Saturday, Jan 14th. Braced for an 11-hour bus journey, starting off in the rain. Slow road through Tierra del Fuego past a few lakes and a lot of forestry, to the east coast, then up to San Sebastion, the Chile border. Here, having handed in passports and declaration forms, we had a 3-hour wait, queuing to put all our backpacks through a scanner, while sniffer dogs checked for forbidden fruit, vegetables and dairy products.
At last on our way again along a very rough road, passing small lakes with a handful of flamingoes, the occasional South American ostrich, guanacos, and a few men on horseback rounding up sheep. Even a few cows - could they really be Herefords?!
At last on our way again along a very rough road, passing small lakes with a handful of flamingoes, the occasional South American ostrich, guanacos, and a few men on horseback rounding up sheep. Even a few cows - could they really be Herefords?!
The journey was broken up again by a short ferry crossing, and a pretty run into Punta Arenas: 'capital' of this region. Since there are still inconsistent reports regarding the extent to which the Torres del Paine NP is open, decided to spend an extra day here before moving on to Puerto Natales. Some of the streets are evidently being made into pedestrian areas, since they have been completely dug up.
Walked along the coastal promenade watching flocks of cormorants, had a look at the unusual cemetry (including the memorium to the young men who went missing during the military regime, in the 1970s and 1980s), and visited a museum that showed something of the life of the indigenous people of the region.
Some sort of political meeting going on in the main square, in the evening. Lots of loud, passionate speeches, and some music.The area was cordoned off, but the police seemed pretty relaxed about it all.
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