Punta Arenas, Chile and missed port!

Monday, January 30 – Punta Arenas, Chile (means sands point)

This was supposed to be the day we met my cousins here, on our sister ship, the VEENDAM. This was supposed to be the day our two friends returned to the PRINSENDAM from their medical disembarkation. Very sadly, both did not happen.

We are now wearing long underwear and the complete line of winter gear. The ports are windy and cold. The ship docked at the port and we took the free shuttle to the main plaza. We were here in 1992 and we think we found the small hotel where we stayed.
This is the most prominent settlement on the Straits of Magellan and the third largest city in the Patagonian Region. It was a penal colony and disciplinary posting for military personnel in the mid-19th century. The growth of the sheep industry and the discovery of gold led the area to proper and for the 50 years between 1890 and 1940, the region was the world’s most important sheep-raising region. The harbor was considered of the world’s most important before the construction of the Panama Canal; it was used to prepare ships for the treacherous passage around Cape Horn.

We were able to work via the internet and I joined a minivan group from the Veendam ship to go to the Seno Otway penguin colony, about 20 miles out of town on a paved road and another 30 miles on an unpaved road. There was a boardwalk path leading to a lean-to where you could view the Magallanes penguins in the water, in their burrows and on the beach – adults playing at the water’s edge, the chicks in their fluffy wing fur on the sand and get up close and personal for their unforgettablde stinky smell.

There was much immigration from the Welsh and Croatian community. Only 1% of the Chilean population lives in Punta Arenas but the region covers 17% of the mass of the country. 150,000 total population. Sodalite is the Chilean version of the lapis lazuli stone. The city flourished during the California Gold Rush when it was a haven for steamers rounding the Cape - -hard to believe they had to come all the way down here to get to California from the east coast!! The Museum of Regional History was built by the 19th century businessman Braun-Menendez. The sheep farming industry led to vast fortunes because enormous land grants allowed high yield.

We climbed the hilly streets for a nice lookout over the city and water, checked out the many local vendors selling sweaters and products of wool and local stones and found the old cemetery – a virtual city of mausoleums of the town’s wealthy. There were even street signs to make the paths. One large mausoleum even had photos of the family members on porcelain plates on an altar.

We also passed the Nao Victoria ship, a replica of the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese explorer, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of westward route to the “Spice islands” modern Maluku Islands in Indonesia. His expedition became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean.

We had the best ever Indonesian Crew Show at 11PM! Absolutely great entertainers and variety of songs and dances all performed by the crew. Folk songs, guitar playing, dancing and monkey costumes and the angklung orchestra, which is similar to a wooden ruler in length and width that holds narrow round sticks upright. As you jiggle the “wooden ruler” the sticks hit each other and make a sound. Each “angklung” has a different pitch so you play them like a hand bell.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

Tuesday, January 31 – Ushuaia, Argentina

We were all out on the cold deck photographing the “most southerly city in the world” and “the only Argentine city on the other side of the Andes” as we were told the seas were too rough to land. Bummer. It was very windy and the waves were high and sometimes you forget how difficult it is to get passengers safely in and out of the tenders. We were anchored in the harbor for about four+ hours. Pull out the map or google this city to see where it is located: much closer to Chile than to Argentina, separated by the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

Ushuaia: Much like Australia, beginning in 1906, this city was built by the convicts shipped here, to the last frontier. The windswept island of Tierra del Fuego has witnessed a rich history of shipwrecks, penal colonies, gold prospectors and missionaries. Now the area attracts Argentines who come for tax breaks (due to the harsh climate/temperatures drop well below zero between July-September (their winter) and the sun rises only briefly) and there are plentiful jobs.

Museo Maritimo and Museo del Presidio: The national prison for the area, it was built to house 380 but held up to 800 at times. The 2nd floor has the Antarctica exploration exhibit. In the courtyard are the remains of the world’s narrowest gauge freight train which transported prisoners between town and work stations. The prisoners built and maintained the tracks and restored cars operate as a tourist attraction now with a 9-mile route passing through the national park.

Cerro Martial and Glaciar Martial: you can either hike or take the chairlift for a beautiful view of the Beagle Channel.

Parque Nacional Terra del Fuego (End of the World National Park): The park was created in 1960 to protect a 155,610 acre chunk of wilderness that includes mighty peaks, crystalline rivers, black-water swamps and forests of lenga, or deciduous beech. There are easy and medium day hikes, boat rides and bird-watching.

While we were anchored, the government paperwork was able to be completed and then we were on our way to Antarctica! The Captain was anxious (as we were also) to beat the weather pattern heading from the west to the east and decided not to go via Cape Horn but to sail directly south. We were doing 18 knots and the winds were 35 mph. It was still a rough night and one of the first nights I actually moved while in the bed. Most of the time you feel only the swaying, but this time there was physical movement of the body; but at least I did fall OFF the bed!

Larry Linkin was the entertainer – a fabulous clarinet player we enjoyed on last year’s cruise also.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu