Chiloe is a 30-minute ferry ride off the Chile mainland and the economy there is based entirely on salmon and mussel farming and tourism. We spent time in Chonchi, Ancud and the National Park. The coastline reminded us quite a bit of Maine.

Salmon farming operations are common up and down the hundreds of miles of Chiloe's coastline.

Hitchhiking around the island we got lucky and were offered a private boat tour of a mussel farm.

The mussels grow on two-foot vertical ropes attached to a horizontal rope 300-yards long and suspended by bouys. One ‘crop’ takes 14-months to grow. This farm had about 20 rows of mussels getting ready for a harvest 3 months later.

Another day we hitchhiked across the island to the Pacific coast where we camped on a farmer's land for a night. It was a dusty ride in the back of a pick-up.

We ended up camping with the guys who picked us up. Jorge lives in Santiago and Matt is a doctor from the US.

The view from our campsite on top of the dunes.