pudu spirit

Ever since I visited the Seattle zoo´s exhibit on Chiloe Island last year, I began looking forward to visiting the real Chiloe and seeing pudu deers in the wild. Unfortunately I didn´t see a single one during my week on the island, even at the national park. But I knew they were there, along with Chilote foxes, hiding in the lovely vegetation of ferns and giant pangue leaves. I stayed at the most beautiful hostel in the world, the Palafito Hostel, which is right on the water in one of the few remaining palafito neighborhoods (where the wood houses are built on stilts above the water) in Castro. There I met many other travelers and spent the days seeing the island with new friends and delighting in the fresh seafood everywhere. I´ll have to catch up with the pudus at Woodland Park this summer.