Isla Llingua |
Isla Linlín |
Tenaun |
Osorno, 2660, 175 km |
Volcán Calbuco, 2004, 147 km |
Mechuque |
Tronador, 3554, 198 km |
Volcán Yate, 2187, 120 km |
Isla Quenac |
2103, 106 km |
Isla Caguach |
Iglesia de Caguach |
1881, 87 km |
Isla Apiao |
Volcán Michinmahuida, 2404, 87 km |
Isla Alao |
Chiloé is a very special corner of our planet, and cannot be fully explained in words. The inhabitants of this island are known for their extraordinary intelligence and manual ability. It was the Chilote sailors who colonized the southern Chilean Patagonia where - although separated from Chiloé by hundreds of kms and by two Hielos Patagonicos - you sometimes feel like in a separate branch of that island. This can be felt in particular at Puerto Natales, due also to the regular ship connection with Puerto Montt, and thus with the region gravitating around Chiloé.
The island is almost always shrouded in Pacific mists, which sometimes create very suggestive atmospheres. As every rule, however, also this one has an exception, and I did not experience bad weather in Chiloé, although not many days could be perfect like the one that I fixed here: a day which was greeted as absolutely special by the local people as well. That day I happened to be not on the main island, but on a little spin-off of its complex archipelagus. A little one, but also a very interesting one. Namely. among other things, Chiloé is known for its wooden churches, 16 of which have been promoted Unesco World Heritage in 2000. And this little island hosts two of the most important ones, Achao and Quinchao, but in sight you have also Tenaún, lying on the main island [14°] and Caguach [89°], lying instead on an even smaller and farther island. On August 30, boats from every port of Chiloé sail in direction Caguach for the Procesión de Jesús Nazareno. This is the holiest and most heartfelt yearly event in Chiloè. Second comes the Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Gracia, celebrated on December 08 in Quinchao - which, however far-away, is a bit more accessible than Caguach, and this is why the church of Quinchao is the biggest among all the churches of Chiloé. The vastness of the sight on the Andes, 60-200 km far away, gives me the occasion to recount a story that I find amazing - I call it Panamerican and, waiting to explain why, I just recall that Quellón, southernmost port of Chiloé (and the one where I landed on the island), is also the official end of the Panamerican highway beginning in Alaska... The story is one involving Jesuites: the first missionaries arrived in Chiloé at Chequián [160°], the extreme end of the Achao-Quinchao island. In 1670 one of the Chiloé missionaries, Nicolas Mascardi, crossed the Andes and founded a mission in the Nahuel Huapi region, the place where today lies Bariloche, in a region of lakes (Nahuel Huapi meaning "the island of the jaguar") dominated by the powerful Tronador, the "thundering mountain" [41°]. The mission became so known that in 1672 the viceroy of Peru sent to Mascardi, as a present, a wonderful wooden statue of the Virgin, carved in some little village at 4000 metres. The statue was then called - after the names of the local populations of Nahuel Huapi - Nuestra Señora de los Poyas y Puelches. But it were precisely some rebel Poyas who in 1674 attacked the mission and even killed Mascardi. Note that moving from Bariloche southwards along the Ruta 40, you find both a big Lago Mascardi and a Villa Mascardi. The tradition says that, in the imminence of the attack, the holy statue was transported away on a horse in direction Andes, but nobody was able to locate it afterwards. It was only in the first years of the XXI century that joint researches carried out in the Jesuitic archives of Rome, Chiloé and Argentina led to discovery that was amazing for the people of Bariloche: their disappeared statue lay now in the far-away church of Achao [310°], on a side islet of Chiloé, where it was worshipped as Nuestra Señora de Loreto. The faithful of Bariloche soon organized a pilgrimage to Achao, and on June 06, 2004, they accommodated in their huge cathedral a copy of the holy statue, realized by an artist of Chiloè. Here the story of the statue intersects mine... Namely, short after shooting this panorama, I arrived at Quinchao. I asked for the keys of the church, but only a certain grandmother was reported to keep them, and her relatives told me that I would find her only the next morning. That is why I moved on to the far end of Matao and Chequián. The next morning I was back in Quinchao, just to discover that the grandmother had somehow disappeared once more. She was reported to be somewhere on the long shore facing the church but, since meanwhile the weather had turned typically Chilote and drizzly, I was not willing the go on playing this long open-air comedy. After all, I was more interested in laying siege to the church of Achao, which I knew to keep the best wooden altar of Chiloé - not to speak of the holy statue carved in the Peruvian highlands. And, while coming, I had already found the church of Achao closed, with all my complaints at the nearby municipality being pointless. Namely, I was able to locate only the man which was responsible for the key-keeper, but not the key-keeper himself, who was God knows where. Unesco patronage does not seem to have big effect in those places, which are indeed very akin to our Mediterranean standards as for organization. Swiss and German people are advised to stay far away from Chiloé! This time, however, luck was with me in Achao. Namely, I was able to gain the complicity of a grandmother (arguably, not the one of Quinchao, who was then on the shore...) who showed me the hidden door used by the women cleaning the church. So, at the right time I was able to slide inside and, hiding behind the columns (there was also a strict ban of photography in the interior) I could collect, before being expulsed, some material such as goo.gl/U1fjqp although I was not able to get conveniently close to the holy statue. On the other hand, while waiting behind one column, I discovered a modern statue left as a present by an artist of Bariloche, Alberto Painetrú - you can also visit his site of religious art. What I did not know, at the time, was that less than 40 days later I would sit with Alberto in the cathedral of Bariloche goo.gl/xdZlwN for a cycle of evening prayer celebrating the ten years from the "return" of the statue (well, in the form of a copy) at Nahuel Huapi. You find plenty of information - I mean, it is easier to find out documents than to find the churches open. For the connection Chiloé - Bariloche, you can read es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misión_del_Nahuel_Huapi An official listing of the Unesco-patroned churches can be found in es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesias_de_Chiloé As an alternative, following the Unesco numbering I give you some links to photos of mine. If you like some particular church, just move around. Only, do not move around too much since the Chiloé albums are still in a chaotic and confusing state: 001. Achao: goo.gl/jJSnMK 002. Quinchao: goo.gl/EQXD0X 003. Castro: goo.gl/9vjGhC 004. Rilán: goo.gl/YyykIw 005. Nercón: goo.gl/EceJj1 009. Vilipulli: goo.gl/l27rWK 010. Chonchi: goo.gl/ZNhQm2 011. Tenaún: goo.gl/kOsJZu 012. Colo: goo.gl/8sjVDd 014. Dalcahue: in restoration Do not miss Vilipulli and that wonder of charme which is Tenaún, but I would propose to Unesco also another wonder, which however lies in the mainland, in front of Volcán Yate [46°] 017. Cochamó: goo.gl/xp56PP 20 HF, Canon G1X, 112 mm equiv, f/5.8, 1/500 sec This is the second time in my life that I go on an Aussichtsturm: the first time, on a certain Varusturm in the vicinity of Osnabrück, I did not feel particular panoramic emotions. The Alps were not in sight, and even less were the Apennines. Here, on the other hand, I felt almost necessary to shoot a wide panorama and, actually, I guess that this is a rare document for Chiloé. Fernsicht researchers are strongly recommended to look in full size at goo.gl/QFHiE0 where you clearly recognize features like the cone of the Osorno and the church of Caguach. |
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Comments
Now let me check whether the panorama meets a reasonable interest, unlike all the works that I tried to propose so far from the wonderful and unique Chiloé. Should this be the case, I would work out its documentation (no easy work).
Thanks to all those who spent time thinking!
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