Punta Arenas and Ushuaia, again

We arrived in Punta Arenas on Saturday 8th Jan in the rain and booked our onward bus ticket before going to find our hostel. Although the man in charge, Claudio, was very friendly and helpful, it wasn´t really the clean and comfortable place we hoped for. The best thing to say, is that there was a kettle in the main lounge, and a big TV. Still, it was exciting to be in a new place, and we went for a wander round, after saying hello to a couple of people from Puerto Natales.







The next day, we went to the main museum (mainly because these things are free on Sundays, and it was pretty cold, although I wasn´t complaining!). It´s an old mansion, from the times when Punta Arenas was the centre of the world´s wool trade, before the Panama canal ruined everything. It was interesting, especially the rooms that were restored, and we spent a lot of time imagining we lived there, and had a snooker room and a ballroom!

We also went to what seemed like a fun outdoor concert on the seafront, next to the Magellan Straights, although everyone was carried black flags and bin bags taped to sticks. Still, one of the singers performed ´Hopelessy Devoted´from Grease, which I sung along loudly to, and we got involved in some chanting against President Piñera, just for fun. Little did we know how this would come back to haunt us...



Since we couldn´t get a bus to Ushuaia until Tuesday, we had another day to kill so on Monday we walked to the cemetery, which was really interesting as it´s full of huge family tombs, built like houses, from the city´s heyday. It was also full of topiary trees, making it look like something out of ´Alice in Wonderland´.



However, it was so windy, that you couldn´t walk far without getting blown into the road. Quite dangerous.



We braved the wind just long enough to kiss the Indian´s foot on the statue of Magellan in the main square. Apparently, this means that you´ll come back to Punta Arenas one day. I thought it meant ´good luck´or I might not have bothered!

The next day we took a 12 hour bus ride to Ushuaia, saying goodbye to Chile and enjoying our first full day in Argentina. As most of the landscape on the journey had been flat and featureless, we weren´t prepared for how beautiful the bus journey through the Garibaldi Pass and into Ushuaia would be. We wound up through snow-covered mountained and up around a beautiful lake, and dropped into the city on the edge of the Beagle Channel, where there are many ships preparing to go to Antarctica. Although we were tired, everyone at our hostel was really friendly, so we ended up having a barbecue and a few beers with some of the other inmates!

Since we wouldn´t be able to leave until Friday, the next day being Wednesday, we had a good look around the city and the port before getting our passports stamped with ´Ushuaia - most southerly city in the world´ stamps and went to some more museums, one in the former prison (the city was formerly a penal colony). This is the province of Argentina that includes the Islas Malvinas (the Falklands) and there are signs around the town declaring that the Islands should be Argentinian, and even an exhibit about it in the prison museum.

On Friday, we got our bus at 5am for Rio Gallegos, to finally begin heading north again up through Argentina. We had been told that the ferry across the Magellan Straight (that is the only way out of Tierra Del Fuego and back to the mainland) was blockaded by Chileans, protesting about a 20% rise in gas prices being forced upon them. This had been the subject of the protest that we´d joined with such gusto in Puntas. I think things turned nasty there after we left though. We thought we would have to wait around 3 hours at the port, but as the day wore on, the bus company decided to turn us around back into Argentina, to try again another day. We stayed overnight in Rio Grande to save 3 hours further travelling to Ushuaia, but upon arriving this morning (Saturday) we found that they weren´t even going to attempt the journey.

So now we´re back in Ushuaia, camping for a couple of nights in a lovely place with a great view of the port and the Beagle Channel, and will just have to wait and see when we can get out. We´re trapped until further notice!




P.S: We are still in good spirits and were cheered up by some toilet roll from home!!