27 March 2008: After a long flight from Mexico to Santiago de Chile, we then flew on the same day from Santiago, the capital of Chile, down south to Punta Arenas. Punta Arenas is by the Strait of Magellan, in Brunswich peninsula, and was once called “Sandy Point” by J. Byron, who discovered it in the XVII century. Punta Arenas is the continental city farthest south in the world (although Argentina insists that Ushuaia is a city and thus the southernmost in the world) and it is the southernmost place both of us have ever been. We were really so happy and excited when we arrived -it must have been the feeling of being at the end of the world!

Punta Arenas is cold all year round, being situated so south. When we were there, it was drizzling and the temperature was less than 10 deg Celsius. Still, nothing dampened our mood!

It was a short drive from the airport to town where our hotel was located. This is one of the scenery that greeted us along the way.

Here is a “busy” street

A quiet street in town on a weekday. See the shop sign saying “CruzVerde” (meaning Green Cross)? It is one of the biggest pharmacy chains in Chile.

Quiet town

Colonial-looking building

Memorial to Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan), a Portuguese maritime explorer (sent by the Spanish King) who was the first European to discover the Strait of Magellan in Punta Arenas.

This cute little pavilion is actually a tourist information center

We are in Patagonia - a truly magical place

Patagonia is a geographic region comprising the southernmost portion of South America. It is mostly located in Argentina and partly in Chile. The name Patagonia comes from the word ‘patagon’ used by Ferdinand Magellan to describe the native people who his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches (native tribal people) with an average height of 1.80 m (~5′11″) compared to the 1.55 m (~5′1″) average for Spaniards at that time.

That white building houses a Spanish restaurant, but we have not come to Punta Arenas to eat Spanish food.

Trying out Patagonian food for the first time at one of the few restaurants in town

We love to eat salmon, so we were delighted that salmon is a big part of the Patagonian diet here in the south. For lunch, we had salmon pudding with potato croquets.

A fruity sorbet as dessert

Jerkus, the local restaurant where we ate

Menu del dia: Menu of the day

Two local restaurants on this street. We’ve tried both but preferred the one on the left.

Public transport is in the form of the colectivos, which are shared “taxis”. Each colectivo has a number signboard at the top which represents the specific route taken. You hail it like a taxi from anywhere and can alight anywhere along the route. Fares are fixed within the town (less than US$1 per person). We even took the colectivo twice: once to a ferry terminal and another from the ferry to the hotel.

Here is another colectivo

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