Crossing the Strait of Magellan
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2006
1
24
33
Trip End
Sep 04, 2007
Tierra del Fuego,
Chile
Thursday, February 22, 2007
As I stood on the deck of the Melinka and watched Punta Arenas and the rest of the mainland American continent start to shrink, out of the misty shores a rainbow began to grow over the city. Small, yet distinct, it was bidding myself and the other passengers a pleasant journey to the most southern island that is considered part of America, Tierra del Fuego, The Land of Fire
abandoned ship!
.About two hours later I was elated as we arrived in Porvenir, the capital of the region. After kissing land, I took a look at the landscape it gave me the impression that I was in a place that has the visual presence of wind. The trees are all crooked and grow in odd formations, the birds seemed to float without so much as a flap of their wings, the bay was full of wind-whipped white breaks in all directions and the constant flushed look on the faces of the locals combined with the ever-present creases that aged them before their time all are part of the wind´s physical presence.
I got off the boat and realized that there was almost nothing to do in this town. I went about securing accomodation and finding food when I came across an interesting little museum. As it turns out, the Land of Fire has some incredibly interesting artifacts stored in there. Aside from the necropolis of real stuffed animals (eagles, owls, countless other winged creatures, about 7 differnet species of penguin, rabbits, foxes), there were some real bones including the skeleton of an elephant seal (those things are HUGE!), human skulls, a mummy, all kinds of pictures of the native people, parts of their strange costumes for special rituals and about 10 different types of arrows used by the local indigenous people at one time. My favorite was the arrow that had a big fluffy feathered puff ball at the end that was used for play.
I also took some nice pictures from the mirador hill over the bay and then called it a night and wandered back to my room. While the Lonely Planet guidebook had been relatively accurate about the description of my lodging (cheap, not very well kept up, friendly owners) it neglected to mention the family pet that resided outside my bedroom window that began to cock-a-doodle-doo around 4 in the morning
lighthouse in porvenir
. The rooster eventually drove me out of bed around 8:00 when I decided to get up just so I wouldn´t have to listen to him.So instead I had an extra long breakfast and chatted over three cups of Nescafe and even one cup of tea with a couple of friendly German girls that happened to be staying in the same place. I had time to kill anyway as I was waiting for the bus to take me back to the ship so I could return to Punta Arenas for a flight (too much transport, I know).
When I arrived at the port I already felt a little queasy from the bus ride but did my best to brush it off. On the boat, things started out alright. I saw some amazing black and white dolphins jumping and playing around in the water while we were still in the calm waters of the bay.
Once we got to the open seas, however, it was all over. I thought for sure that if we didn´t capsize, I was going to die anyway as I kindly deposited each cup of coffee (separately) back into the ocean by way of hanging my head over the side of the boat and yakking.
Myself and one other poor kid shared the deck and took turns heaving over opposite sides
mummy in museum
. Although I should admit that he had it far worse than I. And his sound effects were also FAR more dramatic...A sympathetic sailor took some pity on my and sat and chatted after the worst of it was over. He told me about the time he got seasick- for 4 straight days when he first started working as a sailor- maybe to make me feel a little better. I think he may have had alterior motives as after his sea-sickness tale our conversation became ENTIRELY about foreign women and why he liked them so much better than Chilean women. Foreign women are more ¨liberal¨ he argued. His other arguments made me think that he really wanted to say ¨easy¨ but maybe he was trying to be more eloquent- as eloquent as a sailor can anyway...
In the end I said goodbye to my dirty old sailor friend Francisco, and I think I maybe learned something from all of this- Next time I decide to travel anywhere I am riding my bike.
