Skimming stones in the Magellan Straits

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So, after a bit of deliberation, I went Ipodless from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas, Chile's southermost city. I didn't really have much planned for there, but I had a couple of days to spare before I wanted to be in Ushuaia, so I thought I might as well check it out.

What was slightly worrying, was that on the bus ride down we went past quite a large area with signs saying "Keep out, minefield". I can't for the life of me work out why there is the need for a minefield right down here, but hey, whatever floats their boat. I just made a mental note not to go trekking round here, just in case.

Arriving in the city, I decided I'd spent quite enough time in the Condensator for now, and parked up in a hostel. Jonas obviously loved his tent a little bit more than I loved mine, and set up camp outside. My first impression of Punta Arenas is that it is quite clearly a city in decline. It used to be a huge port, but since the Panama Canal opened, for some reason people don't seem as keen to come the long way around the Magellan Straits. The most striking example of the decline was the number of drunks hanging around in the middle of the day, who previously I assume would have been at work on the ships. Shame really.

After dodging round the drunks, Jonas and I took a little stroll upto a lookout over the Straits, which was fairly nice. I was also very amused by one of the signs, which had distances to various points in the world. As well as the obvious ones, it also let you know precisely how far away we were from Kabul. One for the multitides of Afghan tourists there. After this, we went for a peruse of the cemetery, which was pretty impressive aswell. I'm sure some of the houses around here are smaller than some of the tombs.

If this entry seems a bit dull and lifeless, thats because that was what my overall impression of Punta Arenas was. People mainly come here for the penguin colonies, but as I wanted to visit penguins elsewhere, I wasn't really interested in that. The only other thing of note I can think to mention is that the Magellan Straits are excellent for skimming in. The water was beautifully still, and I managed to get one to skim ten times. Yup thats right ten.

On that exciting note, I'll leave you, as I got a bus to Ushuaia, and the end of the world.

Stewart

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