Punta Arenas

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Punta Arenas

As our goal was to get down south as fast as possible, we flew down to Punta Arenas from Santiago. We had glimpses of the Chilean lakes district and many snow-capped volcanoes along the way.

According to Wikipedia, Punta Arenas is located on the Brunswick Peninsula and is the southernmost city of its size in the world. (Ushuaia, Argentina, also makes this claim and is further south, but has only half the population of Punta Arenas).

Punta Arenas was a weird place for us. Let us explain: After Peru, northern Chile and Santiago/Valparaiso, it was a completely new experience and was highly contrasted with the places mentioned above. It´s a windy and cold place with architecture to match the climate. Most houses are covered with wood or corrugated iron and there are also a couple of huge colonial style mansions. There are many trees of a type that we have never seen before as well as many sculpted trees in all the parks and plazas. The weather also changes regularly and icy rain drops can be expected even though no clouds are present. Overall, the place just felt strange to us. The people are very friendly, though.

We stayed in a lovely place, a family home with a few extra rooms for very cheap. There is almost nothing to do in Punta Arenas except for a hike or two and penguin viewing excursions. We opted for an excursion to an island where the penguins can be seen.

We took a ferry to Isla Magdalena where a Magellanic Penguin colony resides. Between April and September these penguins migrate to southern Brasil to avoid the harsh winters. After the migration they always return to their own burrow on Isla Magdalena. The Magellanic penguins are medium-sized and their closest relative is the African penguin. The penguins are quite rowdy (they sing a very nasal song to attract mates) and cute, especially the juveniles. But beware: don´t go too close as they can suddenly become aggressive, as LM and a few other tourists found out.

We saw many of them mating (they mate for life), even though it was far too late for them to incubate their eggs before the annual migration. According to our guide, these penguins are very amorous birds and do not mate exclusively for procreation. Good for them! The trip to Isla Magdalena was well worth it.

After travelling across 4 countries with Linsey, it was time to say good-bye to her in Punta Arenas as we were heading to Ushuaia the next day and she was making her way to Torres del Paine. We hoped to meet again.

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Photos

LM in Plaza
Freezing

Penguins
Juvenile

Penguins
Our ferry in the background

Comments

[Brittany]

Thanks!
It's helpful to read your experience with Punta Arenas and those penguins! I'll be flying into Punta Arenas this winter, and can't wait to go. Your photos are amazing, I didn't know there were so many penguins on the island. Well done.