Okay, your first order of business is to go find your globe... yes your ACTUAL globe, none of that google earth nonsense (although I guess that would work too), and pick that bad boy up. Got it? Great. Now hold it up over your head and look at the bottom to find Punta Arenas, Chile, the southernmost city in the world. Honestly, I could stop here and it would be a cool enough story; however, I do have some interesting pictures to share... so we'll move on.
Our second day in Punta Arenas, after the trip to Isla Magdalena, was spent slowly meandering around the town, staring at the Magellan Strait, and visiting a brewery... the southernmost brewery in the world in fact... obviously.
It may seem a little odd, but our first stop was the cemetery. It serves as both a cemetery for the average person and for the person that needs an entire mausoleum to hold their belongings. It was really interesting to see the "graves" from so many years ago that are still being visited today (apparently, because fresh flowers don't live forever). The display windows had everything from pictures and flowers to toys and favorite sports memorabilia. You could really get a sense of who was laid to rest there by the displays made by their families.
There were sections for the carbineros, bomberos, and all facets of the military.
There is also a memorial for victims of the Pinochet dictatorship.
In the Plaza de Armas, a giant, imposing statue of Hernando de Magallanes (or as we like to call him Ferdinand Magellan, or as I personally like to call him Ferny Magee) watches over the city.
We took a walk up, up, up to find a mirador overlooking the city and the Magellan Strait. The city itself is very colorful, and as you look for as far as your eye can see, there is Tierra del Fuego in the distance.
Atop the mirador are the arrow signs pointing in a variety of directions towards cities around the world, and the number of kilometers you would have to swim/run/fly to get there. You can pay the equivalent of 40 ish dollars to add your own if you wish. We settled for viewing Houston.
The tour of the small Austral Brewery is a decently well-kept secret. You don't find information on very many tourism websites, but one night in Puerto Natales, while drinking an Austral Calafate, Michael and I noticed that it said "Made in Punta Arenas", and we set out on a mission. Basically, you call some guy's cell phone to reserve a spot on the tour that happens every day at 3pm... if people call in advance. It was totally worth the 3000 peso entry fee. As we approached the brewery, which is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood, we knew we were close by the smell (kind of like bread... but nottttt... quite).
The giant beer can silo that apparently still is used
James our fantastic tour guide/bartender.
Because you already saw a picture of Michael acting like a penguino.
During our tour of the brewery, we met a group of people who had also just completed the W, but a couple days ahead of us. They had to miss portions of the trail due to weather as well... AND the wind was so bad one night, they took ALL of the people in tents and put them in the dining room of the refugio. Sigh.. something about sharing in one-another's misery over delicious beer makes you feel less sad about the whole thing... moving on.
That evening we made our way to "Sky Bar" located on the top floor of the Hotel Dreams for a stunning view. Afterwards we ate dinner at a restaurant called "La Luna." It was delicious, and a great end to a great day. There was a Chilean tour guide fellow with an entire tour group of Vietnamese tourists talking about Texas and how there was nothing to do there and how it was awful when he visited... I was too wrapped up in my awesome food to care. :)
The following morning we visited a couple museums before we had to catch our flight home. The first was a nautical museum that turned out to be incredibly entertaining, partially because of the content, which included many artifacts, maps, etc. from the expeditions around Cape Horn and the discovery of Patagonia, but mainly because of the poorly translated plaques. While I applaud their effort to put things in both English and Spanish, I don't understand how things can get engraved and hung in an educational museum, and make absolutely no damn sense. I had to stop reading the English and read the Spanish for comprehension. For example, this particular translator really seemed to like the word "solemnly", which is a great word, but had no business being there. The Spanish word "esta" does not in fact mean solemnly... just saying.
On our way out we visited the NAO Museum which has life-size replicas of the Nao Victoria (Magellan's ship), James Caird (Shackleton's lifeboat) and Schooner Ancud (First boat to send settlers from Chile in the Strait of Magellan). It was even cooler than expected. You can climb on and into every nook and cranny that you desire... and they are BIG!
In Chile, things that would normally be behind class, like authentic old school weapons, are just out to played with by children...e rrr... Michael.
The HMS Beagle-- now in the process of being built.
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So. Big.
And with that we said farewell to the tip of the world and returned back to hot and sweaty Santiago. We had one day to rest before my sister arrived and we continued our travels.
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