The weather had improved over night so we could explore the camping ground before leaving without getting wet. It was in a wonderful position right on a headland with fine views of the ocean. Like many camp grounds we have seen in Chile it was once an impressive facility and a substantial investment but over the last probably 10 years there has been little maintenance and now it looks run down.

We also spent a little time exploring Ancud. We were immediately struck by the broken sidewalks, holes in the road, and street markets (although given the weather patterns these markets were under cover). It was like stepping back north 4000 miles to somewhere in Ecuador; and while there were no traditional dress, the people looked different to those farther north in Chile - shorter and more stout.

Continuing south we took a good gravel road to Chepu on the western coast. The attraction is the confluence of three rivers, and some sunken forest (an earth quake caused the ground to sink over a large area and resulted in the forest being swamped by salt water). We met a couple of Australians traveling around in a Chilean registered little pickup.

A little further down the highway we took another side trip to Quemchi and then to Tenaun. This turned out to be a tour of wooden German style churches for which the Island of Chiloe is apparently famous, a number are world heritage listed. Quemchi is a little fishing village. When we got there the tide was out so the foreshore was occupied by an assortment of beached fishing vessels. The buildings were small, quaint, often shingled, and showing a European style that reminded us of a down market version of Poulsbo (a little fishing town near Gig Harbor for the Aussies). I must be getting home sick for the grey sky and sea smells of Gig Harbor as I really liked this little village.