This route will show you the nature that the naturist Charles Darwin wondered when he visited the Lakes Huillinco, Cucao and the Pacific Ocean. This tour includes a visit to the city of Chonchi, known as “the city of three floors” because of its different slopes. Here you will visit the Museum of the Traditions, the Museum of the accordions and its beautiful seafront.
Later we will head to the lacustrine town of Huilinco, where you will visit a cemetery surrounded by Chiloé’s very characteristic small houses. Then we will head to the National Park Chiloé. Here you will visit the Visitors Center and join an attractive walk through “El Tamarugal” Route, where you can know the typical forest of Chiloé.
Finally, we will go to the shores of the Pacific Ocean to walk through the beach. During the afternoon we will return to Castro.
The “Soul´s Dock”, Kuy Kuy Tempilkawe, is a masterpiece of the visual artist “Chumono” (Marcelo Orellana R.), a tribute to the oral tradition of the Chilote peoples based on the legend that says, when the physical body dies, the soul goes to the dock to ask for place inside the boat of Tempilkawe, the rafter, who asks for beautiful “Llankas” (stones with pretty colors), in exchange for taking their souls inside his boat of white foam to the afterlife.
Located on the cliffs of Punta Pirulil, we will arrive to this place boarding the Lakes Huillinco and Cucao, near the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the South, until we reach the town of Rahue, where we will do hiking for about an hour and a half reaching the cliffs. In this sector we will see the great variety of flora and fauna, talk with the local people, who will tell us about the gold panning, the earthquake in the 60’s and the great variety of fossils that they have found. After a good break we will head to the National Park Chiloé, to travel through the El Tamarugal Route and according to the time, we will return to Castro visiting Chonchi Town.
This tour takes the guests around the religious, agricultural and cultural heritage of Chiloé, by going to the towns Dalcahue, Curaco de Veléz and Achao, to visit the World Heritage Churches of Dalcahue, Achao and Quinchao, small, but interesting museums, artisans and an attractive gastronomy. Along less common roads, the guests will get the chance to understand why the FAO has recognized Chiloé as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), work of several generations of farmers that developed ingenious technique for the use and preservation of natural resources.
An example is the plantation of over 200 kinds of native potatoes. Finally, and depending on the time of the year, stop on a few viewpoints on the road to appreciate some birds, both native and migratory, like the Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) and the attractive Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis)