Chiloé is a green, rainy island off the coast of southern Chile, and its wooden churches are among the most remarkable buildings in South America. Jesuit missionaries began building them in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and after the Jesuits were expelled, local carpenters, used to building boats, carried on the work with larch, cypress and native timber, producing churches with shingled towers, porches and curved wooden ceilings like upturned hulls. UNESCO listed a group of sixteen of them in 2000, and the church on Caguach island is a famous one, linked to the pilgrimage of Jesús Nazareno that draws devotees each year at the end of August.
Caguach is a small island in the Quinchao group, reached by boat, and the church stands at the centre of a close, quiet community. A motorcycle will not take you there directly, so the realistic plan is to leave the bike on the main island, take a ferry or local boat as far as it goes, and walk the rest. Dalcahue, about thirty-five kilometres away on the mainland of Chiloé, has its own famous wooden church, a busy crafts market, and the harbour from which boats leave for the smaller islands.
Riding on Chiloé is a joy. The island is reached by a short ferry across the Chacao channel, and the main road, Route 5, runs south through rolling green country with sheep, small farms, and glimpses of fjords and bays. Side roads to Dalcahue and Castro are paved but narrow, with bends, short climbs and plenty of rain. The weather is changeable, with showers and wind in any season, so waterproofs are essential, and summer, from December to March, is the driest and most pleasant time. Mist across the water and the smell of woodsmoke give the island its particular atmosphere.
Dalcahue has fuel, small restaurants and shops, and you should fill up there or in Castro before heading anywhere remote. Try curanto, a traditional dish of shellfish, meat and potatoes cooked in a pit with hot stones, or a bowl of seafood stew, and buy knitted woollens at the market. Ferry timetables depend on tides and weather, so check locally and allow a buffer in your schedule, because the sea sets the pace here.