We arrived safely here in Punta Arenas via Lan Chile late Wed. night without any troubles, with our friends Phi, Jorli, and Kelly, other students from Tim´s program. After a little sleeping in Thursday morning, Tim and I got up and walked a few blocks to see the Straits of Magellan. And you know you had to stick his feet in! Walked around some more in the light rain and mist - though we couldn´t complain as this was the first we´d seen here! We met up with the other girls and did some shopping, then found the town´s cemetery which was incredibly impressive. Huge mound-like cypress trees lined the walkways, and aboveground private family mausoleums held tombs, flowers, pictures, memorials.
After lunch at a local place, Tim and I got on a tour bus for the pier where we took a ferry to Isla Magellanes. This is a national monument as it is an enormous Magellanic penguin breeding ground. It was a small island in the straits, and from Oct. to April, home to more than 150,000 penguins (also known as jackass penguins because of the braying sound they make). They come here to mate and breed. These of course were not the ¨march of the penguins¨type, they seemed to have it a little easier! We were close enough to reach out and pet them, as we walked through roped paths amongst their below ground nests. You could distinguish the babies, who were adult size now, by the peach fuss around their necks. We saw penguin pairs (they are monogamous) ¨kissing¨, and a parent feeding their baby by regurgitation - all less than 5 feet away! One even nipped my pants leg. So unbelieveable!
Last night, another friend Lindsay joined us, and we had dinner at a place recommended by Carolina´s family, Sotitos. They put us in a room by ourselves - wonder why - and we had great seafood. We all tried albacone and conger eel, I had centolla, or king crab, with parmesan cheese . Yum!
Today we got up early to catch a bus to Puerto Natales. An hour into the trip, our bus ran out of gas!!! After waiting about 40 min. on the side of the road, 2 buses stopped so our driver coud SIPHON out gas (yes he used his mouth to start the suction). After this he wasted no time in lighting up a cigarette.
An hour or so after we started, we got back on the road and to Puerto Natales. Once here, we found our hostel, called Niko´s. Basically a woman with a large house with extra beds and bathrooms - cool and cheap. Lunch included the largest burger we´ve ever seen, even in teh US! Called the hamburgesa completa, it had a homemade bun, plenty of avocado and cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a burger that tasted much like meatloaf. (I tasted Tim´s.) We are spending the rest of the afternoon getting outfitted for our camping, sending emails, etc. Tomorrow we head into the Torres del Paine National Park to rough it a little! So, no more updates until next week!
Love ya´ll - Ciao!
Blake
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