Hello from a very cold Punta Arenas!
After having avoided the winter for most of our journey it has finally caught up with us at the end of our Chilean adventures. It's so cold here that we're wearing woolly hats in the middle of the day! June commented earlier that it finally feels like Christmas.
Despite the chill Punta Arenas is a nice town, and we've spent today visiting a couple of museums. The first was the Maritime Museum and covered details of Chile's naval battles as well as a display about the rescue of Shackleton's expedition from the Antarctic. We'd both enjoyed the Shackleton mini-series when it was on TV a few years ago, and it was nice to see some relics of the adventure. They survived in the Antarctic waiting for rescue for the best part of a year - at the moment we're struggling to stay outside for more than a few minutes at a time!
Tomorrow we head on a long bus journey back into Argentina and down to Ushuaia in the Tierre Del Fuego. Ushuaia is the southern-most city in the world, only about 50 miles north of Cape Horn. Its latitude is 54°47' south. Surprisingly Glasgow is at 55°50' north. I wonder why the bottom of the world is colder than the top? Something to do with hot air rising perhaps?!
We've really enjoyed our two spells in Chile. It has some stunning scenery and the people are very friendly. It's the wealthiest country in South America (52nd in the world in the GDP per capita table) but feels less westernised and a little less worldy-wise than Argentina. I don't know if we'll ever be back this way again, but there is still lots we didn't see, including Easter Island, and most of the peaks of the Torres Del Paine!
We've got a few days in Ushuaia before we fly to Buenos Airies to thaw out. We've booked an apartment for a week so we can relax and enjoy the city's buzz.
Adios!
1 comment:
So you're heading to Ushuaia. Would it surprise you to know that I spent a week there once! Well if the truth be known, it was Chalet Ushuaia in Tignes in 2004. Just hope the weather is a little warmer for you than it was for me on my visit! BTW, the Chalet owner was South American.
Have fun guys, Marc x (the x is not for you Mark, it's for June).
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