Blogs from Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 18

Since the last blog entry from Easter Island, Last Train To Transcentral have upped the pace even more and covered a whopping 6000km by plane, boat, bus and foot to reach Punta Arenas, one of Patagonia´s southernmost cities. From Easter Island we flew back to Santiago, took an overnight bus south to Valdivia and pushed on down to Puerto Montt, the capital of Chile´s Region X. The sun was shining brightly on this industrial town which usually sees rain, fog and winds. A quick check of the forecast for the region confirmed that the fine weather was set to continue for another few days. We took advantage of this and luckily managed to grab two tickets for the Navimag ferry which travels from Puerto Montt south through the Chilean islands, glaciers and fiords to Puerto Chacabuco ... read more

We left Argentina to see in the New Year in Chile. This time it only took two and a half hours to cross the border, a whole two hours quicker than our previous experience in this direction. The Magellan Straits were particularly rough and we stayed on the bus this time! Punta Arenas is the most Southerly town on continental America. It was much bigger than we expected and our hostal was a bit further from the bus drop-off than we had anticipated! Looking at some of the pubs and nightclubs advertising their dancing girls which we had to walk past, there’s probably a reason the hostal was so cheap! Still, it was nice and the staff were very friendly and therefore we can really recommend the'Independencia if anyone is looking for a place to stay ... read more

We arrived in Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) on Christmas. Steve returned the rental car while Theresa Ben and Oliver got settled into the latest hostel. This hostel is run by a family. Their two kids immediately showed interest in playing with Ben and Oliver. First they brought us Christmas cake. Then they let us know they had a backyard the kids could play in. Finally, the mother came in to clean our bathroom and asked her little girl to bring her supplies. With this, the little girl (Catalina) had the opportunity to meet Ben and Oliver who were still acting very shy. Finally, Catalina offered to show them her “coneja” (rabbit) and they were off playing with her. Steve came back from the car rental company. After sweating out damaging the car, the rental company just ... read more

I was very excited to be in Punta Arenas because it was my first time setting foot in Chile. Punta Arenas is very close the southernmost tip of South America and even in December it was a cold and gray day. A frigid wind blew off the sea. The town was very quiet because it was a national holiday. I walked through the town down to the sea, where there were lots of small houses built from wood and tin. It was sad to see people living in small houses built from pieces of tin nailed together, and I wondered what life must be like for them living there in this quiet town at the bottom of the world. Then I walked to the cemetary. I had thought that the Cemeterio de Recoleta in Buenos Aires ... read more

Well, im getting used to this websight now, there isnt much else to do when you are having to continually have to go back to the hotel every 2 hours to check whether it is possible to fly or not. As yesterday, everything is ready, the plane is fueled and loaded with all the cargo, now its just the weather at the other end causing trouble. The base is having quite bad snow flurries and the visibility is down to about a kilometre and the real trouble is the cloud cover. Unfortunately it is just too low for the plane to land safely so yet again we are stood down. This time we have a bit of time to use in the afternoon after the final decision came to stay so a few of us decided ... read more