: Wikipedia tells me the northern limit of Chilean Patagonia is usually agreed to be the Reloncavi Estuary, which is about level with where I am. The map on Wikipedia doesn’t include Chiloe as part of Patagonia but let’s just fudge that and say that I’m still in Patagonia; today is my last day.

After Puyuhuapi I kept heading north, hitchhiking up to another little town called La Junta, then straight west to a very small, fairly isolated port town called Raul Marin Balmaceda. The drive out to Raul Marin Balmaceda runs along a river through a few farms and mostly untouched, densely green hills. It’s gorgeous. In Raul Marin I spent a couple of days relaxing, strolling along the many kilometers of sandy beach, and watching black and white dolphins play around right next to the pier. It was quiet and relaxing, and good to disconnect; the town only has one restaurant that has wifi, so I was left with my own largely mundane thoughts. Thinking is exhausting. From Raul Marin I caught a ferry across the water and up to Quellon, the southernmost city on the island of Chiloe. The ride was about 9 hours with one stop, in the small island fishing town of Melinka, which I absolutely adored the sight of. The view as the ferry pulls up is a jumble of brightly colored houses staggered up the hill that rises away from the port, old fishing boats bobbing in the harbor in the foreground. Looking around there is only water and the untouched islands that make up the rest of the archipelago. I’m not sure what the town itself is like but it makes for an absolutely stunning postcard.

Now I’ve spent the past few days here in Chiloe, and it’s been a downright metropolitan experience after the small towns I’ve come from. A quick search online tells me the population of Quellon is a little more than 20,000, and Castro and Ancud both have a little more than 40,000 inhabitants. Absolutely gigantic compared to where I’ve been. I unfortunately haven’t had time to explore and get to the national parks here since I’m working my way up to Santiago fairly quickly but I’ve strolled around and enjoyed the change of scenery. Colorful houses seem to be a theme out here, with all different shades of bright yellows, greens, pinks, blues, and more all thrown together. There is a beautiful yellow church with purple accents dominating the central square in Castro. Gardening also seems like a common activity – most houses have beautiful collections of rose bushes, bright orange flowers, gardenias, and lots of others. I’ve been stopped in my tracks on the sidewalk by the overpowering smell of roses more than once – absurdly corny but true. My understanding is that Chiloe is getting to be well known for its gastronomy and for sustainable practices related to it. I don’t know much about all that, but I know it’s an island so seafood is the way to go. Yesterday, in particular, I ate extraordinarily well. For lunch I went to Mar y Canela, a trendy little restaurant in a Palafito (old wooden houses built on stilts in the bay) in Castro. I had a dozen fresh oysters to start, and then an absolutely delicious piece of fish in a pesto and tomato sauce, topped with perfectly cooked octopus, and then with a plate of clams and crazy giant dinosaur mussels on the side, and a mini spinach omelet. It was a ton of food, and I surely suffered, but don’t worry people – I powered through and enjoyed every bite. Then, for dinner here in Ancud, I had a great local stout to drink alongside a delicious piece of trout in a hollandaise type sauce, with asparagus and corn on the side. Rough life…

So now, after a couple of good coffees and a salad, I’m going to stroll around here a little bit and then catch a bus up to Puerto Montt, where I’ll sit around, hopefully watch some soccer, grab some dinner, and then head to the bus station at 10pm to get on my overnight bus to Santiago. There are a few different classes of busses here in Chile so I plunked down the extra $4-5 for the one where the chairs are soft, wide, and lie almost all the way down, essentially converting into an actual bed. So I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep and to wake up refreshed and ready to go in Santiago tomorrow.

I’ve had a really good time down here in Patagonia. The landscapes and hiking are as spectacular as advertised, the people are friendly, and the towns are adorable. I’ve gotten to see all kinds of birds, foxes, dolphins, guanacos, and an impressive population of stray dogs with surprisingly clean and luscious fur. The food was fairly unimpressive for a while but there were a few delicious stews mixed in there and the recent seafood binge has been delightful. My usual unfriendly demeanor has kept me from making many friends but I have made a few, and I’ve had some nice casual conversations along the way as well. I’ve also gotten a wonderful dose of adorable grandma time – most of the lodging in the small towns is just rooms in people’s houses, and those people are usually adorable grandmas, so I’ve had some nice chats and been taken care of along the way. Just like anywhere there have been tradeoffs and I’ve had to miss out on tons of things I would have liked to do and places I would have liked to go, but I’ve gotten around and seen some great sights. I’d love to come back sometime to see more of the Argentinean side, go whale watching, hike more, and see what else the region has to offer. A change of pace now will be good though – I’m excited to get to the big city and see what Santiago has to offer, and then to take a travel break in New York with Liv for a little more than a week. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do after that when I return to Santiago and have decided it’s time to do some volunteering. There are tons of farms and hostels that want people to work there, which I might try, but ideally I’d like to do something that’s helping a little more. Teaching is the obvious thing that comes to mind, so I’ll be looking into that, but I’ve also seen some volunteer programs at wildlife centers that seem like they would be very cool. We’ll see what I find!

New roommate

Spot the dolphin

Spot the dolphin

Hard to see but there is a giant flock of pelicans in this picture

Just some guys with a carcass on the ferry

Melinka. So cute.

So many flowers!

Palafitos in Castro

Oysters!

It was soooooo good