Red Shoe Diary

Caleta Tortel has no roads; it is an old port town situated in an inlet protecting it from the worst storms of the Pacific, all 550 inhabitants surviving through fishing and these days, tourism from December to February. They have constructed their single storey wooden homes on the slopes of the hill and to get from house to house you have to follow the board walks, so its an up and down walk from one stilted wooden home to another and no streets as such, though one extended board walk follows the sea front. There is one telephone line in town, shared by all, and one health centre. The supermarket gets a delivery once a week and the bus service is such that once you arrive, you stay for a few days. Few houses have locks on their doors. The surrounding mountains are snow capped in summer and sitting at a viewpoint you can see half a dozen or so waterfalls cascading down the mountains.