Chiloe

FLASHBACK:  Remembering three months ago...

I've been slow to write this post because there's so much to say about Chiloe.

Chiloe is a lovely, special island.

We took a short ferry ride over, and on the ferry we met a lamb!  Oh, teeny, tiny, wee, baby lambie!!  I got to hold him, and he was super cuddly.
We met the family who had just gone to buy this little lambie on the mainland, and we gave them a ride to their house on the island in Ancud.  In typical Chilean style they insisted we stay for tea and sweets at their home.  It's a wonderfully friendly, hospitable country. 
Here are some pictures of the darling baby lamb.

He's only three days old.  Yes, he's wearing a diaper. 




We then drove further into the island to the small city of Castro, a lovely historic town on a large bay in the center of the island.
Here is the beautiful cathedral in Castro.  (Ok, let me take another opportunity to apologize for being a crappy photographer.  Actually, Kurt probably took these pictures.  Maybe mine would have been worse!)


This is the great hostel where we stayed, Pallafito.

It is supported on poles out over the water, as is typical in this region. 


Here's the beautiful room where Kurt and I stayed.

 

It is decorated with traditional local handcrafts.  Above are some weavings.  The kitchen is equipped with hand made ceramics.  It seems Chiloe is just isolated enough to have a thriving, intact local economy.  Here people are as likely to have a horse as a car because they are about equally useful. People wear hand made clothes and lots of hand knits.   The markets are full of locally grown food and traditional local breads, pastries, preserves, and liquors.  I would like to spend a lot more time here! 

There's a little town not far from Castro that is reputed to have the best, biggest, most amazing market in the area.  I really, really wanted to go to the big Sunday market, but we were a day early.  Still, it was lovely to browse the little shops and arcades.

Wool!!

Look how excited I am!
Here's another shop, one of many more.
Here's a stand in the Artisans' arcade.  Wee baby booties -- so cute!
These slippers have a piece of lambskin as the sole with the wooly side inside to snuggle your toes. 
Lambies!

This weaver was very friendly.  He told us all about his work, some of which I understood.

He showed us his truck with his sheep in the back!  He figured out that sheep made me very excited.  I think maybe he just bought them or... I wish my Spanish was better.
I did understand that he lives on the next island across the channel, a very beautiful place with hills covered with sheep.  I figured out that the ferry to go there was That Way!  And Now!  There we go...


More to come soon. :)