Patagonia - Punta Arenas | Correr Es Mi Destino

Patagonia – Punta Arenas

30 January 2009By Zhu 10 Comments

Punta Arenas

Patagonia. A world far far away, at the Southern tip of Chile. And of the Americas.

For us, Patagonia started from above, in the plane. It was almost empty and we had secured a window seat. Huge mountains, rivers of ice, snow, clear blue lakes… The wind was very strong and the ride was rough. We flew above the Pacific Ocean as the pilot was trying to land and we dropped dangerously low. I kept my eyes open, half amazed and half scared. We made it.

Five little hours from relaxed and sunny Santagio to the wind-wracked city of Punta Arenas. Same country but another world. We were on the shore of the Strait of Magellan. Pastel houses arranged around a Plaza Las Armas (with a Magellan statue) and a regular grid street plan. Crisp blue sky, clouds shaped like I have never seen before and the deep blue sea. Wow.

We were not sure what kind of weather to expect. Sure, it´s summer down there, but we are still relatively close to the South pole. But it turned out better than we thought. Windy but above 10C. Manageable.

The city was quiet when we arrived. We grabbed a pollo con queso sandwich and walked around. We lost track of time and next thing we knew, it was 9:00 pm. But the sun was still high in the sky… and when we went to sleep, past midnight, it was not even dark yet. Weird! I guess Nordic people are used to this, as well as locals of course, but we had never experienced 20 hours sunshine before.

The small beach was another experience. The sea looked really deep but the water was clear. I took off my shoes and tasted the water… freezing cold. And I mean it. Nevermind the bunch of local kids swimming and playing in the water with their shirts on.

Overall, Punta Arenas was a nice place. A quiet city, with a quite unique location. A relaxing spot, before heading to Tierra Del Fuego, down South…

From The Plane...

Magellan, King Of The City

Distances From Cities Around The World

The Water Is Coooold!

Strait Of Magellan

Because I´m Brave

Streets Of Punta Arenas

Midnight In Punta Arenas, The Sun Barely Setting...

10 Comments »

Max Coutinho said:

Hey Zhu,

Fantastic place! I have an Argentinian friend who told me that Patagonia was simply amazing!
20 hours sun? Wow…
Cold water at the beach…come to Portugal LOL! Seriously, there must be much worse than here…

I loved the photos: definitely it is a great place to visit ! You are blessed!

Have fun guys, and keep us posted!

Cheers

# 3 February 2009 at 11:35 am

Zhu (author) said:

@DianeCA – Same here! I can never resist… even in Arica where there were huuuge jellyfishes!

@Aiglee – It´s quite a long way but it worth it

@Tulsa Gentleman – Strayed? nah… Just a few thousands kilometers South… I never know where I will end up when I travel!

@Linguist-in-Waiting – Same here. I have never seen it in the Northern hemisphere!

@Bluefish – Not sure… Give it another month maybe… we really don´t have a define plan.

@Froggywoogie – Oh, you have no idea And I also escape a two months bus strike in Ottawa apparently!

@the writer – It is a special place. It had always made me dream as well. I almost cried when we arrived!

@Soleil – There is also a local beer called “Austral”, Feng tasted it. There are all these cool stuffs… I collect plastic bags which say “Patagonia” cause the name is cool

# 1 February 2009 at 8:46 pm

Soleil said:

Zhu, I am enjoying your travels so much, thank you for sharing with all of us! I keep having to wipe drool off of the keyboard after I look at your pictures. What an amazing experience. I hope that I’ll be able to go to the same places some day! I never knew there were actual cities and people in the Tierra del Fuego/Straits of Magellan. I always imagined it to be like Antarctica, but I just read that there’s apparently even a local beer under the mark Beagle. Can’t wait to see the next installment of your journeys!

# 1 February 2009 at 8:46 am