Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas

Scenic drive by bus between the two towns - 3 hours with little stops along the way to set down or pick up passengers at some of the isolated estancias. Mostly Patagonian steppe: a few hills initially with wind-swept trees; a stop for a police check in the middle of nowhere; and the rest flat as the eye can see; and there is always a snow-capped peak somewhere in the distance. Roadside lined with bright yellow flowers: very pretty (can't tell what they are as bus is moving too quickly). Turns out they were dandelions!

Left at the civilised time of 10:00 a.m.after burning the midnight oil getting blog up-to-date!

Adjusting to having a suitcase again!! It was exciting to get some clothes other than the one set I have been wearing for 5 days; but then again, the additional luggage has to be lugged (sic) around and it is another thing to think about & I have had to readjust my head to where I keep the essentials now like passport, wallet, etc. on our trek in Torres del Paine, everything was on you; it was just you & your pack. Life was certainly simple on the trail!

DefInitely could have stayed another day in Puerto Natales; it was a very relaxed, "chilled" sort of place. A walk or bike ride along the bike trail along the Sound would have been a nice thing to do.

Well! On arrival at Punta Arenas we made a real hash of things & despite having a paper (!) map of the town, My Friend used his GPS & we walked 2 kms with back packs & pulling suitcases in the WRONG direction. We also managed to potentially place ourselves in further trouble by accepting a lift from a guy who took us to the wrong B&B AND tried to convince us he used to be a tour guide & could offer us a good rate to "show us the sights". We told him to write down his phone number and, when he had gone, we had to deal with the problem of STILL needing to find the correct B&B which just happened to be very (I will say it again: VERY) close to where we had got off the bus. We were a mite pee-ed off at this development.

The guy who owned the wrong B&B kindly helped us out by driving us to the right B&B (for a fee); and after sitting on the edge of our bed ONCE WE'D ARRIVED AT OUR CORRECT B&B & munched our way through leftovers from our previous 3 days of lunch boxes that we'd been issued with from the lodges in Torres del Paine, we set off to explore Punta Arenas.

We are very close to the centre of town (just a short stroll ...) & we visited a sweet church (which have been in short supply thus far) & outside in the Plaza de Armas there was a large play being enacted with lots of people dressed in weird costumes enjoying the festivities plus lots of market stalls selling "nick nacks". It was sunny - quite warm in fact - & we enjoyed watching people having fun.

In the centre of the playa was a large monument to Ferdinand Magellan, the famous Portuguese navigator after whom the nearby waters of the Magallanes Strait (as they are called here) are named. Magellan first chartered this legendary trade route between the South American mainland and Tierra del Fuego in 1520 as a shorter and protected route way to avoid rounding the treacherous Cape Horn, which is further south. Nowadays cruise ships round Cape Horn (weather permitting) and come back around to travel the Beagle Channel Glacier Row and then the Strait of Magellan.

We walked also to the port, on the way passing the Banco de Chile building which was previously the Punto Arenas Bank when it opened in 1909. Above it once was the British Club which the explorer Ernest Shackleton used as his headquarters in 1916 when he was planning the rescue of his ship the Endurance. After being saved by the Chilean navy, Shackleton & his men & the man who saved them (Luis Alberto Pardo), were honoured at the club.

The waterfront of the Straits of Magellan is attractive if still requiring some further tidying up & has a long promenade from which one can view the cruise ships and small boats and naval base.

We are now in Cafe Tapiz recommended to us by the girl at our B&B. Had nice coffees and a yummy piece of rhubarb cheese cake. My Friend is now asleep in the chair opposite...

Returned to the costanera (waterfront) and walked along looking at the large numbers of Imperial cormorants flocked on the old wooden piers, before turning inland - past a number of large monuments to presidents, Antarctic explorers, and the like.

AND we visited a nice shop with exquisite wood pieces made from the local lenga. This was enroute to the municipal cementerio. I like the way how the Spanish word for 'cemetery' has the 'n' in it!

Well, when the girl at our B&B had suggested the cemetery, I made a polite cough & looked disinterested but she said it was very nice. Well, what a find this was! It was stunning!

It was inaugurated in 1894 to replace the old cemetery, with the land granted by the government. The engineer Fortunato Circutti built the magnificent portico and the perimeter walls which were donated by the pioneer Sara Braun. There are avenues of European cypresses & open spaces that give an English air and spaces of quiet. The inner paths lead to tombs, sculptures and mausolea, some of them ornamented with various styles and finishes of marble, bronze and wrought iron. The most outstanding chapels date from the early 20th century and belong to the aristocratic families of the region: Menendez-Behety, Braun Hamburger, Blanchard, Kusanovic Menendez-Montes. Several institutions also built their buildings, such as mutual societies, foreign colonies and the Salesians, whose chapel was designed in 1902 by Fr John Barnabas. The Salesians of Don Bosco is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in the late 19th century by Saint John Bosco in order, through works of charity, to help the young and poor children of the industrial revolution.

Here is another interesting thing: Punta Arenas apparently means 'Sandy Point' in English and the name is on one of the very large tombs in the cemetery commemorating the deaths of 143 crew members on the Royal Navy ship the HMS Doterel which sank at anchor off Sandy Point after an explosion on 26 April 1881.

Afterwards, we walked down one of the main drags, Bories, to a very large Catholic church: Santuario Maria Auxiliadora (1919) and sat awhile.

A further stroll along Bories: the town seemed to have come alive with shoppers in the late afternoon; & the architecture of the more notable buildings gives it a distinctive European air and are a testament to the staggering wealth produced by the region's vast 19th Century sheep and cattle estancias.

I like these street stalls. A dog is never far away. Mind you, despite being a motley crew & plopping themselves down just anywhere for a snooze in the sun, people seem quite affectionate towards them. And despite the fact they are often intermingling with the traffic, they never seem to get hit.

And this is the second town we've come across where there are evacuation signs in the event of a tsunami! The other was Puerto Natales.

My Friend made up for his earlier misdemeanour re the GPS & made a very good call to go (earlier than I would have thought acceptable by South American standards) to the restaurant we'd been recommended. Just as well because it was filling very quickly! La Marmita is very cute.

We had a lovely meal: had a stewed lamb done in a Chilean style, but I thought his braised hare was better.

The wine (Marques Casa Concha, a cabernet sauvignon) was good as were the pre-dinner drinks: pisco sour for me (& a delicious berry cocktail for My Friend) made for an interesting walk home afterwards.