PUNTA ARENAS
This morning we flew south from Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas. This city is located on a peninsula just north of the Straits of Magellan and is part of Chilean Patagonia. This puts us at one of the southern most points in Chile as the Straits separate Chile from Tierra del Fuego. Going south here is like going north in the U.S.; it gets colder, but the sun sets much later and rises earlier too!
Early in its history, Punta Arenas was a significant port, important for defense, and also the site of one of the largest sheep farms in the region.
When we exited the airport, it was very windy, a gloomy gray, and colder than we’ve experienced thus far. I immediately added my down jacket on top of my fleece. The drive to our hotel in town was about 25 minutes, and took us past lots of industry and warehouses and then finally along a stretch with a grassy median. It might be spring, but the only flowers blooming were a spread of dandelions. With the overcast sky and the slightly scruffy appearance of the real estate, it all felt a bit bleak. But then, it was getting past 1:00 pm and we hadn’t had any lunch yet.
Our hotel is an old building up the hill from the main downtown area with lots of steps to get into it and then stairs only (no elevator) to the rooms. Fortunately, we’re only one floor up from reception. They use an ingenious wire basket that looks to be on a pulley to hoist luggage up to the upstairs rooms.
The owners are the offspring of ranchers and each room is named for a trade. We are in the wagon wheel room and there is a big wooden wheel on the wall above the bed and the ceiling light fixture consists of bulbs hanging from another wheel. Bathrooms were added as they did not exist with each room previously.
We were lucky that our room was ready, but the hotel dining room was totally full so we began to walk down the hill to find some place to eat. We had gone about five blocks past lots of banks and other commercial buildings and with our hunger pangs becoming more insistent and me getting cranky, we stopped in Livorno, which looked okay from the outside and had diners inside. We should have ordered pizza and we really should have consulted the short list of restaurant recommendations from our travel agent, but we did neither of these things!
Instead we ordered the meat and fries platter which came with an overflowing mound of French fries and a piece of the toughest beef steak I’ve had in many years! We ate enough to get through the afternoon, the fries being quite good, and then continued to walk around the town.
Believe it or not, we’ve been on a mission to find a night light. We always travel with one and somehow ours got left behind on Easter Island or elsewhere. It’s a small item, but drugstores here don’t carry them, and we’ve yet to find a hardware store. In desperation, in Puerto Varas we purchased a small LED disc that took batteries, but when we got it back to our room, discovered you pushed a button to turn it on, but it didn’t stay on! For those nighttime trips in the dark, I’ve been reduced to using my Kindle.
I think that if you’d been down in Antarctica for some months and returned first to Punta Arenas, you would think it was nirvana! Clothing stores, cafes, restaurants, and at least five pharmacies (I went in all of them!) 
The Sacred Heart Cathedral is another beautiful building with a white exterior trimmed with yellow and inside a sanctuary that has a deep rose ceiling and a warmer feeling sanctuary than many churches.
NEXT DAY
This morning dawned bright and sunny and Punta Arenas was more appealing. We took a short turn around outside and snapped a few photos including one of a lovely flower garden. I think if we were going to be here longer, we’d definitely explore the museum and the cemetery, both noted sites.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
