The capital of Chiloe is a town called Castro, a place we had planned to stay for a few days but what with the wind and rain we decided on a day trip from Ancud. The guide books had originally sold this place as a ‘must see’ destination however we had started to read between the lines on the relentless positivity of the guide books for anything on Chiloe so we were more than pleased that the rain stopped the moment we arrived. When I say ‘stopped’, I mean ‘eased’ but we hurried to a nice cafe we had picked out for lunch. The cafe was in fact closed for lunch (something of a metaphor for Chiloe), but we found a replacement just as the heavens opened again. Castro is famous for 2 things. Firstly there are the world heritage churches and secondly there are the houses on stilts on the coastline. Very photogenic, these houses on stilts but it would appear that you need a boat to look at them. Our restaurant was in fact, on the coastline and on stilts and would have taken a great photo from a boat. Still we took the opportunity to have some ceviche (truly excellent) and some curanto. The waiter seemed surprised when we ordered 2 portions of curanto but it didn’t prompt him to let us know that 1 portion was enough for 2 people. More on this on the food and drink page. Suffice to say that curanto is something you tick off your bucket list (as opposed to enjoy). We did find 1 WH church and some other houses on stilts visible from dry land so this was a job well done. Back on the bus just as the rain started again so a pretty successful day.
