Travels in Los Magallanes

This year’s summer vacation took us to Chile’s southernmost province; Los Magallanes (the “ll” is pronounced “y”) named after Ferdinand Magellan who, in 1520, was first European to round South America and reach the Pacific.

We flew into Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan 1360 miles south of Santiago, and took a taxi to our hostel, Tragaluz Patogonia, named after the skylight (tragaluz) over the door. The owners, Chilena Lorena Castex and American Dan Elsberg, have turned this 100 year old building into a comfortable and attractive place to stay.

Having subsisted on LAN’s in-flight “snacks” since breakfast were ready for dinner, and ate at La Marmita where Alejandra had scallop lasagna and I had a great estofado de liebre (hare stew) of wild European hare, introduced into Patagonia in the 19^th century.

I had a glass of wine too.

Punta Arenas is more of a tourist destination now than when I was there 8 years ago (see that trip journal, parts 3 and 4), with a mix of attractive restaurants and hostels appealing to international tourists; merchants supplying local residents, fishermen and ranchers; and historic buildings from the city’s 19^th century heyday. Before the Panama Canal, it was a major coaling station for ships going to and from the Pacific coast of N and S America, and from the 1880s to the 1940s it was headquarters for Patagonian sheep estancias that produced much of the world’s lamb and wool.

Wealthy estancia owners built mansions, like the one at right, around the Plaza de Armas.

The plaza now holds booths selling Patagonian handcrafts, mainly of wool and sheep skins, with lots of penguin dolls, sweaters, caps and gee-gahs.

And there is a statue of a Patagonian Indian. “Patagon” means “big foot” and if you kiss his foot you are sure to return.

The Costanera, a broad avenue fronting the Strait, is the site of Punta Arenas’ major tourist hotel and casino.

In spite of the wind, which reached over 100 km/hr in gusts, we enjoyed Punta Arenas. The air was incredibly clear with bright sun and clouds rushing by overhead. Temperatures were in the 50s with occasional sprinkles.

We went sightseeing. We took a tour to the penguin colony in the Seno Otway, visited the Fuerte Bulnes, the first fort established on the Straits, and went up to Cerro Mirador (viewpoint hill), all shown on the map.

The penguin colony, where Magellanic Penguins breed in summer, is on an open, wind swept beach on the Seno Otway, a sound or inlet linked to the sea. We were there in the late afternoon when the penguins were returning to their mates and nest holes in the dunes.

From the beach they followed penguin paths to their nests.

There were rabbits (left) and hares too, both introduced.

The next day we went to Fuerte Bulnes, established in 1843, but abandoned after 1849 when Punta Arenas was established.

The forts’ hill-top location was ideal for defense, but was too cold and windy to attract a civilian population. It was pretty cold for us too. We arrived in a driving rain, chilling us through our parkas and fleece sweaters

… and then the sun came out.

After the rain the air and sea were clear and beautiful. Would be great snorkeling. :-)

Another day we went up the Cerro Mirador and rode the chairlift to the top.

The view was great, but distant.

It was better further down.

We also visited the cemetery, one of Punta Arenas’ most interesting sights. The rich evidently thought they could take it with them.

Many names on head stones were of Ukrainian, German, or English immigrants who came in the 19^th and early 20^th century.

“Here lies Pepe Tafra.

Against his will.”

After four days in Punta Arenas, we took the bus across the Patagonian steppe to Puerto Natales, seeing lots of sheep and ñañdu (ostriches) on the way. Established in 1911 as a port for the sheep industry with two large "frigorificos" (freezer plants), its population of 20,000 is now supported mainly by tourism.

The view coming into Puerto Natales by bus.

Our so-so hostel was the Hostel Milodon, named after Patagonia’s best known fossil, an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived there until about 5,000 years ago.

Church and municipal building on the town square.

A typical street, with tourists and one of the many street dogs.

The waterfront from the town pier. This was one of the first sights I saw in 2005 when I came to Puerto Natales via the Navimag ferry.

The fishing for róbalo (AKA Falkland mullet) was pretty good.

The statue honors Alberto de Agostini, an Italian Salesian missionary, mountaineer, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, photographer and cinematographer and his friend Pacheco, a Selknam Indian.

On the waterfront we found a nice mom and pop restaurant where we ate twice. I had róbalo for one meal.

In the background are Puerto Natales’ flying statues.

Here they are again.

The morning after arriving in Puerto Natales we set out on a tour that took us along the Seno de Ultima Esperansa to the Cave of the Milodón and then through Cero Castilo to Torres del Piane National Park.

Click on this link for a larger image

The first stop was the Cave of the Milodón, a huge cave discovered in 1895 by German explorer Hermann Eberhard who found a large piece of apparently fresh skin with fur attached; skin that was later found to be from a Milodon that had died there between 10,000 and 13,500 years ago. Other Pleistocene fossil fossils including saber tooth cats, dwarf horses and human remains were found there.

But the day we went there was only the Milodon and assorted tourists.

Next stop, Cerro Castillo (Castle Mountain), once the headquarters of the largest sheep estancia in Patagonia and now a convenient pit stop for tourists heading to Torres del Piane.

And then, the first view of the Cordillera del Piane, the Blue (from the Mauche language) Mountians. The torres (towers) are the three near vertical spires to the east (right) of the central peak. The peak is at 9,462 ft and the towers are from a little less than 7,000 to 8,200 ft.

Our next stop was a Laguna Amarga (Bitter Lake) to watch a herd of guanacos pass by.

Then we drove between lakes Sarmiento and Nordenskjol where we had this view of the cordillera. (Move the pan bar at the botton of the page to see it all.)

We stopped again at the “Big Falls” where the Rio Piane pours through a narrow canyon into Lake Pehoé.

It was pretty windy, but the view was spectacular with the torres to the North and Lake Pehoé and the Rio Piane (below) to the South.

Our final stop was at Lago Grey, where we had lunch, crossed a hanging bridge and walked a half mile or so to the end of the lake where windblown ice burgs from the glacier at the head of the lake run aground.

There was mist and a light rain.

The drive back along Lago Toro gave us another stunning view of the Cordillera de Piane.

And the next day we went for a boat ride.

The all day trip took us up the Seno Ultima Esperansa to the Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers. It was cold, windy and occasionally rainy outside but cozy inside. Here Alejandra sits with new friends, sisters from Santiago.

There were rainbows.

After several hours we reached the Balmaceda glacier at the head of the sound.

And turned into an inlet leading to the Serrano Glacier which descends from the east of the mountain. There we got off the boat and walked a half mile or so to the glacier.