PUNTA ARENAS

8 February 2008, 11:20 PM, MS Nordnorge, At Sea

PUNTA ARENAS

It didn’t at all strain us
To fly to Punta Arenas
Where, with hardly any glitches,
We found wild ostriches.
But we didn’t meet Jimenez.

This morning we flew three hours and ~1280 miles from Santiago to Punta Arenas on the south end of Chile, arriving about 1 PM. Punta Arenas is a city of ~100,000 population.

There was the possibility of walking around town on our own or taking one of three optional tours. We decided against the penguin tour. We took the tour to Estancia Olga Teresa, a ranch some 36 miles out in the flat, open, endless, nearly deserted dry-grass-and sage-brush fenced desert first on a narrow two-lane paved road, then for a long time on a gravel road. It was a bus ride of more than an hour.

I was extremely disappointed on the way out because the young lad acting as guide was hopeless, terrible. His English was terrible. And if you ever finally got him to understand your question, he usually didn’t know the answer.

But things really picked up when we got to the ranch. We had understood it was to be an ostrich farm. Not so. Its is a sheep and beef cattle farm. But we did see a few wild ostriches, called nandu, on the way out. As well as a few sheep, very few cattle, and a few of what I think were wild geese.

Sheep are very important there.

The farm was fun. Lots of us tourists. Family farm. We were given a demonstration of horsemanship including the trick they do in Chilean rodeos. We were given a demonstration of sheep shearing and a sheep dog demonstration. And we finished with a big picnic including lamb which we could watch being cooked in halves over an open fire.

This family has French, Austrian, and Croatian heritage. They bought the land in 1920. The mother and aunt of the present owner were Olga and Teresa.

A lot of the farmers, we were told, have “Mac” names. (They game from Scotland.)

There is a big green field. Oats, I was told, irrigated from wells. Not threshed. Used like hay as feed in the three winter months. They do the same with alfalfa.

It’s always very dry through the summer months.

There are few trees. Especially few naturally occurring trees. Those you do see are scrubby.

It was after 7 PM when we got back to town and boarded our ship. We did all the usual things. Orientation. Life boat drill. Unpacked. I ate a second late light dinner from the ship’s buffet while Helen watched.

It turns out that the ship does have wireless connection for passengers, for a price of course (6hrs for $40), much cheaper than their Internet café. However, there is some confusion involved. And there is this big problem. We brought power adapters/converters, but we are unable to convert the power. A lot of grief trying to work that out. Burned out Helen’s hair dryer in the process of trying. No, we haven’t plugged the computer in yet. I am running on my battery right now and hoping the electrician can help us solve the problem in the morning.

Many of the ship’s employees are Philippinos. Waiters. Reception desk clerk. Helen (and I too) really enjoyed meeting four of them so far.

The ship has free cookie and cake snacks available for free all the time.

We set sail at 9 PM. Tomorrow some time we arrive at Puerto Natales. Driving from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales is ~150 miles.

We’re in the Magellan Straight. It is a long way across the straight to Terra del Fuego.

Cheers!

Bernie