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.
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