Dias de Pinguinos

Today we awoke to sunshine and a beautiful little city.   The town looks mich nicer without the haze of cloud and rain over it.   After our hotel's complimentary breakfast of cheese, ham, bread and eggs, we drove the twisty countryside roads out to a bay on the west coast of the island.   It was quite easy to find, just follow the signs that said "penguinos 22km" etc.  The countyrside was beautiful, the fields mixed with hedges and the rolling narrow roads reminded me a bit of England.   When we arrived at the bay, the pavement of the rad just ended at the sand of the beach.  We saw a few vehicles drovingthe sand so we followed suit, apparently this stretch of beach is also the road.   Our arrival there was about 9:30 and we discovered the first boat out to see the Penguins on the islets off shorw was at 11am, so we wandered the gorgeous sandy beach taking photos.    The little village, if you could even call it that, was pretty much all about either fishing or taking tourists to se the penguins, and must just be one of the most tranquil places I have ever seen.

  Since the beach is pretty much pure sand, they have no dock, so the boats get pulled into the water by a tractor, passengers are then boards by an elevated rolling cart which they drag out manually to the boat.

  Once on board, we headed out to the islets and within 5 minutes found ourselves watching a colony of about 40 penguins.  Damn, they are cuter in real life than on tv!   We also saw pelicans, cormorants, buzzards and some really fat but quite pretty seagulls.   On the next islet we saw even more penguins. Apparently this colony is quite an odd one, as it contains a mix of humbolt and Magellenic penguins.

On our way back to shore, an otter popped up next tp the boat, he had his lunch in his mouth, a giant crab.   He swam alongside the boat showing off his catch for about 5 minutes.  Overall, a pretty spectacular experience and one I would recommend anyone in the area go see.  We also lucked out a bit, as it was the perfect time of year to see the colony at it's fullest.

  Afterwards, we had an empanada for lunch at a restaurant on the beach, and then drove around the island for a few hours.   Chiloe is a wonderful island and I can see why Chilean's always refer to it as a must see.   I regret a little not coming here last time as well.  

   In the late afternoon we boards the ferry to leave.  On the ferry I met a couple from Minnesota.  He rides motorcycles and she is a native Chilean. They come back almost annually to visit her family.  During our conversation I mentioned how people in general seemed more friendly last year to us, and her explanation made sense.  She told me Chile is a somewhat Matriarchal society and that women are considered to be the capable ones that take care of everything.  Therefore, last year most peoplewould have seen us as three useless men that needed the help but this year when they see me they see Carolyn too, so they assume "he's fine, he has a woman to take care of him".    As ridiculous as it sounds, it appears to be correct.

   Off the ferry we headed north, for the most part, we are Santiago bound now for our return home.  We pulled into Los Lagos to find a campsite and saw a sign "camping 4km".   4 kms in Chile doesnt mean how far away something is.  Firstly, it appears the distance is always an optomistic estimate, and  secondly, it isnt the total distance but merely the distance to the next turn.   At 4kms we see a sign indicating to turn rigt and go 4 kms and after getting lost for a bit find another sign 4kms past the last telling us 4kms to the left.   After about 6kms down this gravel road we see another left turn and go about 1km more down a driveway.  Total distance was about 15kms.   We set up camp for the night, a fun day made all the better by the otter and the penguins.