Chiloéan history goes something like this: In the early 1600’s, the Jesuits arrived on the island to evangelize the indigenous Huilliche. To accomplish this in such an isolated locale, they established missions at various locations around the island, built churches at each one, and then left some unfortunate layperson there to administer to the flock. Each year, the priests would make a return to each mission. “Circular Mission” came to mean the particular way in which the Jesuits converted the population. Over time and around the missions, settlements grew. In the heyday, there were some 200 to 400 churches on the island, depending on which historical version you read.
In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America by Charles III, having apparently lost a power struggle within the Church. The exact cause of the explosion remains largely a mystery, but one theory holds that the Jesuits were closely associated with the Freemasons and opposed the Church’s power structure. Another is that the Church hierarchy was jealous of the educated, high-minded Jesuits. For whatever reason, the Jesuits were tossed out on their bums, and the Franciscans happily stepped in and took over the missions, rebuilding many of the churches in their worldview.
Today, about 60 of these wooden churches remain on Chiloé, 16 of which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The churches apparently represented a new form of religious architecture for the time. Many are in disrepair, but others are being restored with great care and historical accuracy.
We arrived in Ancud, a small city at the north end of Chiloé, on Friday afternoon and rented a car. Having made no prior rental car reservation, we miraculously found a kiosk in the middle of town with a Rental Car sign. After paying cash for the rental and leaving Kevin’s passport as a guarantee that we would return, we had a great lunch at a little local joint playing some Spanish-German Oom-pah music.
We actually think the car was the guy’s personal car. Those baby-shoe dangly things were hanging from the rear-view mirror and a “Baby on Board” bumper sticker. The right rear door wouldn’t open, nor would the back hatch. Every time you closed a door, either the driver’s window or the passenger’s window would roll down slightly. We never figured out how to reliably open the passenger-side door. It would refuse to open until we gave up locking and unlocking the door. When I was about to crawl through the driver’s side, it would just mysteriously open.
After lunch, we headed to Eco Adventures Cabañas, our home for the next two days. The dirt road out to the cabañas was rough enough to loosen your teeth. Turning into the driveway, I immediately had serious doubts and thought we had really screwed up for the first time. After the Navimag, I was hoping for something a little more upscale. It didn’t help that it was overcast and rainy, and I was suffering from a little intestinal “thing” I picked up while on the ferry. The place looked, well, a little too rustic.
Sunken Forests
When we stepped out of the car, Fernando and Alicia, our hosts, came out to greet us and brought us inside to a toasty, warm room looking out on the Chepu River wetlands and the amazing sunken forest of the Coluco Lagoon. In 1960, the earthquake that devastated the island caused the western side to drop by 20 feet. The forests flooded, and the trees began to die. Then there was a fire that destroyed what was left. This biblical devastation, though, resulted in an otherworldly and beautiful landscape. We settled into our lovely cabaña, and Alicia made a scrumptious dinner of smoked salmon, risotto, and a fresh spinach-and-tomato salad. We were enchanted.
Fernando and Alicia turned out to be some of the more interesting people we have met while traveling the world, and Eco Adventures was one of the more enticing places we have stayed. He is a large, barrel-chested man with the strength of a bull. She is tall and slender with a full head of beautiful, shoulder-length, wavy gray hair.
Probably 10 or more years older than we are, they left Santiago 8 years ago to live a carbon-free lifestyle. They bought the land, cleared it, and built most of the buildings themselves. They power almost everything with solar and wind and live off the grid. Everything they can, they buy local, and they are a major influence in the area, helping to foster an appreciation for the environment and the benefits of eco-tourism. Articulate and smart, they were wonderful company, and we sat for hours talking about everything. Fernando hinted at how difficult and dangerous life was under Pinochet, the brutal dictator who ruled from 1981 to 1990. (Maybe you remember the movie Missing, starring Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon.)
Fernando was never more than an arm’s reach from his computer. Every time a topic came up for which there was a question, he searched Google. Living so remotely, they are amazingly connected to the world. By the time we left two days later, we were full of affection for them. Rarely do you meet such dedicated people who work so hard at what they believe.
We spent a day driving to as many churches as we could, including a short car ferry ride across to a very small islet. The shoreline here is dotted with the ubiquitous salmon farms throughout the region. We had wanted to do a kayak trip down the lagoon the last morning, rising at pre-dawn to be on the river when the sun rose. Unfortunately, it was too rainy and windy, and we didn’t go. I think it will be something I regret for the rest of my life.
