Day 9

December 29^th 2007

Docked at Punta Arenas at around 6am today. While waiting to go ashore, we saw the weather change dramatically several times over within the span of 45 minutes; from sunshine to hail to freezing winds and back again to warm sunny weather. Neha and I were having a rough time switching between different layers of clothing to stay in some sort of comfort zone.

Punta Arenas (meaning “Sandy Point”) is the southernmost city in Chile, different in many ways to any other place in the country especially in its architecture. Punta Arenas is also the only city in Chile where the sun rises over the sea and sets over land. The graveyard in the city is quite unique with its neatly trimmed trees that resemble giant green golf balls. Littered with gravestones in many languages, the presence of a rather cosmopolitan provenance of Patagonian pioneers along with those from shipping disasters is quite evident in these scenic resting grounds.

Arriving at the central plaza (Plaza de Armas) with Neha and her out of control umbrella in tow, we were greeted by a giant statue of Magellan with a mermaid and two Fuegian Indians at his feet. Legend has it that if one were to kiss the big toe of one of the Indians, they would end up returning to Punta Arenas at life’s end. Neither of us did such a thing; not that we didn’t like the place, but I don’t think we really belong here.

We transported ourselves to another port at the northern end of the city and boarded a chartered ferry that would traverse the Straits of Magellan 2 hours north to Isla Magdalena; home of the Magellanic penguins. Ever since this cruise started, Neha and I were looking forward to this part of the trip the most. Crossing the straits on a front-propelled hardy ferry, we spotted dolphins and penguins racing our ferry – they beat us quite soundly! We finally saw Isla Magdallena in the distance; a small lump of rock in the middle of a larger rocky outcrop that encircled the island, with one lighthouse peeking out from behind high ground. Every year penguins from Brazil, Uruguay and the Falkland Islands make the long trek in late September/early October to meet, greet and breed on the rocky grounds of Isla Magdallena. They don’t go to any of the other islands in the area, they don’t get lost along the way over miles and miles of ocean and they don’t bring any other species of penguins with them. Every year, they seek out this one tiny piece of land to extend their kind. It is an amazing concept to grasp. Neha thinks it is because of the lone lighthouse in the area that the penguins can easily locate their grounds to which they return without fail year after year! Magdalena receives about 150,000 penguins every year and this was one of the islands that Captain Drake and his men visited when they were traversing the straits, and where they killed about 3000 penguins for food.

This is the first time both of us have ever seen penguins up close in their natural habitat. They were curious creatures with lots of character. The young in their burrows are born blind and we were advised not to use flash photography while taking pictures up close. December is usually when adult penguins shed their coats (molting) and along with their young grow out new shiny layers ready for their trek back to their homes in late February. Most of the young, in their grey fuzz, followed their parents around in search of food or lay low in their burrows away from the cold wind. We saw other adults clasping seaweed and other debris in their beaks, trying to fortify their burrows to protect their young. Neha had an especially good time with one of the penguins that was half out of its burrow. Every time Neha would walk by, this particular penguin would strain its neck almost 360 degrees to watch her go by. Neha went back and forth several times and I was able to catch some funny footage of this penguin following her with close attention – left to right, right to left, over and over again. Not at any point during this performance did the penguin want to position itself in a more comfortable manner. Whilst amongst these penguins for about an hour, we also saw seagulls sharing these breeding grounds, not as predators, but as parents with their little chicks. The tide started to get low and we were hurried back to our ferry. Being front-propelled, there have been many times in the past when ferries have gotten grounded with the tide suddenly retreating. Having safely boarded the ferry, we bid good bye to the Magellanic penguins who seemed to carry on with their simple lives without a care in the world.

Once back in Punta Arena, Neha and I concluded our visit to this historic city with some shopping and adventurous taxi rides without the aid of our Spanish phrasebook (which we lost in Valparaiso I think) and without knowledge of the region. With a couple of hours to spare we were on a mission to find some Havana’s for a friend who could not get off the ship because it was Shabbat. Our quest led us to Zona Franca and the one store that sold them was closed. We hung around for about 30 minutes (till 3:45 pm) before we concluded that it may not necessarily be a case of siesta but it might just be closed since it was a Saturday. We got back and shopped at Rama – a local handicraft store for tapestries and gifts. We walked around a bit more before heading out back to the ship.

This is our last port in Chile before we leave for Ushuaia, Argentina – the end of the world.