Isla de Chiloé Island, Chile — Huellas de Suman Footprints

For the second consecutive year I organized a Spring Semester University of Miami course with a 10 day field component in Chiloé Island, Chile. Chiloé is one of South America´s largest islands and is located south of Puerto Montt in northern Patagonia. The course is "Tourism, Conservation, and Development/Fieldwork in Coastal Management", and participants are students from a mix of disciplines - law, environmental studies, and marine conservation policy/coastal management . Although we visit numerous sites during the visit, our base is Comarca Contuy, an agro-ecotourism hostel in Queilén south of Castro and Chonchi. Comarca Contuy is the dream of old friends Pablo and Marcela, "exiles" from Santiago searching for a more peaceful and meaningful life.

Everyone in the course researched his/her project before and during the stay in Chiloé. In addition, we organized numerous field trips around Chiloé - Chiloé National Park; Yadran Salmon Aquaculture Processing Plant in Quellón; St. Andrews Mussel Processing Plant in Chonchi; a cruise from Queilén around Tranqui Island to view dolphins, penguins, and other birds; visits to organic farms and historical churches in Queilen. Special activities organized by Pablo and Marcela at Comarca Contuy included processing wool to yarn, sheep shearing, forest management, potato harvesting, apple cider pressing, "curanto"/traditional Chilote asado, a talk about Williche cosmovision and medicinal plants, a presentation about the Valdivian forest ecosystem, and demonstrations of traditional fishing arts.