Punta Arenas

After what turned out to be quite a long and fairly tiring road trip, a hot dinner was welcome.  Lots of fresh scallops, large portions of poached salmon, veggies and a Chilean sauvignon blanc definitely hit the spot.  The presented bill was for 55,000 pesos.  I can’t recall ever seeing such a big number on a food bill before, it even overflowed the box intended to show the total.  Happily that number of pesos amounted to 82 US dollars.  Panic over.

 

A good night’s kip and the first lazy start to the day was most welcome.  An equally lazy breakfast, a stroll around the city centre, coffee in a lovely little café and our batteries were recharged, ready for tomorrow.

Punta Arenas is the capital city of Chile’s southernmost region with a population a little in excess of 160,000.  The name means Sandy Point, and yes there is sand although it’s a dull grey colour, rather than the gleaming white shown on postcards of exotic locations.  The city is noted for its strong winds that can reach 130 km/h [81 mph].  It’s also affected directly by the by the thinning ozone layer with permanent residents considered to be exposed to damaging levels of ultra-violet radiation.  Better keep my hat on then.

There’s interesting contrast between the two extremes of buildings.  At the top end, mansions of the very wealthy are opulent and beautifully built in brick, although where they found the skills to create such places remains a mystery.  At the other end, many of the cottages are simple wooden structures with brightly coloured corrugated iron roofs and walls covered with sheets of metal.  We had significant doubts about the insulative qualities of some of these places.  The contrast between the super-wealthy, grown rich on cattle raising and mining, and the average poor was extreme to say the least.

  

 The Museo Victoria is a yard on the seafront with full size replicas of several ships and boats.  Ferdinand Magellan’s ship, the Victoria, was the first to complete a world circumnavigation in the early 1500s, a remarkable achievement for the time.  Perhaps the most poignant was Shackleton's 20 ft long longboat, the James Caird, in which he and five others made the extraordinary journey in mid-winter from the Antarctic to Elephant Island in 1916 after their ship, the Endurance, was crushed in the ice.  The story is well documented so I’ll simply refer you to the internet to find out more about their courage and determination that exceeded what most of us are capable of achieving.

 The full size replica of the Beagle, the ship in which Charles Darwin explored the southern hemisphere, collected plants and seeds, and consolidated his ideas that would be published in his tome ‘On the Origin of Species’.  We’re not too sure about the representation of the figurehead but reckon our own beagle dog would not be very impressed.  The ship was interesting although I was doubtful that so much synthetic rope rigging was used in those days.

  We liked Punta Arenas.  We liked the homely feel of the place.  We liked the quirky street signs and the many statues to Magellan and other seafarers.  Kim especially liked the little market stalls, and we both liked La Chocolatta, the cosy coffee shop that made fresh churros and served coffee piled high with cream foam.

 

         

It was windy, Punta Arenas was living up to its name.  Having been warned in advance to “layer up”, we were comfortably warm but at times it was an effort to walk against the wind.  Apparently the town burghers install ropes during the winter months to aid pedestrians.  Our stay was short, so such aids were fortunately unnecessary for us. 

Mid-afternoon we made our way to  1385 O’Higgins Street, otherwise known as the Arturo Prat Port where the Stella Australis was docked awaiting the arrival of 160 passengers.  The vessel can take up to 210 passengers and the luxury of additional space and more individual service was appreciated.  Don’t tell anyone, but we were upgraded to a top tier cabin with a gigantic floor to ceiling window picture far above sea level.  We felt very lucky and very spoiled.

   

 So that’s it.  Away from the internet for the next four days, away from land-based civilisation aboard a luxurious vessel specially built to probe into the fjords and channels of southern Patagonia, but tough enough to brave Cape Horn.  Let the expedition begin.