January 31 in Punta Arenas, Chile....... It is about 14:00 and I have just returned from a tour of this interesting town. Punta Arenas has about 120,000 people but if you include the surrounding area it caters to about 160,000. Most of the shipping here involves imports from other places as there are no industries here. Sheep wool and mutton is harvested and shipped out, but there really is nothing else. Tourism brings in some business but not a lot. There is a coal mine 40 miles north but the exportation occurs out of a northern port. Our guide mentioned fishing, forestry, and mining but none of these plays a major role in the local economy. As it is summer here the temperature was about 17 degrees C which is not very warm but the sky was clear in the early morning with the sun shining brightly. Now comes the other part of the weather... the wind! The area is beautiful but the population is a moving one as people can stand the wind for only about 5 years and then they move away. Today the wind was blowing very hard and pedestrians on the street were fighting the wind to walk along the sidewalks. Chile is known for its pharmacies as here there is about one pharmacy for every 2 blocks in town. Until recently products that we need prescriptions for could be bought over the counter and folks recommended and traded drugs with one another. Recently the government has started to clamp down on the purchase of drugs... in fact there is now pressure to get drugs under some control. Even drugs that we deem illegal could be purchased by anyone.
So 2 nights ago our ship had to cut one motor at a time and clean out the filters as tiny shrimp known as krill were being sucked into the motors. These krill are quite hazardous for humans to consume but whales love them. Because of this incident Captain Roberts felt it safer to head back to the ocean so we missed seeing the Amalia Glacier. Instead we were tossed about back and forth as we pitched and fought 12 foot swells. Yesterday calmed down as we once again came back into the fjords. Punta Arenas is on the Magellan Channel and the history surrounding this area is much more than what I was taught in school. Charles Darwin spent more time sailing around in southern Chile than he did in the Galapagos Islands.
The other day I saw Magellanic Penguins swimming off the starboard side of the ship. Their heads would pop up and down. As we approach Antarctica and the Falkland Islands we will be seeing more and more of them. They are very friendly in their own way and may walk right up to you. There are about 4 or 5 different types of penguins- Emporer, Magellanic, King, Rock Hopper, and Gen too. It will be fun to see a couple of types in person.
Dick and Bobbie took a tour out of Puerto Chacabuco last Monday and they wrote about it. The tour had 32 people with 2 buses. Patagonia and the Andes were both beautiful with very kind people. Mark was their guide on Anne's Tour Company - Patagonia Tours. The weather was beautiful warm and sunny and everyone removed their jackets. The views were breathtaking, beautiful waterfalls and mountains with snow covered peaks. They traveled 2 lane dirt roads to see these waterfalls and the country views. Lunch was at a compo which is a farm where they had salmon and lamb and they mentioned it was the highlight of the day as their children performed Chilean dances in colourful dress for their enjoyment. The owner came over and greeted them with a welcoming kiss to the cheek and a handshake. They were impressed by the whole experience.
Tonight we leave to head for the most southern city on the earth, Ushuaia. We will arrive tomorrow morning and then we will spend 5 days traveling through the scenic Antarctica. Due to weather and satellite location the WiFi may be out of service but if you want you can google the ship and find out where we are.
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