From Puerto Varas I took a day trip to Chiloé Island with a local guide, Ernesto. On the ferry to Isla Grande de Chiloé I saw seals in the water and in the distance I could just make out the Chaitén volcano that had exploded a couple of weeks earlier.

Once on Chiloé Island, we drove to the town of Ancud where we visited the San Antonio Fort - the last place that the Spanish held in South America - and the Regional Museum of Ancud in the main square. Ernesto told us about some of the local mythological characters, including the creature that is blamed for making young single women pregnant!

As well as introducing us to the culture of the island, Ernesto told us some interesting stories about his own life - he used to travel the world as a professional surfer and he has three children to three different women in different countries so now he spends his time travelling between them!

We took a boat trip around the bay at Castro to see the palafitos, colourful wooden houses along the shore built on stilts to deal with the rising and falling tides.

We went for lunch at Castro - I had the local specialty cancato - salmon baked with tomato and onion and cheese on top - it was good. Then we browsed the market nearby and visited the charmingly basic wooden church, Iglesia San Francisco (apparently the tallest wooden church in the world!) and also the church at Dalcahue, which had some interesting pictures on the walls that combined Catholic imagery with local mythology.

Overall, Chiloé seemed like a pretty slow-paced, sleepy place. At the end of the day everybody felt strangely tired (maybe the big lunches!) and slept most of the way back on the bus.