Sunday, January 29, 2012

We are in Patagonia.   We arrived in Punta Arenas (in translation "Sand Point") this afternoon - going from 90 degree heat in Buenos Aires to 50 degrees, wind and a little rain here, and from a family home in BA, to a Holiday Inn at the Santiago airport, to a funky hostel here.

 
The Strait of Magellan is down the street about 4 blocks.  You can look across to Tierra del Fuego.  This reminds me a bit of Port Angeles (it´s another PA) and the Olympic peninsula, but without the tall trees and, of course, many other differences with respect to people, business, architecture, etc.   Tierra del Fuego looks a little like Vancouver Island.

We walked down to the beach and then around the downtown after we arrived.  This is an old town.  At the center of the park in the downtown square is a statue of Magellan on a pedestal and with several large figures representing native peoples at the base.  It is customary for young women (and others) to kiss the huge foot of one of these.

 

It is a well polished foot.   

Except for a pharmacy, a supermarket and a few restaurants, most businesses are closed because it´s Sunday.  The hostel owner recommended a restaurant which we liked.  The menu included fresh local crab, salmon, sea urchins, and "heel fish" (eel).  As in Argentina, good wine is abundant.

We´ve rented a car for the next nine days, including the trip to Torres del Paine.  We will explore around here tomorrow, including a drive down the road to the farthest place south you can drive on the South American mainland.  We go to Torres del Paine on Tuesday.

I´m pretty tired from all the travel the past two days.  As in Argentina, everyone is on a late schedule here with dinner at 10 and a late sunset at 9:45 p.m.  I had expected we would gain an hour but Chile is on the same time as Argentina which has a "double" daylight savings time in the summer. The hostel has two PCs which makes it easy to post to the blog here.

Saturday, January 28

Spent the morning packing, walking the neighborhood, and visiting leather shops in nearby Calle Murillo.  Then good-bye to the host family and a cab to the airport for an early evening flight to Santiago.  As we fly over the Andes, I can look down on Aconcagua, the highest point in the western hemisphere.

Aconcagua is the prominent peak almost on the horizon in the right center of the photo.