Juan Fernández Islands

This is where almost all of the archipelago’s inhabitants live. It was built roughly where the shipwrecked sailor Alexander Selkirk spent his enforced leisure time. It has a few unpaved streets, a small museum-library, and a soccer field.

Here you can see gun shells embedded in the cliff side. These shells were fired by the British warships Glasgow and Kent at the German cruiser Dresden when it sought shelter here to undertake repairs in 1915, during World War I. The captain blew up the ship rather than surrender.

This hike from San Juan de Bautista follows Selkirk’s path to El Mirador de Selkirk, where everyday he scanned the horizon on both sides of the island. Start early, at about 08:00, to arrive before the mists roll in. The path runs through crops of introduced eucalyptus into higher forests of indigenous trees. It passes the remains of the Fuerte Santa Bárbara, a Spanish fort built in the 18th century to ward off pirates, and a turning leading to a rock with carvings on it from 1866 – sailor’s graffiti showing a ship and giant fish. The trail becomes a corridor through rainforest before revealing a knife-shaped peak. The saddle of the mountain is the only place from which to view both sides of the island: the green San Juan Bautista side to the east, and the dry brown terrain and jagged peaks on the northern side of the mountain. A plaque commemorating Selkirk’s ordeal was erected here by the crew of a British warship in the 19th century. There is a small memorial built by one of the mariner’s descendants from Largo in Scotland. On the return journey, call in at the Cuevas de los Patriotas (Caves of the Patriots), where 300 pro-Spanish soldiers fled in 1814 after Chile’s declaration of independence. Unlike Selkirk, they couldn’t stand the wind and rain in their huge but damp caves, so gave themselves up. Back on the shore, a number of other caves vie for the title of Selkirk’s home – although for most of the time the mariner lived in his own handmade huts.