Punta Arenas, Chile March 7, 2006
Today we woke up in a much warmer, dryer, windless private room in Puerto Natales. It was really nice. After another quick breakfast of bread and juice, we again hopped on board a bus and headed to Punta Arenas, also in Chile. A 3 hour busride allowed us to arrive sometime after noon, and this town was much more complimentary to the country of Chile. It's a bit more cosmopolitan and is what I imagined Chile to be. Although the store fronts look nice and there seems to be reasonable shopping here, the roofs are still made of corrogated tin and things still seem to be below standards we expect back in the ol' US of A. Suprisingly, prices are still much steeper than Argentina. A quick lunch with Roberto found a cheeseburger and Fanta for about $5 US. Terri was not feeling well with a migraine, so I cruised over to the grocery store and did some shopping for us. It took me about 45 minutes to locate peanut butter and jelly, as the MANY private duty cops and store managers watched me like a hawk with my backpack on. Apparently thievery is a big problem here. Or perhaps they saw me stuffing all that ice-cream in my pockets.At 4:30, we all met at the travel agency for Terri's highlight of the trip--Las Penguinas!!! We drove 1.5 hours down a dirt road to reach the Otway Penguin Colony, which during peak season is home to 60,000+ Maggellan Penguins. They were pretty darn cool. Although their numbers were significantly decreased (we saw several hundred), it was quite an experience to view penguins in their natural habitat. The babies had nearly grown and lost all their new feathers, and many have already let. They have to drop all their baby feathers before heading to the Faulkland Islands for the winter, as they would freeze otherwise. These penguins were about 2 feet tall, and we could view them on the beach as well as inland in the holes they use to burrow as homes. Many of them were doing their crazy mating calls and were really loud at points. In addition, today offered great views of other wildlife, as we were truly out in the wilderness. We saw a wild yellow-eyed owl hunting (I think I got a great photo of this guy), wild coyotes, rheas (like an ostrich), pink flamingos, and caracaras (like eagles). Overall, it was an incredible experience. Quite unique, and I'm glad Terri improved enough to be able to see it. I think the frequent mentioning of this excursion was how I finally convinced her to do this trip!The hostel in Punta Arenas is noteworthy in itself. If you could transport yourself to the early 70's, this is the decor of this place. Although it is REALLY old, it has a kind of character to it that is welcoming. Call me crazy, but things could be worse. The temp. continues to be cold, as we are now even further south. Thankfully, the sun was out for part of the afternoon and it was comfortable with just a thin coat on. But for summertime in South America, I'd still call it colder than expected--no more than 50 degrees for a high.Dinner was initially fun, then an experience I won't soon forget. La Luna was the place, specializing in Italian food. It was a cleverly designed restaurant with good woodwork and even a fully set table upside-down on the 2nd floor ceiling. Roberto, Terri, myself, Herbert, and Ted were at our table. After an initial round of pisco sours, Terri had the filet and myself, the spaghetti. Terri's steak was no doubt completely BATHED in a marinade comprising of nothing more than a giant bowl of SALT. It was pretty bad. After the initial shock, it was at least edible. I had dug into my spaghetti and meat for a couple of minutes, when out of the corner of my eye something seemed awry. There seemed to be perhaps a bit more motion than I had expected coming from my dish. Perhaps something moving within the noodles on its own. Was it the pisco sour playing tricks with my mind? Ummm, negative. How about a nice 3/4 inch sauce-covered cockroach making a mad dash from my bowl of noodles and meat. CHECK PLEASE!!!! I didn't make a giant deal of it, but my dining experience terminated immediately. They gave me a pisco sour on the house, and that was good enough. I think I am ready for soom Argetine food. It's much better, free of bugs so far, and less than half the price... Time for bed and a long busride tomorrow. Hasta! La Cucaracha Out!
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