Ancud is the northern door to Chiloé, an island of rain, mist and wooden churches off the coast of southern Chile. You reach it by ferry from the mainland, crossing the Chacao Channel from Pargua, and the first thing you notice on arrival is how soft everything is: low green hills, grey-shingled houses, boats on the water and clouds that seem to rest on the roofs. The town of about twenty-eight thousand people sits on a bay on the north coast and has the practical services of a port, including fuel, supermarkets, banks and restaurants.
History here is a little different from the rest of Chile. Chiloé was the last Spanish stronghold in the country, and the fort of San Antonio at Ancud, built in the late eighteenth century, was where the Spanish flag finally came down in 1826, years after the rest of Chile had won independence. The cannons still point out at the bay, and the hill above the fort offers a good view of the sea and the traffic of fishing boats. The island also has a distinct culture, with its own mythology of ghost ships, sea spirits and forest creatures, and a tradition of building in wood.
Those wooden churches, a number of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, are the island's great monument. Jesuit missionaries began building them in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and local carpenters, used to boat building, developed a style using native timber and shingles. Ancud has some of them close to the centre, and from here you can follow the coast road to small villages with their own simple chapels.
Riding on Chiloé is calm, green and damp. The roads wind along the coast and through low hills, with grazing sheep, small farms and stretches of road beside the water. The surface is mostly paved on the main route south toward Castro, but you will meet gravel on side roads, and rain is part of the deal in any season. Take a waterproof layer and expect fog. The weather changes fast, but it can also clear into sharp, bright afternoons that make the hills glow.
The local food is built around the sea: mussels, clams and the famous curanto, a stew of shellfish, meat and potatoes traditionally cooked in a pit with hot stones. Seek out a small place near the harbour and ask what is fresh.