Our next stop was a place that very few travelers ever see – Robinson Crusoe Island, a small mountainous island hundreds of miles off the Chilean coast (though still part of Chile). It's isolated, with about 500 hundred inhabitants who make a living primarily by trapping lobsters, which are sent to the mainland. Its chief claim to fame is that a sailor marooned on the island was the inspiration for DeFoe's fictionalized story "Robinson Crusoe" and "his man Friday".

Aside from this "draw", Isla Robinson Crusoe is also rich in unique flora (a UNESCO World Heritage Biological site). It's a lovely, sleepy place, that definitely moves at its own pace. If it were in California, it'd be overrun by backpackers exploring the unique wilderness – but out here, it's lucky if it gets 40 visitors a month during the summer. You can fly to it (there's an airline office in town, the building it's in is about 8' wide) – but from the airport it's another two hours to take the boat ride to the only town.

We got to the island in tender boats (about 50 at a time) and started wandering around the main street (photo at left). This was about 9:00am, there was nobody around. We think they were hiding. Soon, we spotted this sign:

Information The community, and especially tourist businesses, are informed ... the cruise ship Discovery <visits> between 8:00am and 1:00pm on February 17. Sales of souvenirs, artistanal items and local routes (guide services?) are recommended. (translation approximate...)

You'd think, "oh, everybody get ready for another cruise ship visiting another cruise ship port". But a) there's little more than a dock for canoes here, and b) the average number of visitors in summer months is... 40. Forty. We had five hundred in a 4 hour period. We'd hide too.

Despite the community "advice", there were no more than a handful of shops open; everybody went about their business as if no, the population hadn't instantly increased by 100% more or less instantly.

An hola or buenos dias was returned (sometimes even with a smile) but other than that, we seemed to bring no excitement whatsoever to the village. Kind of nice, actually.

The village area is covered with flowers – some purposely planted, most wild. A flower that looked like an amaryllis was growing everywhere wild everywhere, in big clumps of huge bulbs. Many of the homes are rather ramshackle, but, overgrown with flowers, are nonetheless quite lovely.

The inspiration for Robinson Crusoe was a sailor named Alexander Selkirk. After an argument with the ship's captain, he was left behind on the uninhabited island. He lived off feral goats whose ancestors had been left on the island by some previous ship. Another ship didn't stop by for four years. Unlike Crusoe, Selkirk (immortalized, left) didn't have a "Man Friday". The original name of the island, Juan Fernandez, was changed to Robinson Crusoe in the 60s/70s as a way to increase tourism to the island. In the 1700s, after a coup, some Chilean political prisoners were exiled onto this still-uninhabited island – they dug deep caves into the wall one of the hills, and lived miserably for four years until they were allowed home. Doesn't sound as they were as resourceful as Selkirk.

Cavegirl Kathy	Local Fisherman

Another claim to fame for this little speck of land is that the German ship Dresden was sunk here by the Allies in World War II. The Dresden had been successfully evading Allied ships looking for German ships by hiding out in the fjords of Chile (helped by some of the recent German immigrants). She was finally tracked down here and sunk. Bits and pieces of the ship can still be seen around town.

Much of the island is designated as a National Park, and there are some species living here that are found nowhere else in the world. All the people live in the little town; the rest of the island in uninhabited. Most visitors are coming to hike in these unique, untouched forests. They have eradicated the wild goats, and are strict about keeping free from invasive species.

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