Headed South...to the Cold!

As we didn't have jet lag to contend with, we all slept well.  We had a fairly early 7:45am departure from the hotel, following breakfast, for our transfer back to the airport. We were flying this morning to the town of Punta Arenas, on the tip of Chilean Patagonia along the Strait of Magellan, which serves as a gateway for expeditions to Antarctica.  It is one of the southernmost cities in the world and has about 150,000 inhabitants.  The flight was much longer -- three and half hours -- than I had expected, and we flew on a widebody 787 airplane, which also surprised me.  The plane was full, too.  We flew along the spine of the Andes for most of the flight, and the views were spectacular.  Clouds increased as we approached Patagonia proper, and the landscape grew increasingly desolate.  In fact, it was essentially tundra, with fierce winds whipping northward from Antarctica.  As we taxi'd to our gate, I looked out and saw workers on the tarmac struggling to stand upright against the wind, and the plane wobbled from side to side after we linked up with the jet bridge.  On the tarmac we could also see palates of fresh seafood -- mostly salmon and crab -- waiting to get loaded onto our plane, for the return flight to Santiago.  We were told this is the primary reason they use such large planes on this route.

Early Morning View from Our Hotel in Santiago

Our Latam Airlines Flight to Punta Arenas

Three-and-a-half Hour Flight Further South

Taking Off from Santiago

Following the Andes Mountain All the Way South

Katherine and Jeff Taking in the Amazing Scenery

Beginning To Cloud Up as We Neared Arrival

Final Approach into Punta Arenas

After gathering our bags, we exited the tiny airport to be met by the wind and temperatures in the 40's.  It was a rather extreme change from the 70's we left behind in Santiago.  We had a mid-size tour bus waiting for us, along with our local guide, Javier, who proved to be a real highlight of the entire trip.  Javier -- or Javy, as we called him -- was a lifelong resident of Punta Arenas and would be with us for the next four days.  He used to be a "regular" tour guide but started his own company running mountain bike tours throughout Patagonia.  Covid brought his business to a halt, and he started to support Gate1 tours again, while he waits for bookings for his own company to resume.  

We never got to see the town of Punta Arenas proper -- not that there is evidently much to see -- as we immediately started to head north, toward our overnight location in the even smaller port town of Puerto Natales.  There were no towns along the way, and the road was nearly deserted.  We were driving through scrub land, which looked a lot like west Texas, with lots of sheep.  The area is full of absolutely huge private ranches, which run for miles and miles.  Sheep are the primary livestock in the area, and we visited a working sheep farm -- Cerro Negro (Black Hill) Ranch.  We had a barbeque lamb lunch followed by a tour of the original 1900's ranch home (the ranch originated with immigrants from Croatia) and sheep-shearing and sheepdog demonstrations.  It remained cold and windy, and rain kept cutting in and out.  I will admit that we were all pleased to climb back aboard the warm bus.  

Our First Flamingo Sighting, on the Way Out of Punta Arenas

Our Tour Bus in Chilean Patagonia

Sides of Lamb on Gaucho Grill, for our Lunch

Katherine and Our Guide on the Ranch

Sheep Awaiting Their Shearing

Shearing Demonstration

It was another hour or so until we arrived in the tiny port town of Puerta Natales, which only has about 20,000 people, though the town didn't look or feel that large, to be honest.  We had a very nice hotel, situated on the waterfront.  At lunch, we sat with Javy, and when he discovered that we enjoy gin and tonics -- in particular, Jeff and Barabara collect different gins from around the world -- he advised that there was a distillery in Puerta Natales which produces two unique gins.  He offered to go with us that evening, so after unpacking, the five of us walked into town.  Given the size of the town, we were shocked to see a line of about five people outside the small building housing the distillery.  After waiting a while, Javy was able to speak with someone inside, who advised a tour was underway, and we wouldn't be able to enter for at least an hour.  Upon hearing that, Javy offered to take us to another place in town, and we ended up at a fabulous restaurant/bar called Vinnhaus.  It was ostensibly Norwegian, but once inside, it was as if we were inside a scene from the Great Gatsby.  Everything looked like it was from the 1920's, to include how the waiters and waitresses were dressed.  It seemed completely incongruous with the small, somewhat scrubby town we'd left outside.  Aside from tourists using the town as a base for expeditions to Antarctica, it was a small fishing village.  Javy started his own mountain-bike tour company before the pandemic and had used Vinnhaus to house some of his guests -- they had a small set of rooms off the back.  It was a very enjoyable evening, and it was very interesting talking to him, particularly about how life had essentially shut down completely down there for the past two years.  Aside from supply missions to support remaining explorers on Antartica, he said all of Patagonia was like a ghost town and getting around had been extremely difficult.  Despite all of this, he was extremely optimistic and beyond happy to see the return of some tourists.  We were also interested to learn that he had gone to school with the current president of Chile, who had been in his younger brother's grade.  

View of Puerta Natales Harbor from Our Hotel

Antarctic Expedition Ship

One of the Many Fishing Trawlers Based in Puerta Natales

The Gin Distillery We Were Unsuccessful in Visting

Vinnhaus -- 1920's Motif and Excellent Cocktails

Katherine and Barbara Enjoy Their First (or Third) Round of Drinks

The walk back to our hotel was quite cold and damp, and we made sure to turn our radiators to high as soon as we got back into the room.  We were only spending the one night in Puerto Natales -- the only such solo night during our tour -- and that was certainly enough.  Still, it meant we had to have our bags ready to move on first thing in the morning.