Punta Arenas Chile (Patagonia stop 1)
Oh goodness this post is going to be long. Patagonia is completely amazing. I have a lot of pictures so get ready.
On our flight, Matt had a window seat and was able to get these great pictures of the volcanoes we flew over.
We arrived in Punta Arenas at about 5 o’clock. Matt had rented a truck for us to have to drive around while we were here in this area. After getting checked in to our hotel, I got to rest while Matt went and did his exercise. Here is a photo he took of Punta Arenas while he was out. It was rainy when we got here, but as it cleared up we got the most beautiful rainbow right out of our window.
Once Matt got back, it was off to explore the town a little bit and eat dinner. Matt was pretty excited to have another delicious seafood dinner, including more ceviche.
It was raining again, but we were ready. We tried to get a selfie with the little river that goes through town, but we mostly just got our umbrellas.
After walking around I decided to go to the store across the street from our bnb and just buy supplies for a picnic lunch. I felt like a pro/local buying myself lunch. I even paid cash for it all. I was already missing all the bread, cheese, and avocado that we had had in Santiago and Algarrobo, so that’s what I bought. I might not have mentioned this before, but it’s worth noting that the families we stayed with went out and got fresh bread daily. Seriously lovely. And can I just say the white country cheese they have here is amazingly delicious! It kind of tastes like havarti, but just a bit more flavor. I also love that Chilenos put palta, avocado on everything. My kind of people.
Now this is Matt telling the story. I drove about an hour and 15 minutes on Route 9 along the Strait of Magellan until El fin de Camino where I parked the truck and started my amazing hike. I hiked for about 3 1/2 miles along the beach to the farthest south large lighthouse in Chile, El Faro San Isidro. There was plenty of wind and rain, but the beach was spectacular. I saw small dolphins jumping out of the water and incredible views of the ocean and mountains.
There were also tons of seagull nests and babies all over the island.
Sadly we eventually had to say goodbye to the cute penguins. The boat ride back took about an hour. The weather was starting to turn very windy and the clouds were getting darker. The water was a lot choppier on the way back too. So thankful we went but out at the earlier time. No tour boats were allowed in the water after noon.
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| The trailhead signs |
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| San Isidro Lighthouse |
After completing the lighthouse hike, I started the hike up Mount Tarn. The trail was really swampy and bumpy and muddy and beautiful. Because of the time of day, and the really strong winds, I only went about a third of the way up the trail, but really enjoyed the views of the Strait from above. Altogether, a spectacular hiking day in Patagonia.
Matt returned at about 3:30 so we still have plenty of time to explore for the rest of the day. We began by going to a pastry shop called La Chocolatta for an afternoon treat. Yum-o! I had a very fancy hot chocolate with slice of raspberry cheesecake and Matt had a fancy cappuccino with a Chilean thousand layer cake (thin flaky pastry layered with cream and manjar-thick caramel). It was delicious! We ate much more than we probably should have, however vacation calories don’t count right?
We went back to the chapel I had spent some time in earlier so Matt could check it out. I love going into old cathedrals like this. They are always so beautiful inside.
And of course we had to go touch the toe of native Patagonian in the middle of the plaza. Superstition is that if you do, you’ll come back to Punta Arenas. It worked for Matt 10 years ago. Wonder if it will work for us this time?
The next morning began very early. We had to walk 15 minutes to meet up for our excursion to go see the penguins. Our meet up time was 6:30 AM. When we got there, they notified us that the weather wasn’t great and they wanted us to come back at 7:30 AM because they had not yet received approval from the coast guard to get on the boats yet. We were kind of laughing at that since this was our nicest morning yet. So after resting back at the hotel for a bit we went back. Luckily this time they directed up to the bus. Yes! We were going to get to go to Magdalena Island to see the penguins! So sorry, (but not sorry) for all the following pictures. I couldn’t just pick one or two and I just couldn’t stop taking photos. Every family of penguins we saw was adorable.
The temperature was just in the 40’s, but the wind and rain sprinkling down made it feel much colder. So worth it though! Seriously photos don’t remotely do this experience justice.
We quickly realized we were too full to go out to a restaurant for dinner so we just went back to the store to get grapes and some more bread. We ended up having a lazy night back in our room playing Phase 10 dice and having a later picnic dinner or once as they call it here in Chile.
The boat ride over to the island took about 45 minutes. During the boat tour, our guides told us all about the Magellanic Penguins we were going to see and how they come every summer to build their nests. Each penguin couple has two eggs. The eggs are hatched in late November early December. So right now, the chicks are almost as big as their parents, but they were still quite fluffy! The penguins live in burrows under ground and kind of sound like donkeys. When we got to the island they had a looped path around the area. When the guide first told us to gage our time by talking 30 minutes to get up to the lighthouse and 30 min back I was thinking it’s not that far, it won’t take us that long. But it did- because we were so busy looking at the penguins (and waiting for them as they crossed our path). Crazy to think we were walking around an island that was in the Strait of Magellan.
Penguin crossing!
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| Fluffy seagull babies |
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| The lighthouse |
Sadly we eventually had to say goodbye to the cute penguins. The boat ride back took about an hour. The weather was starting to turn very windy and the clouds were getting darker. The water was a lot choppier on the way back too. So thankful we went but out at the earlier time. No tour boats were allowed in the water after noon.
The bus back to town from the dock dropped us back at the main plaza where Matt’s friend Alejandro was waiting for us. He flew down from Santiago that morning to spend the next few days with us. We had lunch in a restaurant that Alejandro’s brother recommended -Tapiz. We had sandwiches and Matt had a fancy Irish coffee. It was very yummy.
After lunch we walked to the cemetery. Smiljan, Alejandro’s nephew in law, wanted us to find his grandfather’s grave. We even bought flowers to put on it. Glaciers what a cool cemetery! Very old and very beautiful.
We also stopped at an area that had a small beach that we could walk on. Of course Matt took the opportunity to skip some rocks. There were lots of muscle shells along this beach area too.
Then it was off to dinner at this fabulous restobar- Rustic Restobar. It was a yummy dinner of empanadas and picchangas and pisco drinks. Lovely place! Then we called it a night. Our next adventure was starting early the next day. Next up-Torres del Paine!
We walked down several rows with no luck finding the grave. It’s a huge cemetery! Finally we got directions from a text and we were able to find the site.
After the cemetery we were able to get Alejandro checked into his hotel and we all took a rest for awhile. After resting up, we hopped in the car and explored the rest of the city that is up on the hill and too far away to walk. We also drove out Route 9 for several miles. It was great driving right along the ocean. We came across this beautiful field of flowers that are native to the area and couldn’t resist stopping for a few photos.
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| Stupid finger-can you tell I’m getting used to having different cameras on my phone? I keep getting my finger in the photos. Ugh! |
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