Yesterday the return from Melinka was a bit more adventerous than expected. Due to the unexpectedly warm weather across Chile people started to mass exodus from the Central regions to the cooler south. The ferry from Quellon to Melinka was fully booked and the ferry on Tuesday night was fully sold out thus an alternative transport had to be found. The solution was arranged by Sr. Masilla in form of an ancient Cessna marked as Norton (!) which could be the pride of an airplane museum. Knowing  the plan was severely overloaded I could not really enjoy the magnificent views of the Chiloes.  I kept my eye on the altimeter and noticed that the pilot had to keep the nose a degree upwards to compensate altitude loss. Next to the natural beauties two things had to be mentioned about Chiloe. First the abundance of salmon farms. In the archipelago there is not a single bay or  channel not scattered by salmon farms. Only the west side of the island managed to preserve its pristine beauty. The high waves and strong off-shore currents of the open Pacific prevents any salmon farming there. One way it is nice that the people got a new source of income however the natural impact on the long term is difficult to estimate.  The other thing I found disturbing is the forest fires across the whole island. Seeing from above it seems the peasants set the the underfoliage on fire for one reason. The pilot was coursing them through the whole way.  If U still wanna see something of the old Chiloe rather book a flight soon!

Landing on the gravel of Castro was wholeheartedly welcome. On the airport Marco and Javier was waiting and we went to a a restaurant serving curanto which is a Chilote specialty made of different kinds of shells,  a big chunk of pork, half a chicken, small sausages and potato pans. It is fantastic dish, with a calory value somewhere in the five digit range. Seeing the empanada booths here, Castro will definitely not be a place to loose weight! 

The local hospedaje is just a block away from the main square, run by an old lady serving home made pastery and rolls in the morning. Rather stay here for one more than going back to the rather boring Puerto Montt.

Although I see more Mapuche people here than before in Temuco, I haven´t spotted any Nacion Mapuche signs or graffittis which are so common in Temuco.

Growing prosperity is obvious everywhere however the prices are still lower than in PM.