Ancud

We arrived to Chiloe Island via Ruta 5 with a quick car ferry across the chacao channel.

We initially explored a overcast and gloomy Ancud before driving west in search of a wild camping spot at Mar Brava. We got so lucky here, initially spotting lots of dolphins and a sealion which encouraged us to walk further down the beach where we were able to see a humpback whale from a rocky look out. We met Andrés, a local from Ancud who caught the footage on his drone and shared it with us on his instagram.

The next morning we woke up to a beach full of wandering cows and horses. We drove on to puñihuil where we were able to jump on a small tour boat to see Humboldt and Magellanic penguins on the nearby rocky islets.

We then headed along some back roads to Chepu where we stayed at la Maison bleu campsite owned by a lovely French Chilean family. Their little girls loved exploring inside the van. We also met their American workaway volunteers Willow and Mike.

The next morning we set our alarm for 5:50am and met Miguel at chepu pier to rent a kayak for sunrise. The weather was perfect and we had the river to ourselves to explore the sunken forest. This eery scenery was caused by an earthquake in 1960 where vast tracks of forest became submerged and the rivers became inundated with salt water killing the trees.

After a cup of tea, we headed on to Linao in search for a rodeo that Sarah found on a Chilean rodeo association website. At first the rodeo was nowhere to be found so we stopped at the local shop owned by a man from Santiago who spoke perfect english and sent us on the way!

The rodeo turned out to be on a private farm and we enjoyed watching the competition as the only tourists there although we were very confused by the judicating and points system. Joe met one of the competitiors when he needed help with translation while buying empanadas who kindly explained the rules.

Later on, the man's wife Mane came and introduced herself and her daughter Trinny and nephew Alfoso and invited us into the family farm to see the horses and river as well as later introducing us to her parents who owned the rodeo ring and farm. They were delighted to have some tourists visit to see their national sport and gave us a leaving gift of a rodeo book! Following Manes tips we went on to visit the local beach and arrived to Dalcahue tired, staying the night at Entre Rios campsite.

We picked up our first hitchhikers, a local mom and her baby, on the way into town the next day. We were lucky to be in Dalcahue on a Sunday to explore the weekly tourist market and also got the chance to try curanto, a local cuisine as well as see their UNESCO world heritage church.

We then drove on to Castro, the islands capital to look at traditional plafitos ( houses on stilts) and another UNESCO world heritage church. Heading back north, we finished up the evening with a charcuterie board and wine overlooking sunset at condor beach.

Recommendations:
Sunrise kayak to see the sunken forest in Chepu
La Maison blue campsite
Feria Artesanal Dalcahue
Cocineria Dalcahue- try curanto at stall 7 Carlitas
Lemon pie at kunge restobar in Castro
Wild camp spots at Condor Beach and Mar Brava
Cucao to Cole Cole beach trek 2 days (we didn't have time to do this)

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