Patagonia

Yesterday afternoon I boarded the bus back to Santiago and from there caught another one straight to the airport. Since I am in the middle of reading 'Over the Edge of the World' a book about Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe the choice of my destination was a foregone conclusion. Below the 40th parralell we go. At the airport I walked up to the LAN Chile window and purchased a ticket to Punta Arenas - Patagonian Chile, A small city perched on the Straits of Magellan. The flight was a sardine can populated almost exclusively with young dudes in camouflage. There were maybe three or four passengers who were not enlisted men in the Chilean Army, apparently Patagonian Chile is not a popular destination for tourists in mid-Winter. Sandwiched between a pair of infantry men the conversation inevitably turned to me, where I was from and what I was doing. It didn't take long for one of them to point out that my coat was insufficient for the place the plane was headed. I assured them that everything would work out just fine. It always does.

The plane landed at 2:00AM and I was awoken by a stewardess throttling my shoulder to wake up. Anticipating a cold wind from Valhalla I was pleasantly surprised that the weather outside did not chill me to the bone. I hopped in a cab and deposited myself at the Hotel Tierra del Fuego.

Today was a day of modest ambition. After breakfast I headed to the Palacio Sara Braun. She was a local and part of the Braun/Nogueira'/Menendez dynasty here who made a fortune off of the wool boom in the early 19Th century. I hadn't a clue who these folks were before today but I will say lots of Italian marble and a great billiards room, how else do you define "doing well" in that era? or any era for that matter? Afterwards I hiked up to Cerro de la Cruz which is one of the best vantage points to view the Magellan Strait from Punta Arenas. Across the strait you could see Tierra Del Fuego and then further to the South another land mass capped in snow which I believed to be Puerto Williams near Cape Horn. Actually I have no idea what the latter was but neither did Magellan so I am in good company with my ignorance.

Since my ultimate goal was Tierra del Fueguo, I headed to a tour agency and secured a ticket for Saturday to take a bus/ferry down to Ushuaia to see the Bealge Channel and whatever is visible from there of Cape Horn. Mission accomplished.

Feeling somewhat proud of my meager achievements I sat myself down for an early dinner. I ordered the Magellan King Crab which showed up just a little shy of a pound of meat. There was very little need for any of the five salsas placed on the table, an occasionally dab of mayonnaise but really just butter and some lemon proved more than enough to enhance the mariscos in front of me.

So the Internet stinks here as my US adapters don't fit the receptacles in this hotel for some strange reason. I am living on borrowed time and as I write this I must depart the corporate conference room now.

I will talk more tomorrow.

Happy Trails
Clifford