The Romance of the Islands in Chile

There is such a strong pull to me from islands and deciding which island to visit in Chile was difficult. After all, you have Easter Island with its mysterious statues (how DID they get there?), you have the island where Robinson Crusoe was stranded, and among others you can visit the islands that are your stopping off point to Anarctica.
I chose the Islands of Chiloe halfway down the coast between Santiago and Anarctica, with its hundreds of smaller islands clustered around the central one, its isolation from the mainland, and its timelessness. There are no bridges, trains, or commercial airlines to get there. There is one ferry port just south of Peurto Montt that takes you to the main island.
At the Puerto Montt airport I rented a tiny Chevy and headed south on Route 5. Throughout the flight there I practiced with my home made flash cards of traffic signs -insurance to stay out of trouble. Just remember "pellegro" means danger.Most road signs were pictures and easy to interpret and the trip was a pleasure, especially with the luxury of stopping where ever I wanted to take pictures.Once off the ferry, you do step back in time. Route 5 is the one main highway that runs from the northern part of the island to the southern part, about 105 miles away. Roads branching off of 5 have a 50-50 chance of being dirt and gravel. Because of the lack of any other roads (or sidewalks) it is common to drive up on large families walking arm in arm in your lane, (creating lots of pellegro if you aren't attentive.
It is hard to book hotels on the island in advance because they are generally small family businesses with no internet connections, but I was lucky to find and book the Hotel Ancud, a 20 minutes from the ferry. It is a huge log structure on a peninsula with a 270 degree view of the water. The last picture in the blog was taken there, but without a special lens there is no way to capture the full view of the water with the snow capped mountains in the distance. Like many remote islands, Isle de Chiloe has protected its own special language and dialects, superstitions intwined with the Christianity brought by missionaries, and its own culture. It is a world unto itself. This also means that no one speaks English, there are very few service stations on the entire island, few people take credit cards, and I REALLY stood out as being "not from around here." It was a hoot.