Today’s stop is in the colorful town of Castro, on Chiloe’ Island, where we arrived in port at about 10:00 a.m. It is known for the brightly colored palafitos or stilt-houses that allow the water to flow under them during high tides and prevent flooding during storms.
We passed through the beautiful channel coming into Castro while having breakfast, where homes and businesses dotted the hillsides and shoreline to port,
and controversial Salmon farms lined the starboard side.
Castro is Chile’s third oldest city in continuous existence. It was founded in 1576 by Spaniards, looted several times by Dutch pirates, destroyed by an earthquake in 1837, made a comeback with a railroad, and hit again by the Valdivia, Chile earthquake (about 250 miles north) in 1960, recorded as a 9.5 and said to be the most powerful in recorded history. It caused a massive tsunami that traveled north and west across the Pacific Ocean at over 400 miles per hour and devastated coastal communities as far away as New Zealand, the Philippines, and Japan – over 10,000 miles away. Hilo, Hawaii was hit by a 35-foot wall of water 16 hours after the quake, but the tsunami warning system that had been established in 1948 predicted the time of arrival within one minute of accuracy. But I digress, back to Castro!
We decided to spend some time walking around town so took a tender to shore. (The boats below were on the other side of the tender pier – they are not the tenders!)
The streets from the waterfront up to the city center were steep, but we managed nicely and stopped along the way to poke into some cute shops. When we reached the Plaza de Armas or “Parade Ground”, which is the center of town, we passed through the lovely, well-kept park, down a sidewalk lined with lofty trees on either side whose branches joined above us to provide shelter from the sun – or what quickly changed to rain – and back again. We walked through the local artisan’s market and crossed the street to the tall yellow and purple Church of San Francisco.
The original church was built there when the city was begun, but it was burned down and rebuilt several times until this one was raised in 1910. Designed by an Italian architect, it is built in a Neo-Gothic and Classic style which is different from other churches in the area. It houses several images, including one of the Archangel Michael victorious over Satan.
While the church is built entirely of wood, it is covered externally and on the roof with galvanized iron. It was beautifully constructed by local craftsman with a master builder providing oversight – with no nails. Instead of iron nails, reinforced wooden joints were used to hold the building in place, using techniques historically practiced in the area’s ship building. The church withstood the 1960 earthquake. It is an active Catholic Church, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site that depends on a group of dedicated volunteers for its preservation.
The builders used native woods that they described as “red”, one of which is the Alerce Tree, also known as Patagonian Cypress, that grows only in Southern Chile and the Argentinian Andes. The tree was so highly prized that Alerce shingles were used as currency in the 18th and 19th centuries. But so much was cut, or destroyed by fire to clear land for settlers, that it was made illegal to cut in 1976. Many of the older houses in the region are covered in Alerce shingles. Because it is a type of Cypress, it is bug free and long lasting.
We sat for a while and just admired the workmanship and beauty.
Eventually we rambled back to the port and returned to the ship where we spent time enjoying the incredibly good weather on the balcony, watching the seagulls and cormorants diving in the water, and hoping to see more of the dolphins we spied on the way in – but they were a no-show.
On this ship there are two “specialty restaurants” at which you can pay an upcharge and make a reservation for dinner. One is a steak restaurant named The Pinnacle Grill, the other is Italian, Canaletto. We had a reservation for 6:00 p.m. at Canaletto, so were there enjoying dinner by the 9th deck windows when we left port. In addition to the warm Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic that was provided, we shared starters of Canaletto salad with goat cheese, and veal and sage meatballs. For the main course, Genny had grilled scampi with almond cream, baby spinach and roasted bell pepper with a side of pasta. I had Ossobuco on a bed of mascarpone saffron arborio risotto (I just drooled on the keyboard) with asparagus and roasted carrots.
For dessert, Genny had the chocolate hazelnut (translate that to Nutella!) tart and I had tiramisu, and we shared the trio of…Gelato!! There were three tiny sampler sized servings (see how I justified that?) one of malaga (rum raisin), one pistachio, and one bacio (chocolate hazelnut…where have I heard that before??) It was all beyond SUPERB!!!
It took us a while to recover from dinner, but we kept watch as we sailed through the channel to the Pacific, then slept well as we cruised north along the Chilean coast to our last port of call, Puerto Montt. The ever-present and oh-so-beautiful Albatrosses followed us out to sea.
One more port, then one more sea day, and we will head home. We talk a lot, with sincere gratitude, about the wonders of this voyage. Thank you for enjoying it with us, and your joy has returned to increase ours.