Week three - the bottom of the world.

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas
February 21st 2007

Published: February 21st 2007

Edit Blog Post

Pdiddy

Isla Magdellena - Penguin colony

and here we see the penguin in its natural habitat scratching that itch

So, Paul´s beard is still growing at an alarming rate and we are still continuing our race southwards. We have chilled out for 8 hours at a thermal spa, shared a beach with some sea lions and seals, p-p-p picked up a pengiun at a colony, rented a rib and hung about at a petrol station for 3 hours where Paul took some pictures of some rather large tyres - bet you can´t wait to see the chile ´portfolio´
Highlights include Polly, our pathfinder, which we hired to take around Chiloe - a mysterious island with painted churches and its own gang of mischievious trolls. Didnt see any of them, but did see huge groups of hitch hikers and ended up providing a kind of gringo bus service for them. Due to a mix up with our room at the hostel, we ended up staying in the unfinished penthouse with a couple of mattresses. No electricity, but the view across the bay was amazing. Needless to say I was woken up at dawn to the now very familiar sound of Paul´s camera....
We hired a couple of horses and a guide in order to recreate the footprint´s recommendation of 'galloping along

Talca - Maule Valley

Wine tour on a bike....high octane stuff

the pacific pounded beach at Curaco´In reality, it was more of a frenzied trot for me and thesper (my trusty steed) and Paul´s horse practically dragged it hooves up the hills (poor thing). But it was fun nonetheless and as we walked off with the obligitory ´riders bum´ Paul´s horse went in search of a chiropractor.
We spent 7 hours on a ferry in order to continue our journey - I was jammed next to man wearing what smelt like a damp llama jumper and Paul entertained some chilean children by waving his hands about and shocked their mother by asking her if he could breastfeed here. Damn phrasebooks.
We´ve met a lot of people coming up from the South telling horror stories about Torres del Paine (the national park we´re planning to visit later on in the week) where the weather changes instantly, none of the park maps are accurate and you need to keep your eye out for shifty llamas. Paul has assured me everything will be fine as he has his compass (and years of field experience). Im not confident either of these will help.
We are now actually pretty far south (the furthest we´ll be in

Curacautin - Park Conguillo

Monkey puzzles and a volcano

Chile - next stop Ushuaia in Argentina) and we´ve noticed there´s a direct correlation between latitude and insantity. The closer you live to the antarctic, the more mental you are. Having said that Paul and I did spend an hour long wait debating the noise penguins make. Turns out they sound like donkeys. see? weird.

Additional photos below

Photos: 14, Displayed: 14