Chile Guide
Chiloé
The Museo Regional
Opening time: Jan– Feb Mon– Fri 10.30am–7.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–7.30pm; March– Dec Tues– Fri 10am–5.30pm, Sat & Sun, holidays 10am–2pm
Price: CH$600, children CH$300
Address: Entrance on Libertad, one block south of the Plaza de Armas
Perched above the seaside promenade is the Museo Regional (officially and more poetically known as the Museo Azul de las Islas de Chiloé), a fort-like building with a blue facade. Outside, on an untidy patio, you can inspect a traditional fogón, a type of hut introduced into Chiloé by the first Spanish missionaries three hundred years ago. A fire would burn in the middle of the floor, filling the roof space with smoke and curing the fish and potatoes hanging there. These were the staples of the Chilote diet, but during festivals pigs would be slaughtered and Chilotes would eat hams (jamones), smoked ribs (costillares), crackling (chicharrones), blood sausages (longanizas) and brawn (queso de cabeza). Whilst the slaughtered pigs were being processed, Chilotes would quench their thirst with large quantities of cider (chicha de manzana). Also on the patio are the hollowed-out tree trunk where apples were pulped with long sticks; the flexible woven baskets where the pulp was strained; and an old wooden corkscrew where it was pressed.
Inside the museum is an excellent, partly interactive exhibit, with explanations in Spanish only, covering various aspects of life in the archipelago, with an emphasis on domesticity and arts and crafts. Alongside beautiful photographs are fine examples of the traditional flat circular trays used for husking grain; the lightweight ones with a coarse weave for collecting shellfish; and distinctively fine-meshed liquid strainers. You'll also find sledges, a form of transport that evolved to deal with Chiloé's muddy tracks and small, steep fields.