Sunday 17th December 2010
We caught the bus at 08.00 from along San Martin, our landlady had provided an early breakfast for us. Single decker Chile bus with no leg room and air con not working. It had all the makings of a very difficult 12 hour journey. The journey through the mountains and as far as Tolhuin, stop for coffee, was as spectacular as the inward trip. Again via Rio Grande and again it was confirmed as a sh.. hole. We are of the opinion that the Chile side of the Argentina/Chile border in Patagonia qualifies for the tag of...arse end of nowhere...Tavizna is an urban metropolis in comparison. The crossing was quite rough but the arrival of 3 dolphins along the side of the boat provided some pleasure. Again many people got soaked when the captain turned the boat into the waves. Fine sport this. The boat was selling super panchos, hot dogs, but I was not allowed one.
The bus was on time and we got to our hostel Costanero and went to the supermarket for provisions. The supermarket was trying to close at 21.00 and was due to close at 22.00 but many people who were on the bus insisted that they didn't close so we were able to buy groceries and get Chile money out of the ATM. Possibly the narrowest isles in a supermarket that I have ever seen. The fruit and vegetables are expensive reflecting the locality of Punta Arenas and difficulty and distance of supplying it.
Monday 13th December 2010
Windy, windy, windy with gusts up to 140kph. We could barely stand up and the ferry across the mainland to Tierra Del Fuego was cancelled causing havoc with the travellers. We met Mal and Linda from Suffolk who are taking a year out and went with them to Zona Franca, the duty free sector of Punta Arenas. Lashings of Christmas Songs. Same tunes as normal but different words, of course. We bought a new camera, the old one having had liquid in it and a pair of binoculars. The wind was so strong that we could not walk along the newly developed sea front. We bought some bus tickets for Puerto Natales for Wednesday and booked Nico's 11 Adventure hostel for 5 nights. Much better prices, only GBP 24 for a double en suite. Cooked a nice chili con carne for dinner.
Tuesday 14th December 2010
No wind today so we could walk along the sea front, probably 5 km of it. We went to a local museum which was a house owned by a wealthy family and a lot of history about PA. Very nice. We went to the tourist office only to find the notice ...on strike..outside. Ah well.
The afternoon found us in the vast cemetery..and no we were not dying to go there..Punta Arenas was founded by immigrants from Scotland, Germany and Croatia and the cemetery reflected this. Like a lot of Patagonia the houses are metal clad to reduce the wind effects. We were almost attacked by a couple of dogs which is most unusual but when I turned round and shouted they both ran away and one got stuck on the fence while trying to jump over.
I had a row with a pig ignorant Frenchman at the hostel about him monopolising the computer for downloading pictures to Facebook. I cooked chicken casera which we shared with a young German lad who was studying in Santiago de Chile. The washing done by the hotel was very expensive. clp5000 for a bag.
Summary of Punta Arenas..It has an airport and a duty free zone. The newly developed,very nice, walkway along the sea front will be used by many people the day that the place has no wind, some sun and the temperature rises above the Summer average of 12C.
http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=es&q=punta+arenas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=UB4NTdXTLoWClAeBgM3QDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQsAQwAw
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