Chiloe Island: Jan 10-13

Karen arrived in Puerto Montt at about midnight on Jan 9 and finally found her way to the hotel (after having the taxi driver try to take her to another hotel with a similar name). It was about time that she got a taste of what I had been doing for the last 4 months, so we were going to travel together by motorcycle for the rest of her trip. I left half of my gear at the hotel in Puerto Montt so that we could do this.




On Saturday we took the ferry to the town of Ancud on Chiloe Island, where we ensconced ourselves in a really nice cabin on the cliffs over the beach at Cabanas Eucalipto. It was nice to be able to do some cooking, relaxing, wine drinking, and walking on the beach.









That night was an exceptionally bright full moon, and the view was spectacular.

Sunday we went to see the penguin colony. Karen had worked as a volunteer penguin feeder at the aquarium in Niagara Falls when we lived in Toronto, so I figured this was right up her alley. Also, I figured that I would get to see penguins in southern Chile or Argentina, but this might be her only chance. The ride out included 17 km of dirt road, which Karen had never done on a motorcycle, but she hardly screamed at all! Good for you, kid. We then went by boat to view the Magallanes and Humbolt penguins on the nearby islands.























The next day we rode to Castro, the capital of Chiloe, for a great seafood lunch. Many of the houses here are built on stilts over the water, which reminded me of many of the ‘arcs’ along the waterfront when we used to live on the houseboat in Sausalito.