Thrall of the ocean

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This was published 10 years ago

Thrall of the ocean

Fishermen ply their trade.

Fishermen ply their trade.Credit: Rachel Witham

After centuries of isolation, old ways endure on Chiloe Island, writes Ute Junker.

Chiloe Island is under attack. The enemy is moving stealthily, heading for the crescent-shaped bays and sheltered coves nibbled into the island's east coast.

Slowly, remorselessly, the island's defences - kelp-fringed rocks and green slopes - are attacked by the rising ocean, a battle that is no less gripping for being eminently predictable. The tide will continue surging upwards for the next six hours, to its maximum height of seven metres.

Old ways: a view of the rustic island, featuring the Catedral Iglesia de San Francisco.

Old ways: a view of the rustic island, featuring the Catedral Iglesia de San Francisco.Credit: Alamy

Then it will slowly ebb back, gradually along sand flats, before the cycle starts all over again.

On Chiloe, you spend a lot of time watching the ocean, because there's a lot of it out there. Just 60 kilometres wide in most places, and 190 kilometres long, Chiloe can only be considered large if you're comparing it with the other 40-odd smaller islands scattered throughout the Chiloe Archipelago. On these scraps of land off the southern coast of Chile, time moves at a slower pace than the mainland. There's no reason to hurry here: ask a local when they'll get something done and the answer will often be: "When the ocean comes back."

The ocean influences every part of life on Chiloe, not least what's dished up for dinner. As rain drizzles gently over a sheltered bay one afternoon, we watch fishermen hauling up fish, much of which will end up in the damp, salt-scented market hall in Castro.

A young girl in one of the distinctive shingled houses.

A young girl in one of the distinctive shingled houses.Credit: Alamy

With 30,000 inhabitants, Castro is the closest thing Chiloe has to a bustling metropolis - it even has a couple of sets of traffic lights. However, its market is resolutely old-school. Rugged-up stallholders sell their seafood: piles of fresh mussels and strings of smoked ones, high heaps of sharply ridged oyster shells, tidy rows of fish, square blocks of seaweed and neatly wrapped bundles of rubbery cochayuyo, or kelp, used to make soup that grandmothers love and that makes children shudder.

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The people of Chiloe don't limit themselves to seafood, however.

The islands' centuries of isolation have bred self-sufficiency. Wander through any of Chiloe's compact villages and you'll find every house has its own vegetable garden. More often than not, those gardens will also contain plump hens, a large hog or a thick-fleeced sheep. Here at the market, I find baskets of fresh hen's eggs that come in a range of delicate tints. Another stall offers potatoes in a variety of shapes and colours, including some startling long purple specimens.

Chilotes are proud of their potatoes. Several times during my stay I'm told the tale of how Charles Darwin believed potatoes came from Chiloe. I'm also repeatedly reassured that potatoes throughout the world contain traces of Chilote DNA. I'm more interested in the unique way Chilotes sell their potatoes. The spuds are piled high in a square wooden box called an almud. The almud is officially full when a potato placed on top rolls off.

The almud was once used throughout the world: originally Arabian, it spread through Spain, and was brought by the Spanish to Latin America. Today, however, the only place it lives on is in Chiloe. It's a fitting symbol for this sleepy archipelago, where it's a truth universally acknowledged that the old ways are the best ways.

Handwoven baskets remain more popular than plastic bags.

Neighbours still barter services instead of using pesos; shamans still dish out herbal remedies and in many of Chiloe's fishing villages, wooden palafites, or stilted houses, are still common. Often painted in pretty colours, these houses are made of handcrafted wooden shingles. Some houses are made with square shingles, others sharply pointed triangles or crenellated edges. The basic technique, however, is the same. The thick shingles are set so a third of each one overlaps its neighbour, giving extra insulation against the wet, chilly climate.

Traditionally, the favoured material for these shingles was the alerce tree, renowned for its ability to withstand humidity. Here on Chiloe, where the rain seems to hang permanently in the air, houses made of alerce, as long as they remain inhabited, simply don't rot. After many years, the shingles start to look scoured by the elements, at which point the shingles are simply turned over, the unexposed side giving the equivalent of a fresh coat of paint.

Houses aren't the only things made of wood in Chiloe. The island is known for its enchanting wooden churches: there are 16 of them, including the gorgeous San Francisco church in Castro, painted in a joyous combination of purple and yellow, and they have a World Heritage listing for their unique construction style, born of Chiloe's unique history.

These islands have never been densely inhabited, so when the Jesuit missionaries arrived in 1608 priests would spend a few days at each mission then move on, having left the locals with instructions to build themselves a church.

That task fell to the local boat builders, who were accustomed to working with wood. They built what they knew, using wooden pegs and joints instead of nails, and shaping the churches' interiors like an upside down boat's hull. They also built the churches facing the sea - always the highest power in the Chilote universe.

The locals' way with wood has reshaped the island's geography.

Looking at the soft grass that carpets the island's eastern flank, it's hard to believe this island was once completely covered in rainforest. Over the centuries, much of that was harvested as building material; so much, that the once-essential alerce tree is now protected. Locals are not allowed to harvest live trees but must wait until a tree dies before they can remove it and use its wood. Still, Chilotes are patient: in our time on the island, we pass several half-built boats, their owners waiting for the next alerce tree to fall.

The locals aren't the only ones who love alerce. The owners of the island's most luxurious accommodation, the five-star Refugia Lodge, elected to build it using a combination of cedar and alerce, knowing full well that would draw out the construction period.

The lodge was finally finished last year, after a three-year building period. The lodge brings a refreshing taste of modernity to the island. It's not a brutal shock of the new, however; while the striking angular shape is sharply contemporary, the cement pillars on which the building rests are a nod to the traditional palafites.

The 12 cosy rooms, each one blessed a picture window giving a stunning view over the Corcovado Gulf, have wooden interiors. In the public spaces, the wooden furniture and the tactile furnishings - sheepskin chairs, rugs and blankets, ornaments and even the wood light fixtures, reminiscent of giant sea urchins - were made by local craftspeople.

Life at Refugia is relaxed. A roster of excursions lets guests explore the area, with choices including horseback rides to a boat cruise to the fishing village of Mechuque to kayaking amid the quiet inlets, past fishermen hauling up mussels. Farther afield lie the rainforests of the western coast and the penguin colonies of the north. In season, whale watching is also a popular activity.

Whichever excursion you choose, you'll be delivered back to the lodge in time for meals, which are a highlight. The lodge's energetic chef, Pancho - who demonstrates his culinary dedication via a fetching asparagus tattoo on his arm - has a way with seafood, especially mussels and king crab.

The slow pace encourages relaxed conversations with the staff, who provide a local perspective on the island's peculiarities. Despite its remoteness, Chiloe has been influenced by centuries of visitors, from conquistadors and priests to pirates and seafarers. Their legacies blended to create colourful local traditions that still retain a hold. The witch trials that were once held here remain an uncomfortable topic - in more remote communities, neighbourhood "witches" are still powerful figures. Locals are happier to discuss other local myths, from phantom ships to malevolent forest dwellers.

Chilote youngsters, for instance, grew up hearing cautionary tales about the trauco, an evil dwarf that lurked in forest, clad in bark, and preyed on innocent girls. These mythical troublemakers did more than exert behavioural controls: they also provided a necessary failsafe on an island where small, isolated populations had no other way to deal with family feuds.

When trying to resolve transgressions, it's much easier to blame a forest-dwelling dwarf than your neighbour.

The writer travelled courtesy of LAN Airlines and Abercrombie & Kent.

FIVE CULINARY CLASSICS OF CHILOTE

CONGRIO

Conger, in English, is a type of eel. It's often served in a stew called caldillo de congrio, which Chilean poet Pablo Neruda loved so much, he dedicated an ode to it.

ERIZO

Sea urchin. Locals eat them fresh from the sea, scooping out the soft yellow insides with a spoon.

MILCAOS

A type of potato bread that can be baked, fried, steamed or soaked in honey.

CHANCHO AHUMADO

Smoked pork. Proof it's not all about seafood.

CURANTO

No special occasion is complete without it. Dig a pit. Heat some stones. Place in pit with shellfish, sausage, potatoes and more. Cover with leaves, and come back in several hours. Delish.

GETTING THERE

LAN Airlines has a fare to Castro Mocopulli (Chiloe Island airport) for $2620 low season return from Melbourne and Sydney including tax. From Sydney you fly via Auckland to Santiago (about 16hrs) and then on to Chiloe island via Puerto Montt (about 3hrs). Melbourne passengers pay about $100 more and fly to and from Auckland to connect; see lan.com.

Australians have to pay a repricocity fee of $US95 ($100) upon arrival. LAN also offers non-stop flights between Sydney and Santiago every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday in a codeshare partnership with Qantas.

TOURING THERE

Abercrombie & Kent specialises in tailor-made journeys throughout South America. In Chile, A&K's four day Chiloe Extension includes three nights at Hotel Refugia with transfers, guided activities, meals and drinks. Prices from $US1590 a person twin share.

Phone 1300 851 800 or see abercrombiekent.com.au.

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