Chiloé is a damp, green island off the coast of southern Chile, and its wooden churches are its soul. The Church of Dalcahue stands on the waterfront of a small town on the eastern side of the island, facing the inner sea and the islands of the archipelago, with a long arcaded porch along its front and a tall tower rising above. Built entirely of wood, with shingles cut from native trees, it is one of sixteen churches inscribed in 2000 as the Churches of Chiloé.
The churches reflect a meeting of cultures. Jesuit missionaries arrived in the seventeenth century and set up a circuit of missions around the islands, and later Franciscans continued the work. The local people, Indigenous Huilliche and mestizo islanders, built the churches using their skills as boat builders and carpenters, joining timbers with wooden pegs and covering walls in shingles. The result is a unique style, simple yet elegant, with vaulted ceilings that look like the inverted hull of a ship.
Dalcahue is famous for its Sunday market, where islanders sell woollen goods, wooden crafts, potatoes, seafood and baskets. The town also has palafitos, houses on stilts over the water, and a small ferry crosses to the island of Quinchao, where the church at Achao is one of the oldest in the group. Chiloé's cuisine is distinctive: curanto, a feast of shellfish, meat, potatoes and dumplings cooked in a pit with hot stones and covered with leaves, is the most famous dish, and there are many potato varieties grown only on the island.
Riding in Chiloé is not about speed. The main road, Ruta 5, runs down the island from the ferry at Chacao to Quellón in the south, while smaller roads lead to villages and churches, often unpaved and muddy. Rain is frequent all year, sometimes for days, and the wind can be strong. The landscape is lush and green, with rolling hills, forests and sea views. Summer, from December to February, is the driest season.
Dalcahue has fuel and basic services, and Castro, fifteen kilometres away, is the island's capital, with more shops, restaurants and accommodation. The ferry from the mainland at Pargua takes about half an hour. Bring good waterproofs.