8. Puerto Arenas, Chile

Puerto Arenas

Punta Arenas is advertised in the sign below as the Gateway to Antarctica. I guess it is that, though unlike the town of Ushuaia, this really is a city, as the photos below will show. The differences between Chile and Argentina, where we were yesterday, are not immediately apparent to a first time visitor or the average tourist.

Overlooking the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas is the southernmost city on earth (Oceania Cruises "Currents")

The language is still Spanish, the locals look the same, the currency is still pesos, but this is the Pacific Coast not the Atlantic. As we move north we get a flavour of Chile. We like what we see.

for the southernmost city
in the world this is still planet Earth

Our ship arrived in a rain shower, a cool 12C. We walked around to explore the city, hence the photos of the urban landscape

wonderful old buildings that are well-maintained, the city feels vibrant - busy and alive

Speaking of currency, one thing that did jump out at us was the exchange rate. One US dollar gave us about 38 pesos in Argentina, but in Chile we got 665 pesos. Centavos? forgedaboudit ...

I call this photograph
One Man. Guess why? Hah!

As a traveller, one is always doing mental math on the fly: you want to buy something and the cost is important to you, especially if there is a third currency in your head, e.g., the Canadian dollar. For an ADD-innumerate kind of guy this is a tricky business, but my partner is sharper with numbers, so that's good. 

Um, it's also confusing that these pesos use the $ sign. To travel is to learn so many trivial little things like a dollar does not always mean a dollar.

this was
 in Argentina

Plate + drink + dessert for  $280!

(at today's exch. rate, that's just over $7.26 US or $9.63 CDN - a smoking' deal anywhere!!)

Jo assumes statue pose
when she sees the fuzz

Policemen/Carabineros  on the beat, just like any other city.

This is the statue of Ferdinand the Magellan, Portuguese explorer who many of us learned about in school.

The woman in the colourful parka is rubbing the brass toes. Why?

lots of people been rubbing these toes
(picture is out of focus 'cause the foot moved)

Legend has it that if you rub the toes, you will return to the city. Or is it, he will return to the city? Who will come back? Magellan? I don't think so. He was not Jesus, after all.
Then again, a legend is a legend.

Hmm ... This baffles me. Maybe Jo will come back here. Without me.

top arrow not pointing to
Cristobal and Colon, Panama

Just down the street was the intersection of  Magallenes and  Avenue Cristobal Colon. Translation: the M word is Spanish for the explorer's last name, which appears everywhere around these parts; Cristóbal Colón is Spanish for Christopher Columbus. 

Here is a trivia gem: readers who have done the Panama Canal may remember (but probably don't) the two small cities at the  southeastern point of Limon Bay. On your starboard side (for landlubbers that is on your right as you face the pointy part of the ship - the bow), as your ship enters the Atlantic Ocean, are the cities of Cristóbal and Colón. I don't think cruise ships stop there much. I hope not.

quite a juicy story in Ch 15,
and Chs 7, 8, 29, 30, 33 ...

If you have not yet read the amazing memoir, No Ordinary Seaman, you are very likely to remain  uninformed about such important historic and geographic information as described above. More detail about the subject can be found in Chapter  15: CLUB 61 IN CRISTOBAL

weaving around street lamp?

And I thought we were really far from home. For non-Canadian readers, this is one of our banks. A wee surprise. 

This poster promotes a local New Years Eve bash that would probably have been a spectacular way to blow out the old year and bring in the new. Only $12,000 for a couple.

...ooo0ooo...

next blog post is: Chilean Fjords

www.noordinaryseaman.com for more photography and writing