Quehui

A short hop to Quehui with fog and calms

We pass the Church on Chelin Island on the way and once we turn into Quehui we see a lone penguin on the beach

[Kyle]From Apiao, we made the short trip to Isla Quehui, which was a regular bustling metropolis by comparison. It had a busy harbor filled with fishing boats, a regular ferry, and an actual village with three mini-supermarkets (so, just markets) and a couple of hostels for kayakers. We took the road to the hamlet across the island, labeled Los Angeles on the map, just to see what was there.

Some beautiful homes and lots of flowers around the main harbor

Los Angeles seems to consist of three ranches, one of which advertised itself as also being a tienda, which was clearly shut. Since it was 6pm, Rush Hour could be discerned by the cow that had decided to get up from it's spot to go lie down with a different group of cows. It was pandemonium. {Maryanne: in hindsight we think our map must have been wrong and 'Los Angeles' is most likley the district that includes the area we first went ashore.. but hey - we were on an adventure and knowing exactly where we are isn't that important!}

Two boys on bikes (one wearing a Los Angeles baseball cap) and a little dog emerged from a house and turned to ride downhill. Their dog tried to keep up, but then gave up when they got too fast. We were thinking he was going to walk with us for a while, but then the boys rode out of view and he took off for fear of being left behind. He kicked up so much dust in his pursuit that it looked like there was a car speeding down the road.

Maryanne has started to really enjoy a spot of bird watching - is that an OWL?

At Quehui, we also met some other sailors. We have been thinking it was awfully strange that such a great area for sailing is practically devoid of other sailboats, especially in the height of the Summer season. The only explanation we can come up with is that maybe the Armada's restrictions make it not worth the trouble for most. In addition to the rules with which we have to comply, Chilean sailors basically have to sit for their Captain's licenses before they can go anywhere. Then their boats have to pass regular inspections for seaworthiness.

Quehui had the first other foreign sailboat we have seen, a British boat with whom we could not make contact (we tried several times). Later on, a Chilean boat came in. They called us on the radio and invited us over for drinks. They were Raul, Marisol and Loreto, a pathologist, his wife/boss and her sister the teacher, all on vacation. They were all great company and we all stayed up much later than any of us expected, swapping stories with each other. They even invited us to visit them at their house in Santiago when we are up that way.

Our new friends aboard ToteM leave in the rain