At least the days are starting to get warmer. Today is Punta Arenas, Chile and the weather
was supposed to reach a high of 54 degrees.
It might have been that high at sometime but with the wind, the actual
temperature was a lot less. Still – it was
better than yesterday.
This is the city where the famous Captain Shackleford had
his excursions to Antarctica. The city
was among the first Spanish settlements along the Strait of Magellan coast,
dating back to the late 16th century. The Strait of Magellan is the passageway that
was found to go from the two oceans without going around Cape Horn. We will be in the Strait of Magellan starting
tonight as we head to our next port of call after two sea days. Right now, we are in Patagonia which is an
area of Chile like we live in the Midwest.
We had to take a tender into the port as they have no facilities
to have large cruise ships such as our dock close to town. The waves were very rough and it was an
experience getting on and off the tender.
We met out guide and driver at the pier for a 3 hour tour
of the city. It was interesting learning
about the city and its history as first a military penal colony to a farm
community and now a mining and tourist town that has only 150,000 people in it.
We toured a museum about the city and its history and
also tour a cemetery, which was supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the
world, and it certainly was.
In looking at maps of the bottom of the world, we are
closer to Australia that we are to Bloomington - Now that is amazing!!
At the end of the tour, our guide found a shopping area
with Kahula and Barb wasn’t going to get any until she found out that the price
was only $12 a bottle, a lot less than in the US, so we got two bottles.
After the guide dropped us off at the pier, we walked
about 4 blocks to a restaurant called La Luna (the moon) that she recommended
and it was one of the best ever. Barb
had baked King Crab and Ed had Tenderloin and they both were amazing dishes
because of the sauces and how they were prepared.
We also found a new drink made up of a Chilean liquor,
calafati berries, sugar and lemon. It
was called a Calafati Sour drink and wow was it good. I might not have calafati spelled correctly,
but the drink was really very good.
We then walked up to the City Center and the main park
where they were all kinds of booths set up to sell souvenirs. We bought our casino supervisor, Carla a
present and also a present for the waiters 17 month son as they have been so
good to us. Ed also bought a sweater and
Barb bought a ring as well as some souvenirs.
Then we walked a few block to the ship going into numerous
shops along the way until we made it to port where we took the shuttle boat
back to the ship. The waves were really
rough and the bow of the tender probably rose 15 feet up and down!!
After we sorted out everything we bought, it was time for
a nap after a fun day in town.
The entertainment tonight was a singer/guitar player and
he was pretty good.
Then it was time for dinner – it seemed like we just ate,
but we went anyway and then we went to the casino where Barb won just a little
and Ed had his largest loss! Just wasn’t
the night – but hopefully tomorrow when we will have the first of two sea days.
Night
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| Our ship from town |
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| At the top of the town - notice our ship on the right |
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| Rest in peace |
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| Lunch |
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| Barb with our tour guide buying "stuff" |
