1-23 Isla Robinson Crusoe, Chile

1-23 Day 18 Isla Robinson Crusoe, Chile

Stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific – that is the basis of Daniel Defoe's famous novel, Robinson Crusoe. Today we visited the island where Alexander Selkirk was truly left behind and lived on this island for four years and four months before he was rescued. And thus, the inspiration for Defoe's novel.

The Robinson Crusoe island is actually one of three islands that make up the Chilean Juan Fernandez archipelago. The mountainous terrain was formed from ancient lava flows, and severe erosion has resulted in the formation of steep valley and ridges. The islands have the distinction of being World Biosphere Reserves since 1977 because they contain endemic species of flora and fauna. There are only 500-600 people who now live on the island in the town of San Juan Bautista. They live mainlyh on their fishing and exporting of spiny lobster.

We had gone over with another couple, and after some initial walking around of the one main street, the men went back to the ship. But Lourie and I decided to climb up the hillside to see the caves. It was quite a steep path, but well worth it to see the view from that high up. When we were back down, we walked around some more and saw the little homes where the people of the island live. They mainly looked like the homes you'd find in mining towns. It was a fertile island with lots of green and beautiful flowers everywhere. The main street was partially paved (big rocks put together) and then it went back to just a dirt road. In spite of the primitive appearance, they had a huge satellite dish (most unusual -made of what looked like woven straw!) and an Internet station (very basic).

We met a young man (early 20s) who has been here for about 3 months and is serving as a Morman missionary. He has another month or so to go before he goes back to Santiago, Chile to finish his schooling. He said it was pretty boring after about the first 3 weeks and after you've hiked the island and seen all the fur sea lions, etc. He said that the Mormans have had missionaries on this island for the last 40 years.

Later, we met a man who had just returned from scuba diving with a group of islanders. Since they were all in wet suits, we figured the water was pretty chilly – even for being their summer. He has lived on the island for the last 11 years and makes his livelihood from teaching scuba diving. He did admit that they don't get many visitors, but they are hoping to gain greater popularity. He and his wife also run the youth hostel – one of the more interesting buildings on the island. That morning he had seen lots of tuna and sea lions. He is not allowed to gather any lobster – that is left to the fishermen only. He showed us their wooden crates that they use to keep the lobster alive until the ship comes to get them to export. A supply ship comes in once a month.

While it was a fun place to visit, I wouldn't want to spend more than an afternoon there! The “beach” area is a very generous term for that area. It would be fun to hike around the island although it would have been pretty difficult because of the steep terrain. So, it was fun to visit, buy some postcards from this island, meet some locals, and return to our ship after just a few hours!

Met Doug and had a late (3 p.m.) lunch back on board, and then just did some organizing of the cabin for a bit. It is amazing how two people can live in such a tiny space and yet not need much else. At 6 we went to the ship's theater to see the movie The Motorcyle Diaries. It was excellent, and we highly recommend it. It is about Che Guevara and his motorcycle journey across S. America in the early 1950s with his best friend, Alberto Granado. It was especially fun to see it now since it showed places we had just visited as well! It helped us to better understand how this journey inspired Che to become the leader of the Cuban revolution.