Punta Arenas and lots of Penguins

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Nearly the end of the world, Punta Arenas actually feels worse than Ushuaia. After a tough 12 hours bus ride in rainy weather (meaning that we couldn't even SEE anything and who's read the homepage knows what that means to me!!), we got to Punta Arenas round about Chile's Dinnertime (so that's about 10.00 pm). I had been too lazy to book accomodation ahead of time and I wasn't worried either since Punta Arenas didn't seem to be a major destination; I was tired and didn't care too much anyway so that I was quite happy to plod along with the first hawker that grabed me. And so I happened to end up in a quite filthy (but really cheap) place just outside the city centre. For the first time I actually HAD to speak spanish, or at least spenglish! We managed to communicate somehow for my host to figure out that I wasn't going pay more than the place deserved, and luckily she put me in a rather big room all by myself to make up for it.

At the hostel I bumped into 2 Germans and an Isreali guy, all three of them really friendly (that saved the situation). Reason enough to relax and give up my plans to search for a better place in the morning.

The next day I decided to utilize my time in Punta Arenas wisely and booked a trip to see a colony of Magellan Penguins (once I'm here I might as well...). We were told they were "just around the corner" so to speak...well, after a bumpy 2 hour bus ride we finally got there, and a pretty nasty wind greeted us upon arival. Even though I couldn't get enough watching these cute, clumsy little things roling off the sand dunes, grooming and feeding each other and even making love :-), I was quite happy when our time was over and we were allowed to get back into the shelter of the van.

I really wonder how people survive in this kind of climate. It's the middle of summer fergawdsake!!!

Punta Arenas itself turned out not to be that bad of a place at all, even though I made it sound pretty ugly. During my stay there I actually discovered that the city does have some nice and picturesque corners. Most houses are painted in bright colors, and that really makes for a happy atmosphere. On the other hand one can’t fail to recognize that people ARE a tad poorer than what we are used to. Almost all of the houses are made of timber and covered with corrugated sheet iron in order to protect them from the elements; some of them are so rusty that the house seems to be falling apart any moment...

Nevertheless people appear to be fairly content and happy and isn't that the main thing?

From Punta Arenas I moved on to Puerto Natales, Chile, the gateway to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, about which you have probably already read - if not do it now!! (Oh, I just remembered that I have only published that one in German....oooops, sorry guys. Will translate asap.)


NOTICE FOR MY GERMAN READERS / FUER ALLE DEUTSCHEN LESER: Da Ihr leider mittlerweile auf meiner Subcriber Liste die absolute Minderheit seid, habe ich entschieden, aus Zeitgruenden die Artikel ohne dt. Uebersetzung zu veroeffentlichen. Nicht boese sein. Ist doch gutes Training:-)

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Photos

"poor(er) peoples house"
Covered with rusty corrugated sheet iron

"better" house in Punta Arenas
Made of actual brick!!