The end of the road

I did end up going out last night to see the town and take photos. I ran into some drunk Chilean girls along the way who asked me what time it was and started talking with me. After a few minutes, they slung their arms over each other's shoulders and walked away without saying goodbye. Fine by me. Then, a woman who I'd briefly seen at one of the hostels I didn't stay at came over and struck up a conversation. She spoke English to me but was from France. She said her Spanish was better than her English, though, so we spoke Spanish the rest of the night. We wandered around town together, chatting happily in Spanish, then found a cute little restaurant to eat dinner. I was parched but not hungry, so I sheepishly asked for glass after glass of water while I ate a cup of vegetable soup.

Day 3: I woke up today to pouring rain on the roof of the hostel. I'm on the top floor and the roof is corregated metal, so it was pretty intense. Between the lulling sound of rain, the warm bed, and not having any set plans for the day, I dozed in and out of sleep until after check out time. Well, I guess I'm staying another night! When I got up, the rain had mostly abated and I felt refreshed and ready to start the day. I bought a bus ticket to Chiloé's southern most city, Quellón. While I was waiting for the bus to leave, I crossed the street to the bakery and bought two empanadas. I realized later that the dude at the checkout counter gave me 100 pesos too few. I hate feeling taken advantage of, but I figure it's possible that he made a mistake, is really bad at math, or was overwhelmed by my striking beauty. Or, more likely, he takes advantage of all the gringos.

I also went to the cathedral, the largest church on the island of Chiloé. The exterior is sheet metal painted in pastel colors, which the guidebook says is ugly but I found unique and charming. Inside, it's 100% wood. The woodwork was amazing, maybe one of the prettiest churches I've ever seen. It still had a bunch of freaky statues of saints, Mary with baby Jesus, and bloody Jesuses. I don't dig those at all, which is why I rarely go in Latin American churches anymore. But the cathedral was so awesome that I almost forgot to look at the garrish, oversized dolls. I made friends with the caretaker and he led me to a panel in one of the columns that opened up so you could see inside. He told me about the different woods they used to construct the church, the dimensions of the columns, etc. He was so proud and I soaked up the insider's "tour".

So, on the bus ... The buses here stop all the time. There are stops with covered shelters and everything, but very few people actually get on or off at them. Instead, we stop every few houses to pick up and drop off people. I thought it was amazing, but the Chilotes are apparently accustomed to the door-to-door service. The few times that the bus passed the exact mud puddle where they wanted off, they raised a big stink, griping about how they were going to have to walk back ... all of like three houses.

We eventually got to Quellón and I wandered around aimlessly, taking photos of small fishing boats, and generally freezing my butt off. It did not feel like summer down there! I found a restaurant listed in the Lonely Planet and ate there. The waitress was decidedly unhelpful, so I picked the conger eel baked in butter (oh, baby!) with a side salad. And, of course, tap water. Chileans will never get used to this, I think. The eel was delicious but overpriced and I left a dinky tip.

I looked again (had tried during my earlier wanderings) for the museum of Chilote technology, but didn't see it this time either. I sat down on the steps of some doctor's office to look up the address for the fifth time. Just then, a large truck pulled out of it's parallel parking spot and AHA, it had been hiding the museum! Clearly, not the Louvre here, people. Best as I could tell, there was no one manning the museum, so I started looking at the outside exhibits. That's all there was. It was limited, but cool and free. Then, I headed out for the end of the road.

Quellón is the end point of the Panamerican highway, known in the States as I-5, which starts up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and crosses through ten countries. The guy at the hardware store said it was about 3 km, an easy walk. An hour later, I was still walking. This keeps happening to me. Anyhow, I finally came to the end of the road -- literally, it was unpaved. The terminus didn't have the fanfare I was hoping for considering that I was at the end (or the beginning, if you're Chilean) of the world's longest highway. It was still pretty cool to think that I was on the same road that runs near my parents' house in Seattle. Also pretty cool was the bus that took me back into town. It was really old, had a blown-up photo of the driver's baby by the windshield, and moss growing in the window panes.

I've been back in the hospedaje for a few hours now, enjoying the warmth radiating from the fireplace, the Christmas tree in the corner (once it stopped playing annoying, digitized carols), and the chatter of two Chilean girls who are trying to fill out an application of some sort. I'm dry, tired, happy, and wondering what tomorrow will bring.