With the weather looking horrible for the next few days, we decided to go somewhere where it rained all the time anyway. Chiloé is an island just south of Puerto Montt, and is considered by many to be the beginning of the frontier lands of southern Chile. When the Spaniards first tried to establish colonies this far south, they encountered fierce resistance from the native Chilote people… in fact, they resisted integration with the rest of the country until 1960 when a devastating earthquake leveled the main island. Because of this, the islands and the people here are quite unique and different culturally from the rest of Chile.
The things that Chiloé are most known for (architecturally) center around distinctive wooden structures. Back in the day, the people of Chiloé exclusively used wood as a building material because 1) there were no rocks to build with on the island, and 2) there was an incredibly strong/dense native tree available called alerce (now protected from logging). Alerce is very durable and has the property of being watertight… a useful trait in the cold, wet environment here. Anyway, with no stone to build with, the structures here are pretty unique. Tejuelas (churches) here are as large as many stone cathedrals, but are built entirely of wood… right down to the wooden pegs that hold everything together (no nails). It’s pretty crazy that these things haven’t deteriorated and fallen apart. In the fishing villages and port towns such as Castro, homes are built right out over the water on a network of pillars and docks… with no part of the house built on land. These houses are called Palafitos, and are pretty photogenic even on a cloudy day. The tides here are pretty extreme, so depending on the time of day the piers under the houses could be dry or submerged by the sea. Both the churches and homes are weatherized by shingling the sides and roofs of the buildings with overlapping scales of alerce. Usually the shingles are cut into some sort of decorative pattern and painted vibrant colors to complete the maritime fish theme.
Click Here to see where Chiloé is on the map of Chile.
…and here are some photos from our stay:
http://www.picasaweb.com/richmosko/chiloe
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