March 10: Castro, Isla Chiloé

Today is the day of exploration. The Island of Chiloé is unique to Chile. The people who have inhabited this island have protected its traditions and culture since the early 1500s. They can still be seen plowing their fields by hand or fishing the shoreline with nets as their grandparents did before them. Time has stood still. The Chilotes' are a blend of the Mapuche Indian and the Spaniards.

The day is spent first at the local farmer's and fisherman's market to pick up supplies for a picnic in the Chiloé National Park, then on to the bay to see the "stilt homes" and the low tide. After an hours drive through the back countryside, a picnic lunch in the park seems like the perfect thing to do. One can get a real appetite from just sitting in a bus and watching the farmers work!!

A lunch of fresh produce from the market including fresh squeezed apple juice. cheese, avocado, tomato, bread, apples, bananas, grapes, and cake. Betsy's birthday is today, so we had to have dessert!

The exercise of the day is a hike through the park which seems so much like walking through Middle Earth from "Lord of the Rings". The trees of this area are Tepuel -- the hardest wood on earth. It is said that one small log of tepuel will burn at temperatures that can break a traditional Scandinavian furnace. The National Park was created in order to protect this tree from extinction. Originally the Chilean government when under dictatorial rule wanted to sell the wood to Japan. However, the people of Chiloé protested to such a degree that the federal government rethought the decision. Fortunately for the country and the tree, the land now is a national park. Also the land is the sole supply of materials for the Chilote for their needs. While exposed to the Spanish missionaries, they are still to this day more devoted to their medicine man and the traditions of the culture.