We completed the 1100 mile sail from Punta Arenas to Castro located on Chiloe Island.

Castro is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was selected for the eight churches in town built entirely with wood - some even without nails. The large yellow church in the picture is the Church of San Francisco. Castro is also known for it colorful shore-side structures on stilts which are needed to accommodate the high tides in this bay. Castro has a population of around 50,000 and the island around 200,000. The island was the last major settlement to leave Spanish rule and join Chile (1826). Reachable only by ferry, the Chilean govt is considering building a bridge to connect with the mainland. However, island inhabitants are resisting as they are perfectly happy with their current lifestyle.

A great afternoon. Our excursion took us to Cucao Chiloe National Park, a Valdivian temperate rainforest, on the Pacific shore. The rainforest that had so much biodiversity in it, and we had a naturalist guide that very knowledgeable and had the language skills to explain things. We saw so much stuff on our hour trek through the park and on the journey to and from.

The island is a fascinating place. Rural people typically grow at least half of what the need and can sell or barter for the rest. Tides can be very high here, and locals frequently go down to the shore to harvest mollusks and seaweed for consumption. Some types of seaweed are also used for fertilizer. Potatoes are grown everywhere as well as apples. The apples are harvested the fall and are used to make a cider called chicha. Much of the west side of the island was destroyed in the 9.5 1960 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The topography was substantially changed in places.