r
i
e
After a week in which a 5.6 earthquake struck smack dab in Osorno (I was in a car and didn't feel a thing somehow), I traveled to Chiloe, an island a five hour bus and a ferry away from my city. I was eager to check out the famous curanto dish, which combines clams with meat with potatoes with many other things and is cooked in a hole in the ground for many, many hours.
The method for cooking it goes something like this: First, extremely hot rocks are placed at the bottom of a pit in the earth. Shellfish is then added, then meat, then chicken, then sausage, potatoes, and some herbal leaf. As the shellfish cook, their shells naturally open, pouring out their juices and steaming the ingredients. I am getting all this out of my guidebook FYI, I couldn't remember the whole process so I took to the book I have held closest to me the past four months. Sound delicious or a bit primitive? If the latter, these pictures above should change your mind. Anyways, after a day or two (woah, didn't realize it was this long), you take it all out and serve it up with some cilantro. Or you can just have it oven-baked which I am pretty sure is how mine was prepared. Chilenos flojos (lazy). Also served with the curanto is the shellfish juice on the side. As not only the book tells me but several other volunteers, the shellfish juice is commonly referred to as 'Liquid Viagra'. It was good but can't exactly make a comparison...
Now as to how we got there to this island of myths and 19th century wooden churches. After taking a ferry across the Canal de Chacao, we sat in a bus for 2.5 hours passing through the island's countryside to the main city of Castro. When looking at pictures that describe Chiloe, normally the curanto ranks high on the list, but also among the regulars are houses called palafitos. Palafitos are timber houses that sit on stilts and we had the privilege to stay in one on Friday night! Overlooking a part of the Gulfo de Ancud, we had all the proper amenities and even an included breakfast where I met my first group of New Zealanders and first group of Spaniards while in Chile. Oh how different the spanish accents are. All this came after a night of singing karaoke with ten other volunteers. The top song of the night had to go to Kim and her performance to Pat Benetar's 'Heartbreaker'. The Chileans loved it.
Finally, we went to Conchi, a city further south where a volunteer, Laura, lives. I thought I had a good situation with my host family. This family has a tennis court, trampoline, and are currently building a swimming pool in their backyard! Later in Conchi, we drank beer on the beach as the sun went down, and then headed back to Castro for the night. While the time in Chiloe was short-lived (although I am going back next month), to experience the curanto, the palafitos, and see the beaches was a great weekend away from the classroom. Check back for more next week as I head to Lago Todos Los Santos for the long three day weekend. Backpacking and fishing, what more could one ask for!
Oh and the picture of the hot dog is a 30 centimeter completo nicknamed the 'Trauco Gigante'. Trauco are deformed and ugly trolls that dwell in the forests of Chiloe as the myth goes. They wear ragged clothes, carry a stone axe, and their breath apparently is irresistible to women. An ugly man with an impeccable breath. Sounds like Sayid from Lost after he found a tube of Crest. I promise I didn't make that business up. Only in Chiloe would an ugly troll-man have such fortunes.
