Back on the ship, we spend a lazy afternoon as the ship quietly drifts past the glacier's face, taking pictures, waiting for another iceberg to calve and the gulls to squawk and fly away. T he ship turns back north toward Puerto Montt, stopping for a day at the eastern edge of the Fjord Quitralco, where the cruise company has indoor swimming pools, hot springs, and a sauna. While some shipmates line-up to use the public telephone, the rest of us stroll around town or shop for handicrafts at the wooden house built on stills above the water, called a palafito. It's dark, raining, and late when we arrive. But thrilled to be on land again, we trek up the steep street from the dock to reach the square.
Few people are out, but bright light streams out of one side-street storefront.
It's a computer store, and half a dozen young men sit and stoop over flickering computer screens. I n the morning, we get a better look at the city with its waterfront market and orange cathedral. I ask our driver about Chiloe's famous male witches, but his answer is too complicated for my high-school Spanish. And I had complained about headsets. Season from August to April.