Blogs from Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 14

Punta Arenas is almost in the end of the world. We went to see penguins, sea lions and sea elephants. The main problem with this plan was the unpredictable weather. The animals are on two islands which are between the pacific and Atlantic ocean and thus the waves are somewhat unpredictable and could cause problems in reaching the islands. Luckly we ended up with great weather (tfu tfu tfu bli emunot tfelot) and reached the islands on a large speed boat (filled with mostly israelis of course - like everything here). The first island was Marta which was filled with sea lions and sea elefants on its shore and cormorants birds on its top. The noise was enormous. The next island was the Magdallena island which was covered with lots and lots of penguins (even more ... read more

Lentoni lahti, papereissa luki etta kentalla pitaa olla tuntia ennen. Tilasin Transfer-kyydin samalta firmalta, jolla olin tullut kentaltakin. Ensiksi ilmoitettiin etta minut haettaisiin klo 11.15. Aamulla selvisi etta hakuaika onkin valilla 11.20 - 11.40, ja aloin jo huolestua ehdinko ajoissa kentalle tai tuleeko kyyti ollenkaan. Kavin jo kysymassa hostellin tyontekijalta, kannattaisiko minun tilata taksi kentalle. No tilataksi tuli sitten klo 11.40 ja hyppasin sen kyytiin. Taksi teki viela pari lenkkia ympari kaupunkia ja poimi kaksi muutakin matkustajaa kyytiin. Meita tuli sitten kyytiin yhteensa seitseman. Muutkin matkustajat kysyivat ehditaanko ajoissa, ja kuski vakuutti etta kylla. Kello oli jo 12 kun paasimme pois kaupungista ja lentokentalle oli matkaa 17 kilometria. Kuski ohitteli muita autoja ja juuri ennen lentokenttaa poliisi pysaytti meidat. Siina meni viela 5 minuuttia k... read more

Mon 2/11/08 Well we got back earlier than I thought from Torres del Paines (Blue Towers) so I did some laundry and will try to get a post in before dinner. The show last night was better than we thought so we didn’t have to walk out. It was almost hard to believe it was the same man but he was at least watchable this time. The singer was as good as the first time. The group of entertainer’s we’ve had were all leaving the ship today and we’re supposed to get a new bunch so we’ll see. We had a nice leisurely dinner since the show was beforehand. Our waiter was not there on Fri night because they said he had a headache but the real story was his roommate was sick and quarantined for ... read more

My last update left us on our way to Valdivia, a small town by the river. There was a colourful fish market right by the river where a family of sealions get fed with the scraps. We also went to the Kunstmann German brewery for a few beers & I had Sauerkraut for dinner. Wonderful. There was a bierfest in town, where we watched horse jumping & bizarrely enough a competition of men cutting logs with chainsaws! After only 2 nights we caught a bus to Pueto Montt sea port where we stayed in a hostal called Suize. The owner was half swiss like me. We had to come to Puerto Montt to catch a boat to take us down further south. The boat was called Navimag & was an old cargo ship which now takes ... read more

As we left Ushuaia to get the bus back across Tierra del Fuego to Punta Arenas in Chile I had the time to think about how much time it had taken us to get to the end of the world. Turns out to be about 120 hours of time on buses, not counting side trips. Five overnight trips so far. No idea how many thousands of kilometres. Anyway we had a fairly long day from Ushuaia to Chile, very rainy and misty for the first few hours and then glorious sunshine for the bits with no interesting scenery. Only one odd stop in the middle of nowhere for the bus driver to put on his overalls and whack something under the bus with a large spanner. Punta Arenas was a nice city for a short stopover, ... read more