castro - festival de cultura y biodiversidad

in Castro, Chiloe we were instantly greeted with beautiful skies and crystal clear water

the weekend we were in Castro a huge cultural and biodiversity festival was held. definitely the best time to be there because there was SO MUCH FOOD

the festival was at the very top of the hill behind all the identical red roof tops

the bus we took from our hostel to the top of the town for the festival

"in case of an emergency, break the glass" ..... with a hammer. super safe.

chanchos

making empanadas

empanada de manzana - delicioso

"curanto" is a traditional Chilote food prepared in a hole in the ground. the ingredients are shellfish, meat, potatoes, vegetables, and sometimes fish

making curanto is a pretty big event - there was a huge crowd around the arena watching and taking photos

 each layer of ingredients is covered with Chilean rhubarb leaves and then covered with wet sacks of dirt and grass which apparently creates the effect of a giant pressure cooker in which the food cooks for approximately one hour
 

just cooking some meat.

"chochoca" - practically potatoes and lard. Rapha ate a ton of this and we were all dying after we realized how much fat they put on it. definitely a delicious meal though.

on top of everything else i ate that day, i had empanadas de mariscos y empanadas de carne

¡CHICHA FRESCA! - moonshine apple liquor. hands down the best thing i've ever tasted.

all with our chicha y bolsas de empanadas

i really wish i bought some of those shoes

grinding mate

¡postres!

the day at the festival mostly consisted of eating, but i did buy a knit headband that i wore almost every day for the next two weeks.

on another note, i was very amazed at the endless rows of identical houses in this part of Castro. we were joking around saying "oh yeah, just drop me off at the brown one with the white roof!"

i failed at getting a good picture, but this building had a bright yellow slide that went straight into a chain link fence

when we returned to our hostel the tide was extremely low, apparently Chiloe has some of the most dramatic tidal swings in the world which is why the houses near the water have to be on stilts