Punta Arenas

Saturday February 15, 2020

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas is Patagonia's largest city (population about 130,000).  It is the Magallanes & Antarctica Chilena regional capital and the traditional port of entry to the area.  Its diverse economy depends on fishing, agriculture (sheep & cattle), shipping, petroleum, duty-free retail, and tourism.  Punta Arenas has a "subpolar oceanic climate".

We had time today to explore Punta Arenas a little bit.  We consulted Trip Advisor for some highlights and there really weren't many in town.  I think we saw most of them yesterday - the Mirador Cerro de la Cruz and the Plaza Munoz Gamero.

Today was mostly cloudy with some rain in the morning (as if our laundry wasn't wet enough already from the overnight rain!) and then quite windy in the afternoon.  We walked down to the waterfront and then a few km in either direction on a walking/cycling path.  A few thoughts - nice to walk along the open water; they had lots of playgrounds and exercise parks which were all empty and in various states of disrepair; this city has been hit hard with violent protests - graffiti and broken windows everywhere.  Another random thought that has to do with all of Patagonia, not just Punta Arenas - I'm not sure that I've seen a full-sized rectangular flag yet.  There are lots of flags of both Chile and Magallanes flying but they're all square or smaller.  The wind is so constantly strong around here that much of the material has been ripped off.  It would just be too expensive to keep replacing them.  Some properties are well-kept but many others are pretty dilapidated.  I suppose it must be difficult to keep things up in this harsh climate but it also looks like maybe the city is in hard economic times.

We hit one more highlight on the way back - the municipal cemetery.  It is similar to the one we saw in Buenos Aires but on a bit of a smaller scale.  In fact, both are on the CNN list of the world's 10 most beautiful cemeteries.  It is home to the extravagant crypts of some of the early settlers of the area who were from far and wide - England, Scotland, Wales, Croatia, Germany, Scandinavia, etc., and is landscaped with rows of manicured cypress trees.

Back to the hostel, retrieve laundry (which thankfully dried in the wind), shower, and out for dinner.  Off to see the penguins tomorrow.

Further South

Friday February 14, 2020

Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas, Chile

Time to pack our bags again and head yet further south.  Off to Punta Arenas today.  We saw Ray & Lu one final time at the bus station.  They were on their way to El Calafate, Argentina.

An uneventful 3 hour bus ride to Punta Arenas.  The buses here are very comfortable and run on time.  The drivers have all been very good - safe and courteous.  Once again the road was good but no shoulder whatsoever.  Stark, flat, treeless landscape; it sure seemed that we were headed towards the end of the earth.  We did pass one area where we saw lots of condors soaring above.  Much of the land is fenced so I'm assuming there is some ranching going on.  I saw some cows along the way but not very many.  Historically there was a lot of sheep farming around here; not sure how much of that is still going on.

As luck would have it the bus station is only about 2 blocks away from our hostel.  The lady at the front desk took all our laundry to do and then hang up in the back yard.  Hopefully we'll see it all again!

Punta Arenas has the most unique tree-trimming style!

Off to get some groceries and then take a look at what we want to do for the next few days.  We've booked a half-day excursion for Sunday to go see some penguins on an island.  We located a couple of viewpoints with expansive views over the city and out to the ocean (Strait of Magellan, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans).

And a quick walk through the city's main square (Plaza Armas) on the way to check out Barb's fancy pre-cruise hotel.

The city is quite large and spread out.  There is graffiti everywhere.  Most of the shops, banks and businesses downtown have their windows boarded over and we saw one recently (you could still smell it as you walked by) burned-out building.  I would say that the city has probably seen lots of recent protest/demonstration/violence activity.  It felt perfectly safe to walk around during the day, though.

Post-script.....  We found out later that three cities have been particularly hard-hit with the recent violence - Santiago, Punta Arenas and Valparaiso.  The protests started last October 18th and are repeated every Friday night through the summer.  Once summer is over they are expected to happen about 3x per week.  Even protesters need their summer vacations apparently.

The Circuit is Complete

Thursday February 13, 2020

Torres del Paine NP, Chile

Los Cuernos to Las Torres.  About 12 km.

Our final day on "the circuit".

First - a couple of pics of the Los Cuernos Lodge where we had our meals last evening and this morning, as well as a typical tent setting.

Our route today was "Patagonia flat".  A little bit up & a little bit down.  The day was overcast but still pretty good visibility short range.  We had good views to our right out over Lake Nordenskjold for much of the hike.  Beautiful!  I found a lovely flat rocky area to sit and contemplate for a while before people came from both directions thinking I was lonely (why else would they invade my meditation space when there were lots of other lovely places to take a break?).  Also some mountain and glacier views to our left and the ongoing occasional sound of avalanches coming down from somewhere out there.

We finally reached the end of the lake and turned "inland" a bit.  That section of the walk was lovely - through wide open hillocky terrain with good distant views.  We could see the civilization of "central" long before we got there.  At the final bridge Ray & Lu were waiting and Carole arrived shortly after me.  We finished the walk back to the Welcome Centre together.  I'm so glad everyone was able to join, and walk largely on their own but come together once in a while.

Here's a model of the route that was on the wall in the Welcome Centre.  Much more meaningful to us at the end of the trip.

We were back in lots of time to catch our shuttle and then the 2:30 bus back to Puerto Natales.  I think I slept most of the way.  Ten days takes its toll I guess.  Time for a shower, dinner, and re-uniting with the stuff we left here.  It was a fabulous hike; so glad we did the full circuit!

A picture at our Puerto Natales hostel.  I'm pointing to a poster for the Banff Film Festival World Tour (we missed it by a day or two).

Off to Punta Arenas in the morning................

Up the French Valley

Wednesday February 12, 2020

Torres del Paine NP, Chile

French Camp to Los Cuernos, via the French Valley.  About 18 km.

Well the good news is that I managed to negotiate the journey out of the tent safely during the night.  The rain had stopped and there were even some stars visible.  The sunrise was beautiful and not nearly as pink as yesterday.  "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning".  So - hopefully a good sign.

Jill, Carole and I retraced our steps from the end of yesterday with hopes of getting up to the Britanico lookout at the upper end of the French Valley trail.  We had drizzle once again as we climbed the first half of the trail up to the French Glacier lookout.  The sky looked better further up, so on we went.

The trees have a bit of a hard life out here.................

The trail was actually quite lovely beyond that first lookout.  It was pretty mellow until the last 15 minutes or so.  There were some nice views along the way and the view was quite clear at the top.  A bit of an amphitheatre panorama to gaze at once you're up there.  Not a long stop, as it was cool and a wind was starting to come up.  We certainly beat the masses up there but started running into more people on the way down.

The Frances Glacier was quite active with avalanches again today.  It also seemed to hold clouds around its peak, so we were once again in a bit of drizzle on the way down the last half.

We were back to the Frances camping area by about 2:30 where we picked up the rest of our belongings.  We finished our lunch there and were back on the trail for the last 2 hour hike to tonight's campground at Los Cuernos.  It took significantly less than the estimated 2 hours and we were treated to beautiful lake (Nordenskjold Lake) and mountain (Frances Glacier and Cuernos del Paine) views along the way.  The trail took us right down to lake level and we laid on the stony beach for a while; very nice!

Onto the campsite and refugio at Los Cuernos; lovely!  We met up with everyone there, got settled, had a shower, did laundry, and Carole bought me a Pisco Sour ("the" drink down here) in the bar.  Dinner was good and I ate way too much once again.  It's a pleasant evening although the wind sounds like it might be coming up a bit.  Joan started her ferry ride today so I wish her smooth sailing.

Tomorrow we have a 5 hour hike and we have to catch a shuttle bus at 2pm back at the Welcome Centre where it all began on the 4th.  In a sense I feel like it is already over.  It was nice to have the final scenic stretch today to take it easy and reflect on what a magical time we've had.  Our weather could not have been better!  The hiking was grand and the company pretty easy-going.  Logistically everything went smoothly.  I don't think we could have asked for more!