Chiloé

Puerto Montt, at about the same latitude as Puerto Madryn in Argentina, marks the symbolic end of our journey in Patagonia. But it is the island of Chiloé nearby that we make it really say goodbye. At first glance, Chiloé, with its 350 days of rain per year, is not a tourist paradise. All open days of glorious sunshine we fake company quickly giving way to a depressing drizzle. Blue, yellow, pink or bright purple, the facades of houses can not forget a gray sky desperately. Even on the postcard of the island, the colorful Castro palafitos, houses on stilts, make a wry face. In the rain, the picturesque fades to reveal unsafe improved these shacks, which look good on their fragile wooden stakes.


So, one swallow does not, we run the churches. I must say that on an island as large as Corsica, there were about 150 ... including 16 classified as a World Heritage Site. Made entirely of wood alerce, without even a nail (which rusts quickly in this wet climate), they illustrate the history of this island so special. For here, in contrast to Tierra del Fuego, the Indians and settlers have joined forces to survive the isolation and climate. The Jesuits brought their faith, the Indians their expertise and their main resource, wood, to build these churches unique in perfect harmony with their environment. The Chilotes did not disavow their beliefs without flinching, in the words of a mythology still very much alive. They were able to accommodate the European presence as it has listened to the wisdom of India. This led the people chilote, a symbol of racial and cultural miscegenation successful.


The plight of Alakufs and Yamana still vivid in the memory, I see a little embarrassed to sign an Indian next to me in the church Achao. Yet, looking up beautifully carved on the vault, I can read all the skill and the dedication of its people. It is for this church and is part of its history.