View of the spectacular cliffs of Robinson Crusoe Island
I traveled for the first time to Island of Robinson Crusoe in December 2011. I didn't have time to prepare the trip; I didn't even know how many kilometers away the Juan Fernandez archipelago from the Chilean coast. However, only his name, Robinson Crusoe, motivated him to refresh what he remembered about the character in Defoe's novel, a castaway who survives 28 years on a lost island. A common reference in the collective imagination, Robinson Crusoe sounds like that: adventures.
The trip started without disappointing. Getting to Robinson, the main island, has its complications: there are only a couple of weekly flights, weather permitting, and they depart from the airfield in tobaba , in the neighborhood The Queen, Santiago. Missing the Madrid-Santiago flight and being forced to take an alternative route through half of South America did not make things any easier. I arrived by the hair but without a suitcase, perfect condition to undertake a trip to a place that they say "is conducive to undoing what has been done, retracing what has been walked and retalking what has been spoken".
Robinson Crusoe Island invites you to adventure
The commander and three other passengers, good friends in hindsight, were waiting. R Robinson Crusoe is the only inhabited island of the three that make up the archipelago that the Spanish Juan Fernández discovered in the 16th century while he searched for a new route between Peru Y Chili . The other two islands are Saint Clare Y Alexander Selkirk. In the latter, a small group of fishermen live temporarily during the lobster fishing season. The Juan Fernández lobster, an officially certified delicacy, is the main economic source for the 786 inhabitants of the island. Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor of the early eighteenth century whom his galleon, the Tinque Ports , which sank shortly after, left marooned on an island (Robinson's) from which he was not rescued until four years and four months later.
They say that for a long time after his return to civilized life he refused to wear shoes. It seems that his story, added to that of another shipwrecked man, a Spaniard who survived eight years on a sandbank in the Caribbean Sea, make up L_a vida e Incredible Adventures de Robinson Crusoe_, sailor from York, published in 1791, the best-known novel of Daniel Defoe , and one of the most successful best sellers in the history of literature. To confirm the suspicion, in 1966, the hitherto called island of Más a Tierra was renamed Robinson Crusoe, and Más Afuera, Alejandro Selkirk.
The island offers a captivating landscape
From the air, the archipelago is just three sharp points that emerge from the great oceanic plain, 4,000 meters deep. The runway borders the sea at both ends. I still remember the bellows of hundreds of sea lions welcoming us on the father bay . In reality they were two-hair fur seals from Juan Fernández. Here almost all species, animals or plants, bear the surname 'de Juan Fernández'. Here, all there is is a quirk of nature. The showy chonta palm, the gigantic pangue, the stripes of Mass outside , the Juan Fernández hummingbird... Due to its number of endemisms –137 registered species–, the archipelago, declared a national park and biosphere reserve, is known as ‘the temperate equivalent of the Galapagos'.
From the father bay you have to take a boat, a 'chalupa' from the high seas, to Saint John Baptist, only population of these islands. We skirt the coastal cliffs accompanied by dolphins, shearwaters and countless birds. In an hour we arrive at the cumberland bay , in whose shelter sits the town, founded in 1750. The hostel and restaurant the Mirador de Selkirk It is located on a steep slope that continues towards the mountain. “We weren't expecting you,” Doña Julita apologized, “but don't worry, my husband brought some lobsters yesterday. If it's okay with you, I'll grill them with a little cheese and serve you a very cold island beer”. Instantly recomposed I began to ask them about life on the island.
Hostel and restaurant Mirador de Selkirk
In the early hours of February 27, 2010, waves up to 15 meters they blurred the coast of Robinson Crusoe. The sea swallowed the houses, cars, hotels and the lives of 16 people, four of them children. A year and a half later, a military plane carrying a team from national television and another from the organization Levantemos Chile Challenge that were going to support reconstruction efforts on the island, crashed into the sea off its coast. Nature rules and man adapts, and today, as Doña Julita told me, there are 17 lodgings on the island and some more in the process of being rebuilt. Most of them are cabins or small rural hostels, simple but cozy. It is the fishermen's wives who manage them while they fish at sea.
There is also a higher category offer whose exponent is the Crusoe Island Lodge . Blending in with the surroundings, this lodge is the result of the careful work that the Chilean architect Mathias Klotz , known for his commitment to sustainability, made on the old hotel crusoe island . It has 15 rooms with good views, a diving center and a spa that help the traveler to connect with their emotions. The architect is now a partner in the hotel business together with the former owner, Michelangelo Trezza , an engineer who, after discovering the island, left everything to live on it. Some fishermen have already obtained their tourist license and go fishing with visitors. The experience is highly recommended, especially for the stew that is prepared over a slow fire on the high seas. Only with sea water and everything you have on hand: glass, lobsters, crabs, octopus, potatoes...
Diving with endemic sea lions
I toured the town and the most important points of the bay in a little over three hours. I went down to the pier, passed through the Plaza de Armas and continued along the coastal promenade. A short path starts from the lighthouse where you can still see the dresden bullets embedded in the rock. The Dresden was a German cruiser that during the World War I , being cornered by three English ships, she was dynamited by her captain in this bay. There she is still, sunk 65 meters deep. Long before that, in 1749, the Spanish built the fort santa barbara to prevent the islands from becoming a hideout for pirates and corsairs. Next to the fort, the Patriot's Cave s, today covered with ferns, served as a shelter for the 42 Chilean independence fighters exiled after the defeat of Rancagua from 1814.
Throughout history, these islands have been used as a prison seven times. Forced isolation, the worst of sentences. It is ensured that somewhere on the island the treasure of the navigator is hidden Juan Esteban Ubilla Y Echevarria . It would contain 800 barrels with gold coins, papal rings, the key to the wailing wall, the compass rose, and even the woman's necklace. Atahualpa . This is confirmed by popular stories and polls carried out in recent years by the billionaire and historian Bernard Keiser . The remaining three days were spent in a flash through trails that went into the jungle, climbed the cliffs and appeared in the desert.
I walked and went horseback riding, I observed the birds, the plants, the stars, I explored the coast in a kayak, I scuba dived among sea lions, I surfed... Surfers have just discovered the waves of Robinson Crusoe and, in a short time, surfing has become an important claim. His underwater depths were already so, a scene of unusual nature. With an ecosystem closely linked to the seas of the distant Polynesia , this is, together with the Easter Island , the best place in Chile to dive, and one of the most surprising in the world. Nine outdoor activities companies operate on the island. They are the bet of young entrepreneurs stubborn in making the traveler fall in love, like them, with this unique place.
Vegetation and forests in their purest state
They are part of a plan aimed at developing an exemplary model of sustainable tourism. Last year the island received 1,200 visits. "The idea is to double that figure in five years," he says. Marisol Castro , director of the project, “but not to grow more, this is a fragile territory”. His goal is for the income to revert to the local population "because now they stay in air transport." The night before my return flight, the plane company warned us that, due to sea conditions, the boat would not be able to set sail for the aerodrome, so we would have to postpone the return trip – beware, this situation is not exceptional, organize your return with a few days in advance–, or get to the aerodrome by other means. At 1:00 p.m., a small plane would take off with a load of lobsters.
Possessed by the spirit of Robinson, and wearing the same clothes as the first day, I convinced a guide who offers horseback riding to the other end of the island. It was still dark when we got on the horses. Almost six hours of walking awaited us. Dawn found us at the top of a peak and illuminated the viewpoints to which selkirk he looked out hoping to spot a ship. With a positive feeling of loneliness, I said goodbye to the island, and we began the descent path to arrive punctually at the departure of our plane. I returned to the island eleven months later. My visit coincided with a historical event for the rescue of memory.
Detail of one of the colorful flowers of the island.
Possessed by the spirit of Robinson, and wearing the same clothes as the first day, I convinced a guide who offers horseback riding to the other end of the island. It was still dark when we got on the horses. Almost six hours of walking awaited us. Dawn found us at the top of a peak and illuminated the viewpoints to which selkirk he looked out hoping to spot a ship. With a positive feeling of loneliness, I said goodbye to the island, and we began the descent path to arrive punctually at the departure of our plane. I returned to the island eleven months later. My visit coincided with a historical event for the rescue of memory.
In 1922, two islanders managed to row to Valparaiso after seven days of sailing in extreme conditions. Ninety years later, four intrepid people wanted to repeat the feat in an old salvaged whaling ship. Among the crew was the newly elected mayor, Philip Walls , the youngest in the country. Before leaving, he said: "In recent years, Robinson Island has seen tragedies, but the message we bring shows that we are up and we have a lot to deliver." A success story in the face of adversity.
Report published in the Condé Nast Traveler monograph 'Chile, infinite landscapes', number 73.
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Typical lobster from Juan Fernández