My Spanish skills have a long way to go yet, but it is a wonderful feeling to listen to a member of the Huentemo community, standing on his own soil, and understand most of what he is telling me about his life here. The island of Chiloé is isolated from the rest of Chile not by its location, but by its culture. The population consists of a high proportion of indigenous people like Hugo who I met after walking several miles along the Pacific beaches to the community where he lives with his family in a modest house on the cliff top. He was eager to tell me how happy they are here.

The authorities are trying to bring tourism to Chiloé, but success is slow. You can see the attraction - beautiful countryside, long beaches, unique wooden churches held together with dowels not nails, and friendly people (albeit a little odd). But it does have a reputation for rain, wind and witches!

The city of Castro is the third oldest in Chile, and has been destroyed twice by fire and three times by earthquakes, the most recent being accompanied by a tsunami in 1960. Remarkably, it's the last place in the country where traditional wooden palafitos (houses on stilts) have survived. Maybe it´s the witches that save them, or one of the other creatures from Chilote mythology from which comes many a dark and gruesome tale that would put you off your curanto. A full moon is approaching, so maybe it's time to get out of here.