January 15 - To Punta Arenas

Hola (Spanish for 'Hi'):
Today was a travel day down to Punta Arenas (Spanish for Sandy Point).  What a contrast!  As I lugged my 20 kilos of gear to the subway I was really sweating (no it wasn't perspiring, it was sweating).  

After the usual confusion in the airport (wrong line - get into that other line, idiot) we took off and headed for the first stop at Puerto Montt.  Great views (if I had a window seat) of volcano cones north of Puerto Montt.  The Puerto Montt area is very green compared to the dust bowl of Santiago.

Hit cloud on the leg to Punta Arenas which partially cleared when we got near here.

Not a lot of pictures today.  First is of my cute little room in the VilaFranca in Santiago.

Definitely an older style, but neat and well kept up.  I cannot say enough nice things about Gloria and her staff at the VF.  She treated me so well and was so helpful I might start calling her 'Mom.'

Contrast that with my room at the Patagonia B&B in PA (no! not Port Alberni).  Very new and hopefully as comfortable.  Not as expensive, either.  The only problem is that the walls are thin.









A view of the harbour from my window.  I'll get more shots tomorrow, including the rusty looking fish boats in the harbour.  BTW, I took this photo after 10 pm.  Long days here.  This is likely the furthest south I will get (53 deg. 10 min.) which comparatively is somewhere north of Prince George.  You geography buffs in the crowd can correct me.

Quite a bit cooler.  I had on a long sleeved shirt and jacket and I wasn't warm.  Tomorrow I'll put on my new down vest.


Adventures in Eating, today's edition: I hit a seafood restaurant and selected a combo dish of Salmon, Merluza (hake), and Conger Eel (apparently a Chilean delicacy).  Unfortunately, they were out of Conger Eel, so I couldn't try it.  The Atlantic Salmon is better than our farmed Atlantics, but not as good as Sockeye.  The hake was good, probably better than what we get.

To round off today's blog - a couple of more tidbits from the tour yesterday.
-First, Franco was talking about the influences on Chili's menu.  They include Mapocho, Spanish & German.  He described a dish typical of German influence:  ham, potatoes, and sauerkraut!  So there, I'm not crazy.
-Second - here is part of an authentic native
Chilean menu.  If I get some time, I'll decode it but for now I'll leave it to you folks to figure it out with Google ( consider it a pop quiz).

Time for bed.  Tomorrow is walking about PA and some tour arranging.

Message to Julie - I re-read some of yesterday's blog and I apologize for the grammar errors.

Secret message to Ian - You would be proud of me.  I did something today that you do all the time when you are hiking.  I couldn't burn them, so I just tossed them in the bin.