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Published: February 21st 2007
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We had a spectacular flight over the mountain chains, flying from Santiago, stopping at Puerto Montt and finally arriving at Punta Arenas. We saw amazing snow covered mountains and vulcanos, lakes and fjords. During the landing at Punta Arenas we were welcomed by the famous Patagonian wind. We NEVER experienced a landing like that - the wind was playing with the aircraft and rocking it from side to side. The turn over water made us think for a second that we actually will have a wet landing as the tip of the wing seemed to brush the surface of the lake. We were half expecting the sound of "BEEP BEEP BEEP" from the cockpit and a "BRACE BRACE BRACE" but thankfully it never happened. On the way out of the aircraft we saw that some passengers lost the fight with the content of their tummies and the rollercoster like landing, which explained the cheesy smell in the cabin. As we passed through the airport and out of the door we felt the full force of the wind. Puddles in the carpark were being picked up off the ground and thrown into the air. A man with a trolley was very nearly
Is there anybody out there?
I guess when you are this far down the planet, you need a big dish. blown over into the road. We had never seen or felt anything like it, and it signalled that we had finally arrived in Patagonia and we were indeed, close of the southern tip of the continent.
Punta Arenas proved to be as windy so we had to be very quick in finding accomodation this time. Just walking around became an issue as the wind buffeted us from side to side, and was biting into our hands and faces with its icey teeth. We quickly found some places only to be told that they were fully booked. Each one we stepped into greeted us with a warm fire and a nice atmosphere, only for us the be thrown out again into the cold to find a place with room. We finally got a place which had an english B&B feel (and was infact a B&B), with a proprietor that wasn´t so dissimilar to Rene from Ello Ello (non-english people, google it).
We had to complete our camping equipment and to do so we headed to the "Zona Franca" - a tax free zone on the outskirts of Punta Arenas. We got there by Collectivo, which was a new experience.
The Magellan Straits
You could take a dip here but I wouldn´t suggest it, you wouldn´t survive long in these icy waters It is like a cross between a bus and a taxi, you stand at the stop and they pick you up. They are all numbered and follow a set route for a set cost, but are all private cars. You don´t get the car to yourself and people hop in and out as you go. We stocked up on gloves, hats, cooking equipment and of course a tent. All to a very reasonably price as we would find out later on our journey. If you intend to purchase camping equipment for some treking in Patagonia, here is the cheepest place to do it by far. Don´t expect to find all the brands they have at home or anything fancy, it is all Doite, the local brand. The quality of the stuff isn´t top notch, but it has served us well so far in the mainpart, and is certainly the cheapest way of doing it. Smug with our new purchases we headed back to Punta Arenas for a quick food stop at Lomitos and then to bed.
Our next day was spent food shopping for the trek in Torres del Paine - quite a different experience from the "normal" shopping
When is a street not a street?
This was right next to the beach, the whole house was painted. Looked really realistic in the flesh as we knew that everything we buy we will have to carry for 5-6 days on our backs. Dried food is the order of the day, and typically for us, we spent a long time examining the supermarket and picking our food carefully. We thought we had come up with some great ideas (soya protene for instance) but only time would tell if we would starve to death on the treck or die carrying the heavy weight. The rest of the day was spent exploring what there is of Punta Arenas to explore. The place is kinda uninteresting and grey looking, but with some remarkably splendid builds around which hint at it´s former sheep fuled glory. One thing which we loved about the place, was the feeling that you where near the end of the world. The harsh, cold and extremely strong winds; the bizzare light of the sky; the wide and empty streets, all make it feel like exactly what it is, a town near the end of the earth. There is something magical there, and it was a great welcome to Patagonia, we knew our time here would be special and very different.
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thatmikeandamy
Amy Jenkins & Mike Williams
Hope you enjoyed your Torres trek. Reading your blog has made me feel very nostalgic as we loved it so much (despite the stupidly heavy bags!). Punta Arenas does feel a bit like the end of the world!