Adventures in South America: Punta Arenas, Chile

Today is our last day in Punta Arenas, and we fly back to Santiago this evening. We took it very easy, mostly walking around, doing a little souvenir shopping, and so on. 

We went to a shopping mall that has an ice rink and we were amazed to see a young skater wearing an Edmonton Oilers jersey!

We also walked by the southernmost Hindu temple in the world--across the street in the photo below.

I had to swing by La Luna, the restaurant at which we had dinner last night, because I had forgotten my backpack there. It is a really cool place . . .

I was especially impressed with the table on the ceiling!

Speaking of food, for lunch today I had an incredible seafood soup!

Adventures in South America: Isla Magdalena, Chile

Early this morning we caught an Uber from our hostel and headed down to the Punta Arena port. Ships to Antarctica leave from here, but our destination was Isla Magdalena, the home of tens of thousands of Magellanic penguins!

Along with a couple of dozen other tourists, we took the catamaran on the left out to the island in the Strait of Magellan.

Shortly after leaving port, humpback whales were swimming alongside, which was pretty exciting! 

After about 90 minutes of comfortable sailing, we got close to Isla Magdalena.

The island is entirely a natural monument dedicated to the penguins (but a lot of other birds appreciate it too!).

Tourists can only spend one hour on the island, and you can walk a roped-in trail that loops around from the dock. There are penguins all over--in the water, on the beach, roosting in their burrows, and picking grass to add to their nests. They come here to breed and stay for roughly half the year, beginning to arrive in the spring and leaving in early autumn. In November there are no babies yet, but eggs have been laid. I am not sure what more to say, except check out all the penguins!

Here is some of the video I was able to take:

The tour is expensive ($100 USD) but for me it was totally worth it and one my initial thoughts as we reboarded the boat to return was "I want to do it again"!

Adventures in South America: Punta Arenas, Chile

We left Torres del Paine this morning around 10:00 and headed back to Puerto Natales. There, we dropped off the rental car and had a nice lunch, then headed to the bus station. For just 7,800 pesos each (les than $12 Canadian) we caught a comfortable three hour bus south through the Patagonian expanses to Punta Arenas.

Here, we checked into the Hostal Terra Antarctica. As the name of the hostel suggests, Punta Arenas is one of the main departure points to the southernmost continent, but we will not be getting there on this trip.

We did head south, however, albeit only a few blocks, to the Strait of Magellan waterfront. 

Chile's most popular football team, the Santiago-based Colo-Colo, won the league title this afternoon, and there were many people quite happy, clearly; incessant honking, firecrackers, singing, and flag waving filled the streets and the Plaza de Armas. 

Here is some video for a better taste of the sights and sounds.

After some walking and a little shopping we went for dinner and shared a plate of chorrillana, a classic, not especially healthy, Chilean dish of French fries topped with fried meats, onions, eggs, and vegetables.