Blogs from Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 10

This morning we woke up well rested, despite sleeping in a hot room with a leaky ceiling.  I cannot be underestimate how happy we were, however, to have had a comfy bed and a hot shower after travelling on a plane (actually five planes) for more than a day. We woke up this morning excited to begin our adventure, which started with a search for water.  Being nervous to get sick before the trek, bottled water was key.  Much to our dismay, the entire tiny town of Punta Arenas apparently sleeps in on Sundays (or observes Sunday as a Holy day) - none of the stores were open!  We took a walk down by the water and headed back to the hotel for an unimpressive breakfast of plums, warm yogurt, watered down juice, etc.  Eric managed ... read more

Well, it has been a wonderful few days. We were the only passenger ship in port at Ushuaia, but there were container ships loading and unloading all along the same pier. That was one of the differences from six years ago when Mom and Dad and I were there as part of our Antarctic trip. Another difference was how much the town has grown, now at 63,000 when I'm sure it was less than 50,000 back then. It also, unfortunately, seemed less cared for. The flower gardens that so impressed us at that time are still there, but full of weeds in addition to the amazing lupines and pansies. Hugh and I had morning coffee at an interesting restaurant called "Ramos Generales," a place that was a general store 100 years ago and still had shelves ... read more

E la foi a gente se arrastando desesperado atras de um onibus que estaria em algum lugar que nao saibiamos, porque a moca que redigiu o endereco de onde ele estaria escrevia o numero 9 de tras pra frente, causando confusao em nossas ja confusas cabecas. Bem, dormimos loucamente no onibus, cuja viagem teria cerca de 8 horas ou algo assim, composta de parte em uma van, parte em onibus e parte em uma travessia num Ferry. Merece mencao quando acordei com o onibus totalmente, digo TOTALMENTE cercado de ovelhas que passavam pela estrada. Parecia um motim mas elas livraram nossa barra. Na Aduana do Chile, ao passar as mochilas pelo raio-x, o terror era carregar frutas nas malas. Bombas, armas, drogas... nada era tao perigoso quanto carregar uma laranja. Ao notar uma forma redonda nos ... read more

Well, from Punta Arenas it is. You can see Tierra Del Fuego from there. After nearly smuggling cheese into Chile, and having my cheek pinched by the bus conductor as if I was six years old, I arrived in Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) very sandy, so that was appropriate. Also it was chilly, and I was in Chile. I found the town to be rather pretty - the buildings were all painted different colours and there were wide green boulevards in some of the streets. I could not get the hang of Chilean money at all - we didn´t get as far as 800 times tables at school. My hostel was small and quite nice but lacking something atmosphere-wise. However, I did meet a lovely couple who were booked on the Navimag for the same trip ... read more

Punta Arenas je takove uplacane mesto se 120 tisici obyvateli. Krome par vystavnich domu v centru jsou vsude jen male domky s plechovou fasadou, ktere mi pripominaji kulny. Moc nechapeme, co v nem Chilane delaji, kdyz tam jedou travit dovolenou. Bezny obyvatel Chile neni zadny turista, ktery by chodil po vyletech. Procourame mesto sem tam. Narazili na budovu s napisem SOKOL. Pismo i znak presne stejne jako u nas. Do Chorvatska byl Sokol 'zavlecen' Chorvaty studujicimi v Praze v tricatych letech 20teho stoleti. Mesto uz ma take jednu moderni budovi a na pobrezi se snazili postavit jakousi promenadu z betonu a oceli. Jeste do ani nedostavili a uz je vse zrezavele a cele dilo vypada dost depresivne. Naladu si jdeme zlepsit na mistni unikatni hrbitov :). Krome toho, ze vetsina jmen na hrobech je chorvatskeho puvodu ... read more