A three-hour bus ride down the Ruta del Fin del Mundo ("way to the end of the world") took us to the town of Punta Arenas near the southern end of the South American continent.
Every city in Chile has a Plaza de Armas downtown. We were there on a Saturday, and everyone was out having a good time. The local bomberos (firefighters) were letting kids have a go at the fire hose.
There was a nice museum near our lodging with history of the area, particularly of the indigenous Selknam people, who wholly succumbed to the arrival of Europeans.
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| dyed guanaco skin robe |
It also had an abundance of stuffed and preserved fauna, everything from condors to whale eardrums.
Not sure about this one.
But this was near da beach.
On Sunday morning, we set off with a tour group on a big ferry for a 48 kilometer crossing of the Strait of Magellan to the island of Tierra del Fuego. The island got its name when the Selknam lit fires to communicate the sighting of Magellan's strange vessels offshore in 1520.
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| our guide, Luis |
The town of Porvenir, where we arrived, also has a small museum with historical artifacts.
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| spirit of the east wind |
The Selknam coming-of-age ritual of Hain still influences local iconography. During the ritual, elders painted patterns on their bodies so they would not resemble humans while they initiated the youths.
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| re-creation of the first store on Tierra del Fuego |
Tierra del Fuego is a very large island of a few small towns separated by a vast rolling grassy plain, or pampa. At 53 degrees latitude, it's the farthest south we've been.
In 1886, 300 sheep were brought to Tierra del Fuego. Soon they were a million, creating the area's first industry. The sheep are still there, along with cattle, oil, and the king crab harvest. The remains of the first estancia, or ranch, on the island still stand.
We stopped to watch flamingos and black-necked swans.
The main destination, though, was a colony of king penguins. There are 95 penguins here, 19 of them chicks. We had to stand behind wood blinds about 50 yards away so as not to disturb them. video
The chicks were furry little blobs who constantly pestered their parents for a meal. This is done by the adult regurgitating digested fish. video
Before leaving, a necessary stop. Universal language can always get the message across.
In 1945, the Chilean government built a town for the workers of the national oil company, complete with gym, olympic pool, theatre, and grocery store. It's still in use, but a bit run down: it reminded me of a tour of East Berlin I had in 1966.
The tour continued until dark, the last stop being another early estancia and the ship Amadeo that lies on the beach before it. The Amadeo was the first commercial vessel in the area that helped kick off the cattle and sheep industry.
We rose early Monday for a tour to Magdalena Island, home to several hundred Magellanic penguins. The tour was cancelled due to winds in the Strait, but we found another tour group with a larger ship that could do the trip.
There was also a large flock of gulls agitated by a skua, a bird known to attack other birds and devour their chicks. The skua appears late in this video. It was very windy.
The penguins have pockmarked the island with their burrows.
They mate for life.
Next: we take flight from the chilly strait to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
Nice photos! Thanks for sharing your journey!
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