Finis Terrae Hotel Punta Arenas

... Park treks so there were any shops selling camping and trekking gear. We had a bus booked at 3pm so we did our usual town wanderings and explored only to find the town shut down from 12 midday for siesta so we were marooned and found it even difficult to find a place to have lunch... The air was sop clear and clean down there and the light so bright. Being at 53degrees longitude was the furthest we had ever been south.. We took the bus to Punta Arenas and over the 3 hr ...

... I was transfixed by the beauty of its otherness, imagining it as a different land, of ice palaces, home to ice queens, while malevolent ice devils dwelled in the dark niches... but my imaginative romp was interrupted by my senses telling me that if I didn't start moving now, I would be too frozen to do so later: my feet were numb, legs stiff, upper body entirely tensed against the cold, I couldn't feel my hands ...

... coup de mal du pays m'était tombé dessus à Chiloé, et puis j'avais accumulé de la fatigue et du stress pour plein de raisons, alors j'ai bullé tranquillement. La première soirée il a fait beau, je me suis promené un peu en ville (qui a quelques bâtiments centenaires forts jolis), mais après ça a été un vrai temps Patagon. Et ici, quand le soleil sort il faut chaud, quand il vente il fait frette, quand il pleut il mouille, mais le problème principal ...

... after making the best out of a bad situation and having people welcome us to their feast with great company I couldn't help but be upset. I fall asleep after star gazing in the unpolluted skies laughing at the irony. February 2nd So a new challenge to face this morning, as we repack the bikes, Mike and I debate our options. A few minutes later a tour group of BMW's pull over and I race over to talk to them. I ask them if anybody has a spare ...

... of the rocks just make this area something to remember. I tried to capture it on camera and on video however again I don't think I do it any justice at all. I stayed up here for about an hour, mainly because of the beauty of the place but also I had to make the descend back to camp. The descend in a way was more taxing on the body especially the knees and one bad move was all it would take to really hurt yourself. But I made it down safely and returned to the lodge ...

... out of the edge of a cliff, or exposed to ridiculous winds, or surrounded by sharp, pointy, objects, or all of the above. Mostly all of the above, plus you have to trip all over each other since there are SO MANY people in the park. And for good reason, of course. While facing this "adversity", we´re also watching enormous glaciers formed from one of the largest ice fields in the world drop off in large chunks and splash into weirdly ...

... put on a fake Hawaiian shirt and content myself with the tropics instead like normal people? Final I crossed the border. What difference can a line drawn on the map make? It surprises me sometimes. They're not always as startling as the border at TJ, but that's to be expected. Still the one here delineates more than the one up by Vancouver. There are no more ubiquitous meat grills or cups of mate' with the silver straw extruding ...

... as well because both ING and Rabo have big offices here and there's also a Dutch consulate! By the time we arrived in Punta Arenas (about a three hour bus ride from Puerto Natales), it was dark and very cold and windy, and we were totally exhausted. We checked into our hotel, Cabo de Hornos, which faces the town's main square. After a quick dinner, I was glad to just climb into a nice warm bed and doze off. The next morning, we were taken on a short tour of the ...

25th to 26th March 2008 On Tues 25th, I caught the 0900 bus from Puerto Natales for the 3 hour journey to Punta Arenas, arriving around 12pm. Punta Arenas is situated on the Straits of Magellan. The buildings around the main plaza are of a grand architecture. Had about 10-15 minute walk from the bus station to my hostel. On the way, I bumped into the couple that I met on the route 40 journey to El Chalten. That´s the second time ...

... the grasslands of Argentina. USDA Fact Sheet) Rosa told us they are polygamists. One male will mate with several females who all lay their eggs in the same nest. Then the male incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks. We saw one pop with about 10 chicks (I think 9 show in the photo) on our way to the estancia after we had left the highway. We also saw a couple of grey foxes along the highway. They were lying not far off the road. When we stopped and backed up ...