Chile 2011

March 19, Ushuaia, Argentina

12 hour bus ride today starting at 7 am!  And back in Argentina again!  Short stop at abandoned sheep station.

Crossed the Magellan straight on a local ferry.  Only took about 30 minutes.  Not that big of a ferry, 2 buses and maybe 4 semi trailers.

The current and wind were quite strong going across.

March 18, Punta Arenas, Chile

Nice lazy start to the day!

Headed off and walked along the beach area.  The boardwalk is very nice with tributes to Magellan but the beach has a lot of garbage on it!  Too bad as they have done a great job on the walk way.  Even the pedestrian bridge is boat shaped!

Then turned toward the city.  Not to bad as the streets are laid out on the grid, but is confusing as the beach curves around, so some very strange intersections.

Some of the houses are very small, and some are very brightly painted.

Walked by the catherdral and around the market stalls in the main square!  Very nice place with the Magellan statue in the middle.  The stalls are all the same, small wagons.

The buildings are very well done in the city centre!  Late 1900s mostly.

Stopped at a small cafe for some real coffee!  Way too much nescafe, even this morning!

Then headed off to the Braun Mendoza mansion.  This is a late 1800s rich sheep ranchers house that has been turned into a museum.  Beautiful house!  2 full stories with the main living areas on the main floor and I assume the bedrooms upstairs (could not go up).

Then headed off to the naval museum.  Great video shown by a sailor in 1929 sailing from Germany around the horn.  Also many navy/naval displays.  A little bit on Shackleton but not really much.

Rained a little bit, so headed back to hotel for a nap, but did not fall asleep!  Too much sleep last night I guess!

Went out to the casino bar which is on the 11th floor.  Great views, even from the toilet!

March 17, Punta Arenas, Chile 

Up at 7 am as have to have breakfast and pack up the camp.  Did not take long.  Couple of hours and all the tents were down, including the cook tent.

On the road by 10 am and into Puerto Natales by 12 to drop up some camp gear and have lunch!  Went to a small cafe and had 2 cups of REAL coffee!  I could not drink the nescafe this morning.

About a 3 hour drive along more gravel roads we arrived at the Mellagan penguin colony!  Only a few around, some of them just loosing their last baby feathers.  Very cute, just standing there in the wind and cold!  Neat as saw one peeking out of the burrow!

Had about 1 hour before we headed out for dinner.  Went to a restaurant around the corner.  I had salmon and mashed potatoes.  $20 and that includes 2 huge pieces of salmon and a beer!  Very good.

Beat so headed back to hotel.