14/07/2001
 Chiloč Island - Chile
  S 42°51    W 73°36
  + 93

After a brief stop in the city of Punta Arenas, the Team leaves in search of oxygen.

The destination chosen by the virtual travelers is the magic island Chiloe. Vale has two friends there, who live close-by the village of Paintad.

We abandon our jeep at the Punta Arenas airport and get on a Chliean Adeco flight. Underneath us, the landscapes change from glaciers to green hills. Several hours later, we land in Puerto Montt.

As son as we arrive, Vale greets Marcos, her Chilean friend she met six months ago in Milan. The Team jumps into a pick-up van and heads off to the island immediately. We cross the Ancud Gulf on a small ferry. The sun is shining, and sea wolves fish salmon close-by.

Whilst driving, Marcos talks about the ecological problems in Chili, the after Pinochet, the relationship between the country and Argentina, but also about salmon fishing and the island's mortuary rituals.

We cross many carabineros, strict looking, stopping cars at their whim, always armed of the same brown sticks. The Pinochet regime ended in 1998, with the arrest of the General, but  the army and the police are still very omnipresent.

We head off to a healthier reality: a 10 km dirt track  surrounded by trees and hills leads us to a fjord.

Bienvenidos!

Marcos' wife Carmen welcomes us in her breathtaking wooden house at the edge of the water.

Click on the photo and follow us !

The Chiloe Island has a particular position: isolated from Chile, it has a unique geographical, historical and cultural specificity.

Discovered in 1553 by the Spanish conquistadors, it was colonized by the Jesuits, who built a great number of churches. After the Mapuche revolt in 1598 (the Chiloean Indians), the island lived in a great isolation. 

The Chiloeans have every strong traditions. They are both tranquil and easy-going, something we noticed as soon as we arrived on the island. Their culture is at the same time very catholic and traditional but their art is still evolving to this day, with interesting avant-garde and modern tendencies... that we really want to check out with you !

This place has no address but only geographic coordinates:

 S 42°51.147'    W 73°36.933'

You'll be able to find this place on any kind of map !

 

Legends and myths are omnipresent in the daily life of the island. Here are two examples:

The Chiloe Island is said to be born from the fight between 'Ten Ten Vilu', the great earth dragon, and 'Coi Coi Vilu', the sea dragon.

Abortion is illegal in Chile. The 'El Trauco' myth talks about a monster, that comes during the night to get young girls pregnant.

'El Trauco' helps to understand abortion, a social solution to a problem that couldn't be accepted otherwise.

In the next days, we will be interviewing several older people so as to discover other myths and legends.

We'll first read the voting results...and then we'll be put to work by Carmen and Marco... serious work ahead.

As we speak, a storm is heading towards us.

Sweet dreams,

The Team

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