Punta Arenas

30th January 2018

Punta Arenas looks over the Strait on Magellan to Tierra del Fuego- the most southerly point of land before you reach Antartica.

As everyone else was doing the typical tourist pose I thought I should do it as well!

Punta Arenas (sandy point) is the southernmost city in the world, and is located in one of the wildest, most remote regions of the earth.

Apparently if you touch the toe of the Indian in the main square of Punta Arenas, you get to return to the city some day. They didn’t tell me they meant the statue but I got it right eventually !

This is the cathedral in the main square. A couple from the cruise (Peter and Tina) found the front doors locked then saw a line of people entering from the back door, they joined the queue of soberly dressed people only to find themselves confronted by an open casket and funeral taking place when they finally entered the building .   A hasty exit was made!

The square is surrounded by fine colonial style buildings.

This lovely Ford Mustang took me by surprise in a city of  mainly 4X4s. The owner was proud of his car and pleased to have its photo taken.

This dog is looking longingly at the sea gulls for a chance of some early lunch, but I don’t think he stands much chance!

Told you……..

Even the graffiti here has a nautical theme!

They said we would experience four seasons in one day in Punta Arenas and they weren’t wrong!  The sun was shining when we started on the chair lift and then two minutes later it started to hail and the wind really picked up. No chance to get our waterproof trousers out of the rucksack so we just had to sit there and get wet!

However when we arrived at the top the sun was back out again and we were dry in no time.

What a great view over Punta Arenas and the Straits of Magellan.

You can even see the Aurora.

It was great to have a long walk out in the fresh air away from the busy town.

Even though the sun was shining it still wasn’t warm enough for Jane to take her bobble hat off.

It was a great walk across open land…….

And through wooded valleys.

Apparently you can eat this lichen but I didn’t try!

From a distance this tree stump looked like a bear. Sadly there was no persuading Jane to stand in front of it for another classic photo!

 

Where has everybody gone?

Oh, thank goodness for that we are saved!

On they way back to the ship we passed some of the locals’ houses  With all the wind they have here its very difficult to keep them looking tip top.