As a part of the IES Abroad program, all students were given the option to join the semestral trip to Chiloe, an archipelago in the south of Chile. Almost all of the students choose to go, it’s an amazing opportunity to explore a place outside of Santiago with some amazing history, food, and people! The trip is 3 days long and falls on a weekend in order to not coincide with classes. This year, we went from August 28-30 (during a very rainy time). But despite getting rained on a few times, we had such an amazing experience!
On the first day, we flew into Puerto Montt (a port city) and then grabbed a ferry to the island: Chiloe. In the span of a few hours, we visited Fort San Antonio, grabbed lunch at “La Pica de la Corita”, and visited the Regional Museum of Ancud. Afterwards, we trudged through the rain to a baby island called “Isla Aucar”. At last, we drove an hour or two to our hostel to relax after such a long day!
On the second day, we ate breakfast at the hostel and then got the opportunity to visit a few artisanal markets in the municipality of Castro. Afterwards, we continued on a boat tour and got to see the beautiful colorful homes that make Chiloe stand out. We then took the bus to the home of Don Luis, who graciously hosted us for lunch and gave us a tour of the farm (and piece of forest) that he owns. We spent the entire afternoon there before driving to our final destination of the day: Cucao.
For our final day, we again ate breakfast at the hostel before packing up our things on the bus. Our only activity for the day was to trek the “Muelle de las Almas”, and it was definitely more intense than I’d anticipated. However, it was such a beautiful hike overall, and the ending made it all the more satisfactory! We finished off with lunch before driving another 2 hours to the airport and flying back to Santiago :)
Looking back on this trip, it’s unbelievable to see the amount of places we got to visit and experience in less than 3 days. I’m grateful that everything was organized by our IES Santiago center, I didn’t even have to worry about how I would get to the airport.
More Blogs From This Author
Hasta la Raíz: Missing Old Roots While Growing New Ones
I have been struggling with homesickness a lot lately, so I figured I'd write my feelings and share a few tips that have been helping me overcome them.
Natalia Torres
Hi! I'm Natalia, studying international relations at Boston University. I love trying new food, sidequests, and talking for hours. Although my writing journey started with letters to President Obama, I'm excited to step into blogging in Santiago.
